Markinson, a Broadway producer and co-head of Richmark Entertainment, is the man behind plays like Torch Song Trilogy and the owner of one of Broadway's tiniest theaters, the Helen Hayes, until he sold the theater to the Second Stage Threatre Off Broadway company.

Markinson, who grew up in Brooklyn, made a fortune in the insurance business before moving into the theater world in the mid-'70s. His first production, Poor Murderer, was a modest success, but his staging of Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy netted him a 1983 Tony and established him as a player in the industry. By the mid-90s, he'd produced successful shows on both coasts via Richmark Entertainment, a company he founded in partnership with Rich Willis, and took control of the small Helen Hayes Theater in New York as well as two theaters in Los Angeles: the Brentwood and the Wadsworth.

But Markinson's fortunes soon turned south. Following his highly regrettable decision in 1998 to pass over Wit (which would win a Pulitzer) in favor of Band in Berlin (which won only mockery), the so-called Curse of the Helen Hayes set in and the theater staged a stream of true doozies, almost none of which lasted more than two months, including Squonk, George Gershwin Alone, and By Jeeves! However, starting with Rupert Holmes' well-received one-man show Say Goodnight, Gracie in 2003, the theater rebounded. It's since played home to Sarah Jones' much-acclaimed Bridge & Tunnel, Kike & Herb: Alive on Broadway, and, most recently, the somehow highly-acclaimed roller skating musical/spectacle Xanadu.

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