Broadway Breakdown: BACKSTAGE PASS

Episode: Producing Marcel on the Train with Mitch Marois and Maxwell Beer

Host: Matt Koplik
Guests: Mitch Marois & Maxwell Beer (Mix and Match Productions)
Release Date: March 9, 2026
Topic: An insider’s look at producing "Marcel on the Train" for off-Broadway, featuring deep-dive discussion into the business, creative, and emotional realities of new theatre development.

Episode Overview

This opening installment of the “Backstage Pass” mini-series offers an in-depth, candid conversation with producers Mitch Marois and Maxwell Beer about bringing the world premiere of Marcel on the Train to Classic Stage Company (CSC). Matt, Mitch, and Max chart the multi-year journey from script acquisition to sold-out previews, sharing the unglamorous truths and little triumphs of getting new work onto New York stages. Along the way, they demystify the collaborative process, nonprofit partnerships, budgeting, setbacks, and the magic moments that fuel their passion for producing unusual, daring theatre.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Producers’ Origin Stories & Mutual Chemistry

[02:33 – 08:26]

• Both Max and Mitch began as actors, discovering a knack for the "behind-the-scenes" elements of theatre.
• Max: Childhood love of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” led to obsession with Broadway grosses and box office stats; he realized his real calling was producing.
• Mitch: Trained as a musical theatre actor but became increasingly interested in directing, choreographing, and then producing during festivals like Carnegie Mellon’s Playground.
• Their partnership started at Hendel Productions, solidifying into Mix and Match Productions with a shared vision for meaningful, emotionally resonant theatre:
  • Mitch: “I wanted something that made me feel like the movie Life is Beautiful—finding joy in terrifying circumstances.” [06:13]
  • Max: “You just feel a little bit more alive than you did when you started that piece of art…” [06:43]

2. Why Marcel on the Train?

[07:20 – 09:14]

• Max was working with director/co-writer Marshall Pailet, who sent him the early script co-written with Ethan Slater.
• Max: “I read it, and I go, holy crap, this is great. Mitch, I think you gotta read this.” [08:26]
• After reading, both knew they wanted to produce it—even as first-timers with no Off-Broadway or Broadway producing credits yet.
• By summer 2022, they formally commit to the project.

3. The Multi-Year Development Timeline

[09:28 – 31:23]

• June 2022: Receive the script
• August 2022: First reading delayed by Ethan Slater’s casting in the Wicked movie
• 2023: Pivot to Zoom table-reading due to Ethan’s schedule
• Max wins the Hal Prince Producing Fellowship, providing crucial mentorship and funding for a 29-hour reading [11:44]
  • Mentors included David Stone, Kristen Caskey, Sue Frost, Tom Schumacher, Jeffrey Seller—“about as good as it gets.” [12:19]
• Fall 2023: In-person 29-hour reading during Rosh Hashanah
• 2024: Workshop at Williamstown Theatre Festival, even as they simultaneously open another show (Seleno v. Barnes)
• Ongoing: Outreach to nonprofits, finally connecting with Jill Rafson at Classic Stage

4. Landing the Nonprofit Partnership (Classic Stage Company)

[15:41 – 17:19]

• Why CSC? “Classic Stage was kind of always at the top of the list… the space itself is just so lived in and beautiful and wonderful for the story that we’re telling.” (Mitch, [15:43])
• The theatre’s actual railcar seating provided a literal fit for the play’s dominant train setting ([16:34]).
• Navigating the nonprofit scene is like “dating”—each has a shifting mission and limited programming slots.
• Classic Stage ultimately watches the filmed Williamstown workshop—a crucial step:
  • “Everybody, film your stuff.” (Matt, [21:00])
  • “People just want to go on the emotional ride of it.” (Max, [21:06])

5. Explaining Enhanced Productions

[24:00 – 26:36]

• Not a co-production, but an “enhanced production”:
  • Classic Stage produces, keeps ticket sales; Mix and Match raises additional “enhancement” funds to achieve the production’s full vision.
  • The producers make no money off the box office but retain sets/costumes and development rights for potential future commercial runs.
• Honesty with investors is key: “You’ve got to really believe in the project... more likely than not, nothing will ever happen with this and it will die.” (Mitch, [26:05])
• The enhanced model gives the play its best shot at evolving into a commercial Off-Broadway or Broadway run.

6. The Realities of Fundraising and Creative Risk

[28:21 – 30:39]

• “Most projects do not move at this speed… probably take another 3–4 years.” (Max, [30:39])
• Co-producers are generally cash/fundraisers, not decision-makers; “a tiny miracle” when someone writes a check because they believe in the material, not just the pedigree.
• Timeline recap: Writers began in 2021; world premiere in 2026 = five years from inception to production.

7. Risks, Strategy, and the Broadway North Star

[32:10 – 34:41]

• Many post-pandemic shifts: It’s easier/cheaper to partner with nonprofits, but then there’s little chance of recouping up-front.
• Every project needs a future plan. For Marcel:
  • “We believe that this is a Broadway play—full stop… once that’s your North Star, you start making decisions toward that.” (Max/Mitch, [33:05])
  • Having a nonprofit run as proof-of-concept with critical validation and reduced startup costs.

8. Budgeting & Resource Allocation

[36:29 – 39:43]

• Tight budgets: People (cast, designers) are the main costs, followed by marketing.
• Even “bare bones” productions like Marcel are heavily affected by things like lumber tariffs and outside economic factors.
• The honest, painstaking process involves Google Sheets, Zoom meetings, and constant revision:
  • “If we can't raise the money, then the show changes… The box we were playing in just got smaller.” (Mitch, [39:43])

9. The Emotional Rollercoaster of Launch Week

[40:00 – 41:27]

• Matt asks how they feel on the eve of rehearsals:
  • Max: “So scared… I love this show so much…fear of not giving the show everything that it’s worthy of.”
  • Mitch: “Tomorrow morning I will have a good cry at some point because it's just gonna, like, hit me…”
  • Standout moment: Mitch describes the emotional impact of the announcement (“I lost it for a few seconds. I just had a whole moment. And Jen just, like, sat there with me. God bless her. …This thing is real. Let's go.” [40:27])

10. Looking Forward—What’s Next?

[41:35 – 43:07]

• Producers prep for rehearsal, tech, previews, and opening. Their focus: Get the show up, then calibrate based on reception.
• Mitch: “If the reviews are crap, then we’ve got a lot of figuring out to do… What can we, as the team leaders, do to honor everybody’s effort and move it to insert next step here?”

11. The Producer’s Philosophy: The ‘Terrible Email’ Test

[44:26 – 46:35]

• Max’s gem for early-career creatives:
  • “If the show that you’re producing is an amazing email, don’t produce it. If the show you're producing is a terrible email, if it's a terrible pitch, it's probably worth seeing on a stage.” [44:26]
  • “Those are the things that are typically worth seeing the most.”
• Matt and Mitch joke about the impossibility of summarizing their own weirdo projects.
  • "What is it? Well, it's Torch Song Trilogy meets the Scream franchise, but it's a romance..." (Matt, [46:14])
  • “Honestly, me neither. Do you want to just come see it?”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Max (on producing): “Now, 20 years later, I’ve just… developed the baseball cards of all the shows, all the stats, all the theaters, what works in what theaters. And that's what I fell in love with. And I thought, oh, I can do this with my life for a job. Like, how lucky would that be?” [03:50]
• Mitch (on life as a producer): “At Carnegie, they do this thing called Playground where they shut down the school of drama for a full week… When I look back, that’s the first taste of producing I ever got…” [04:28]
• Max (on reading Marcel): “I saw a piece of theater Marshall had made when I was a sophomore in high school … That was one of those instances where I left the theater going, oh, you can make fun theater. Like, that’s the kind of stuff I want to make." [07:27]
• Advice for submitting to nonprofits: “Film [your workshop]. People just want to go on the emotional ride…spend the money on marketing.” [21:06]
• On the industry: “Their lit departments are so overworked…to just get anybody to say, hey, let’s at least take a meeting to talk about it is in itself a victory.” (Mitch [17:20])
• On emerging artist’s dreams: "Most shows die. Maybe we’ll be one of the lucky ones the energy is right and the timing is right" (Mitch, [26:05])
• On taking risks: "If the show that you're producing is a terrible email, if it's a terrible pitch, it's probably worth seeing on a stage." (Max, [44:26])
• On making it real: “I think tomorrow morning I will have a good cry at some point because it's just gonna, like, hit me… This thing is real. Let's go.” (Mitch, [40:27])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:33–08:26 — Max & Mitch’s backgrounds, origins as producers
• 09:14–09:41 — Deciding on Marcel on the Train
• 09:41–12:19 — Navigating star delays and using the Hal Prince Fellowship
• 12:35–15:43 — Early readings, development workshops, and working with Classic Stage
• 16:34–18:38 — Matching shows to nonprofit missions, "dating" the right partner
• 21:00–22:54 — Why filming workshops is essential
• 24:00–26:36 — What an “enhanced production” really means
• 28:21–30:39 — Money, co-producers, and the miracle of belief
• 32:10–34:41 — Post-pandemic trends and Broadway as “North Star”
• 36:29–39:43 — Budgeting, cost pressures, and strategic decision-making
• 40:00–41:27 — The emotional toll and joy of producing
• 44:26–46:35 — The “terrible email” rule for new projects

Conclusion

The episode closes with Mitch and Max candidly reflecting on the eve of rehearsals, the terror and excitement of the unknown, and the lessons learned from betting on unconventional stories. They urge ambitious producers to seek out the “hard-to-describe” projects that challenge audiences and stakeholders alike. As Marcel on the Train embarks on its world premiere, this podcast offers an honest, generous look into what brings new theatre to life—and the wild, unpredictable ride it takes to get there.

Next in Backstage Pass:
Stay tuned for a chat with Jill Rafson, Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company (ep. 2 of the series).