From Childhood Dreams to Tony Awards

As a child, Andie Burns dreamed of being part of an award-winning Broadway production.

She often traveled with her family from their hometown of Bethlehem, Penn., to New York to see shows. She was active in performance theatre, envisioning herself working on Broadway one day.

A mere four years after graduating from Millikin, Burns’ dream came true when the show she joined as a Production Assistant in fall 2021, the wildly creative “A Strange Loop,” ultimately won rave reviews and numerous major awards, including two Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book in June 2022.

Also winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, “A Strange Loop” explores the life of a young, black, queer artist struggling with his inner thoughts on “desires, identity and instincts he both loves and loathes,” according to the show’s website. Among its fans are Lin-Manuel Miranda and Trevor Noah, who called it “Phenomenal. One of the funniest and most poignant shows I’ve ever seen.”

Andie initially served as Production Assistant for the show’s run in Washington, D.C., an experience she calls “very hard but very validating,” before the show moved to Broadway to open in April 2022. Andie was asked to join the show’s production team in New York as a production assistant, part of the stage management team.

“It was a whirlwind process. I had no expectations of going to New York. In fact, I even had a job lined up in Colorado. But when the opportunity presented itself, I took the chance and moved to New York on March 1.”

In New York, she found herself working with the same cast but also a production team that had grown in numbers due to the needs of a Broadway show.

Burns had fully intended to study Theatre Performance at Millikin, but to her surprise, she changed her mind within a week after beginning her first semester.

“I’d made it a week into Millikin before being asked to be Assistant Stage Manager for a production at Pipe Dreams; that was a turning point that made me realize that maybe stage management was a better path for me than performance at the time. I gravitated toward upperclass students doing stage management and found myself relying on their expertise.”

Andie’s preference for stage management over performance had been on her mind before Millikin. “A teacher in high school had said I’d be a good fit to stage manage the dance concert, but it wasn’t until my first professional production in the summer before college that something went ‘boom!’ — that was it. I just really fell in love with stage management.”

Andie’s rising success in stage management comes as no surprise to Millikin Professor of Theatre and Dance Alex Miller, who appeared in a student-led production of “Red” headed by Joseph Bezenek, Class of 2016. Then a sophomore, Andie had been asked to serve as Stage Manager for the production. She remembers feeling nervous yet honored that Bezenek trusted her to handle the position. Miller clearly remembers seeing Andie’s potential.

“Andie is a consistent pillar of excellence. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her on two productions, and in each case she brought a level of professionalism and artistry that would create a safe and inclusive atmosphere, where directors and performers could effectively focus on the task at hand. She’s brilliant.”

At Millikin, Andie also worked as Stage Manager for several other Pipe Dreams Studio Theatre and mainstage productions, including “Rough Magic,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “The Last Smoker in America,” “Solstice: A Concert of Dance” and “9 to 5: The Musical.”

“It was the best learning experience. The plan of action was always to do your best to keep the show moving forward. I learned that lesson in Pipe Dreams.”

After graduating with her Millikin BFA, Andie worked in stage management for various regional theatre companies, including the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre and Spoleto Festival USA. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, her work was abruptly halted as live productions shuttered their shows nationwide.

For three months she was unemployed before securing a position outside the industry. In total, she worked outside her field for a little over a year. During that time, she wondered if she’d made the right career choice and felt “kind of dumped. I wondered why I’d committed all this time and energy to work that would be deemed non-essential [during the pandemic].”

Eventually though, Andie remembered the little girl who had been awed by theatre and committed to contributing to its excellence. “I finally decided that little girl in me deserved another shot at reaching her dream. And because of that, 2022 was the best year I’ve ever had. Being part of a Tony-winning production has been a full circle for me.”

Andie is still closing circles. Although she joined a revival of “A Raisin in the Sun” in fall 2022 to serve as its Assistant Stage Manager, she recently returned to “A Strange Loop.” This time she served as its Assistant Stage Manager until the production closed. Her next dream? To be Production Stage Manager for a long-running Broadway show, from workshop through the Tony Awards.