Cherine E. Anderson has co-produced some of Broadway’s biggest recent hits, from Hell’s Kitchen to the star-studded revivals of Gypsy and Our Town, as a member of Score 3 Partners. Her latest co-producing venture with the group is Othello—the hugely anticipated Shakespeare revival starring Fordham’s own Denzel Washington.
But Anderson, a 1986 Fordham grad and longtime Broadway promoter, initially didn’t even think it was possible for her to be a producer.
“I told them ‘No, I don’t have a million dollars,’” she said, recalling the first invitation she received to join a production. It was only when she learned that she could raise money from multiple sources in her own community—and help break down barriers to participation—that a new passion was ignited.
Anderson received her first co-producer credit on A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical as a member of the inaugural class of Theatre Producers of Color, a collective formed in 2020 to bring more diversity to the theater industry.
“It’s not such an anomaly to invest in live theater,” she said. “It’s about giving access and information to people.”
Check out these four key milestones on Anderson’s journey from communications pro to hit-making Broadway producer.
She rubbed elbows with stars as a Fordham journalist
The daughter of a classical singer from Jamaica, Anderson immigrated to the U.S. with her family at a young age. She grew up attending performances and always had a soft spot for the arts, but enrolled at Fordham all in on a journalism career. She majored in communications, interned at the Daily News, and wrote for The Ram—where she landed her first major showbiz assignment: Interview Whoopi Goldberg, then a 30-year-old emerging star making her Broadway debut.
Goldberg’s performance sought to “bring about togetherness” and “let the audience be a part of the show,” Anderson wrote—a philosophy she has carried into her own work in the theater.
She fell into Broadway marketing by chance—and helped innovate it
After graduating, Anderson worked in marketing and licensing for brands such as Nickelodeon, MTV, and DC Comics. The seeds of her career change were planted after a routine meeting with clients at a television network in 2004—they mentioned they also happened to be working on a Broadway musical adaptation of The Color Purple.
“They were really trying to find someone who has a connection to the African American community,” Anderson said. She joined the show’s marketing team, and The Color Purple became a hit nominated for 11 Tony awards.
Next, Anderson teamed up with arts entrepreneur Donna Walker-Kuhne, who recruited Anderson to be her marketing partner for a new show—and the two never looked back.
“From there on, we worked on any multicultural Broadway show you can think of,” said Anderson, who has been a marketing director at Walker Communications since 2009. “We became the go-to.”
Anderson helped pioneer marketing techniques that have since become commonplace, such as “Talkback Tuesdays”—post-show conversations with cast members of The Color Purple during Black History Month. She also helped to create partnerships with the MTA to place show posters in subway cars and organized bus trips to bring in hundreds patrons from cities like Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Othello isn’t her first time on a production with Denzel
Anderson worked with Walker Communications as a marketing partner of the 2014 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun.
The revival boasted a wide range of Fordham talent—actor Denzel Washington; director Kenny Leon, who would go on to serve as Fordham’s Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre that fall; and producer John Johnson, a 2002 Fordham grad. Leon is also directing this production of Othello.
For Washington, Othello represents a full-circle moment, which he reflected on after passing by Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus on his way to the first day of rehearsals. In a recent interview with The New York Times, he said, “Wow, 48 years ago I was doing Othello right there at [age]22. And now I’m heading over … to 45th Street to do Othello again. Ain’t life interesting?”
Networking is her superpower
While attending an off-Broadway performance of Hell’s Kitchen at the Public Theater in 2023, Anderson spotted the show’s author and subject, superstar Alicia Keys, directly behind her.
“I thought, ‘Oh no, I gotta grab her, because she may not come back after intermission,’” Anderson said. She approached Keys and made a connection—opening the door for her to join the producing team once the show moved to Broadway in 2024.
Anderson’s passion to get involved came not just from the excellence of the material, she said, but also the opportunity to support a project that could inspire a new generation of diverse talent on both sides of the stage. “It’s very important to build community for a show,” she said.
Last fall, in partnership with Fordham’s MOSAIC multicultural affinity group, Anderson helped organize a Fordham alumni outing to The Wiz, which she also co-produced.
“I think my favorite thing now is the opportunity to diversify Broadway in different aspects,” she said, referring to both the audiences and the talent on and off stage. “That’s what excites me.”
