PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —It wasn’t long ago that Nathan Winoto spent his summers at home in Jakarta, Indonesia, watching YouTube clips of American musicals, from “Grand Hotel” to “Hamilton.”
But this summer, the Brown University Class of 2025 graduate has a front-row seat to the action as a co-producer of the hit Broadway production “John Proctor Is The Villain” at the Booth Theatre in New York, starring “Stranger Things” actor Sadie Sink.
Winoto, who graduated from Brown in May with a triple concentration in business economics, music and organizational sociology, said the opportunity to work on the business side of the play is a “blessing” that aligned perfectly with his interests.
“Producing is about supporting the artistic vision of the creative team through things like budgeting, marketing and ticket sales,” Winoto said.
While Winoto has long been a fan of theater, the idea of working in the industry emerged during his junior year at Brown, where his academic and extracurricular experiences strengthened his love of theater and helped him build confidence and communication skills. Inspired by his time directing on campus, he spent the summer before his senior year cold-emailing musical theater processionals to ask if they would meet with him.
His tenacity led to a meeting with Tony-winning producer Thomas Laub, whose company Runyonland Productions is a producer of “John Proctor Is The Villain.” Several months later, Laub offered Winoto the co-producer role, and now he’s part of a team of about 40 producers, including Brown Class of 2011 alumna Jillian Robbins. The experience has been “rocket ride of learning how to be a Broadway producer,” Winoto said.
“A big part of the producing journey is what we call ‘the raise,’ which is raising money from investors,” said Winoto, who started his fundraising efforts by reaching out to members of the Brown community, including alumni.
Winoto said his academic experience at Brown laid the groundwork for his experience on Broadway. He spent the spring semesters of his sophomore and junior years directing and producing two musicals through student-led organizations at Brown. He first worked on Ensemble Theater’s “Tick Tick… Boom!” in 2023, and then Brown Opera Productions’ “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which was performed at St. Stephen’s Church in 2024.
“Being part of the theater scene at Brown was the greatest theater education I could possibly have,” he said. “A lot of my learning came from a very practical sense of just doing it. I learned how to direct, how to produce and how to manage calendars by doing it with other students.”
Winoto, who attended high school in Jakarta, said he was initially drawn to Brown because of its Open Curriculum. His parents encouraged him to focus on studying economics, which he did, while also attending classes aligned with his interests in sociology and music.