Broadway Press Day with Ruthie Fierberg
Jun 7, 2026 · 7 min · 7 segments
The Isabelle Stevenson Award from the Tony Awards recognizes a member of the theater community who has volunteered their time to humanitarian, social service or charitable efforts. This year’s…
Mary Mitchell CampbellGuest
Ruthie FierbergHost
I'm curious if... community service and giving back is something that was always a part of you or if it's something that evolved out of being a part of this industry or What what was your call to? That kind of work beyond what you already give us in music.
Yeah, I'm great question I actually took a class in college and that was called Social Problems that really rocked my world, changed my life.
Where did you go to school? Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina.
And it was a class that really broke down how systems work, and how people who are in specific situations have a really hard time getting out of them.
And so I got really fascinated by that, and obviously I was still very much a musical theater nerd and pursuing musical theater.
When I moved to New York, I started immediately volunteering with Broadway Cares, Equifax AIDS, and eventually started my own nonprofit, but really just sort of built on the idea that arts has the power to transform lives.
Because imagination is not something that they're often encouraged to do in the situations that they're in or in the families they come from.
And so giving them hope, giving them imagination, giving them creativity, courage, and building community.
I'm curious if... community service and giving back is something that was always a part of you or if it's something that evolved out of being a part of this industry or What what was your call to? That kind of work beyond what you already give us in music.
Yeah, I'm great question I actually took a class in college and that was called Social Problems that really rocked my world, changed my life.
Where did you go to school? Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina.
And it was a class that really broke down how systems work, and how people who are in specific situations have a really hard time getting out of them.
And so I got really fascinated by that, and obviously I was still very much a musical theater nerd and pursuing musical theater.
When I moved to New York, I started immediately volunteering with Broadway Cares, Equifax AIDS, and eventually started my own nonprofit, but really just sort of built on the idea that arts has the power to transform lives.
Because imagination is not something that they're often encouraged to do in the situations that they're in or in the families they come from.
And so giving them hope, giving them imagination, giving them creativity, courage, and building community.
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