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With producer Daryl Roth, it all comes back to dogs.

Not dog plays, mind you. Dog dogs.

Roth almost didn't marry her longtime husband, real estate titan Steven Roth, because of a dog. "With all my dates," she told, over a glass of ginger ale, "when they would walk me home, I asked them if they would like to walk the dog with me. I was old-fashioned that way." This was the 1960s, in Manhattan. Her dog then was a Sheltie "Everyone always said yes, except Steven. He said, 'No, I have no interest in walking your dog.' So I thought, this guy's off my list! If he doesn't love dogs, I'm oughta here." She didn't see him again for a year. She gave him another chance. "I guess my priorities changed. Whatever it was, we were married four months later."

	Daryl and Jordan Roth
	photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Steven Roth wasn't a theatre man back then, but he's become one. It was unavoidable. Since her first venture into the producing game — the 1989 revue Closer Than Ever — Daryl Roth has been one of the most productive producers in the business, backing dozens of productions both on and Off-Broadway, including Proof, Curtains, Wit, How I Learned to Drive, August: Osage County, Our Lady of 121st Street, Snakebit, Talking Heads, Thom Pain (based on nothing) and, her longest-running hit, De La Guarda.

"He's grown to love theatre," she said of her hubby. "He wasn't a big theatregoer at first, but since we married I've introduced him to theatre. When he met Edward Albee, it was very exciting for him, because his favorite play for many years was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? When I produced Three Tall Women, Steven got to meet him and know him. He said that really changed his life. He never thought he'd have that exposure to people in the arts."

Steven Roth doesn't advise his wife on which plays to produce, but he does offer an opinion after the fact. "He'll come to see everything, and he will comment on everything," she said. "And sometimes he'll say, 'I know exactly why you chose this play — but why did you choose this play?' Steven is a very bottom-line businessman and sometimes I choose things that are not apparently commercial."

The Roths have two children. Their daughter, Amanda, is a social worker, and doesn't have much interest in the stage. The son, Jordan Roth, does, and is on the road to becoming a more powerful figure in the New York theatre than his mother. He started as an actor, performing at Horace Mann and Princeton, became a producer and is now the youthful president and co-owner of Jujamcyn Theaters. This makes Daryl the matriarch of a minor theatre dynasty. "Steven feels that Jordan has taken the best of both his parents," she said with a smile — she rarely, if ever, looks glum, at least in public — "because Jujamcyn is in fact real estate, and yet it is artistic and theatrical."

Aside from the pooches, and her family, theatre takes up most of Daryl Roth's life. There are no hobbies or side interests. She does like to read, but, even then, it's plays more than novels. "That's all I know how to talk about. I find myself being very focused in life. Sometimes when I'm out with people and they don't want to talk about theatre, I'm at a loss."