Welcome to The Playbill Project!

Until her untimely death from cancer in 2015, my mother Jean Shapiro Perwin was a theater enthusiast, a rabid supporter of the arts, and an intellectual property lawyer who made a career helping artists protect themselves and their work. She was a staunch feminist, a capital-D Democrat, a fantastic friend, and an even better Mom. No one who knew her has completely recovered from losing her so soon. I'm not sure any of us ever will. 

About a year later, a mysterious box from my father arrived on my doorstep. Inside was a collection of approximately 40 years of Playbills my mother had saved throughout a lifetime of theater-going. It's a strange hodgepodge. The programs span the country: Washington DC before I was born, National Tours and Ballets in Miami where I grew up, programs from the sundry regional theaters where I've worked, and, of course, lots and lots of Broadway.

The plan here - if there's even a plan - is to start with the Broadway collection in an attempt to trace the intersection of Mom's own personal history and Broadway history through this very imperfect, incomplete assortment. Her tastes were particular, but she would never have wasted an opportunity to see a Broadway show if she was in town.

Please feel free to comment, share, ask questions, make suggestions - whatever. This is the very definition of a work in progress, and I'm eager to see where it takes me.