Scope and arrangement
The Jeffrey Richards Associates records contain press materials for the Broadway and Off-Broadway shows that the agency represented from 1976 to 1994 and, to a lesser degree, the agency's shifted focus from publicity to production in the mid-1990s.
Press materials make up the bulk of the collection with a particular focus on the agency's work from 1977 to 1984. The press materials consist of correspondence, photographs, press releases, and files regarding publicity stunts. Though the press materials document dozens of productions, certain productions are particularly well-documented, including Broadway shows like Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978 to 1972); Carmelina (1979); A Talent for Murder (1981); Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982); Slab Boys (1983); So Long on Lonely Street (1986); The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public (1994); Off-Broadway shows like Album (1980) and Scrambled Feet (1979 to 1981); and the Takarazuka Theater dance performance at Radio City Music Hall (1989).
The correspondence is primarily outgoing to members of the press regarding scheduling interviews for playwrights, lyricists, producers, and cast members, and issuing invitations to preview performances. Photographs consist of publicity photographs and headshots of cast members. Subjects include Kevin Bacon, Tony Danza, Samuel L. Jackson, John Lithgow, William H. Macy, and Dianne Wiest.
Publicity stunts cover a thirty minute infomercial for The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public and letters from fans responding to a "Name needed" advertisement in the New York Post requesting name suggestions for the duck character in Scrambled Feet. Occasionally files will contain lyrics, scores, or scripts.
The agency's work with the American Place Theatre is heavily represented in the records and there are files for the Theatre's productions from 1980 to 1985, including a folder of photographs taken for the American Place Theatre's twentieth anniversary celebration in 1983.
Production files are fragmentary and the bulk of the material consists of financial and legal records and stage manager reports for Mere Mortals and Others and Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight. There is a full score for The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Also included are video montages, used for publicity purposes, for other shows produced by the agency including Enchanted April, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by press materials and production files.