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By Kenneth Jones
28 Apr 2006

Joseph Smith, an associate producer working for Broadway producer Ron Kastner at RJK Productions since 2002, will return to his native England July 3 to take a position as an executive producer with Old Vic Productions.

OVP is producer Sally Greene's commercial theatre production company, which produces the West End musical smash Billy Elliot. Among Smith's tasks will be working on the development of Billy Elliot in New York, and exploring a range of commercial theatre projects both in the UK and New York.

In addition to assisting Kastner on Broadway projects such as Life x 3, The Retreat From Moscow and Gypsy, as well as Off-Broadway's acclaimed Talking Heads, Smith was independent producer of the Off-Broadway play, Cycling Past the Matterhorn, and produced three works in the Summer Play Festival at Theatre Row: Sweetness, Mayhem and The Map Maker's Sorrow.

Since 2002, he also helped in the planning and management of a proposed not-for-profit theatre company that Kastner was exploring as a possibility for Southern California.

Prior to coming to New York with his wife, actress Nina Jacques, Smith worked at National Theatre in London (1992-2002) in various roles, including associate producer.

One of his major projects at the National was co-creating a project to temporarily transform the Lyttelton Theatre into two performances spaces for a six month season of new work in 2002. The season had the aim of developing new audiences and new creative talent, and the project was considered the most ambitious transformation of the building to have occurred since the National opened in 1976. The season included 13 world premieres with the emphasis on devised work and new writing.

Smith and Jacques' daughter, Ruby, was born in Brooklyn during their time in New York City. In addition to readings of new works, Jacques appeared in the New York International Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway productions of Cycling Past the Matterhorn, and SPF's The Map Maker's Sorrow.

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