19 Years Backstage at Wicked: What It Takes When the Show Must Go On

How does someone spend nearly two decades ensuring perfection on one of Broadway's longest-running shows? Teri Pruitt's answer: precision, adaptability, and understanding that backstage excellence makes front-stage magic possible.

Teri Pruitt is a theatrical professional with over 30 years of experience working on stages across the country since 1992, including an extraordinary 19+ year tenure as Wardrobe Professional for Wicked on Broadway. While the new Wicked movie captivates audiences worldwide, Teri has lived the real Broadway production facilitating lightning-fast costume changes, maintaining elaborate costumes and iconic green makeup, and supporting actors through eight shows a week for nearly two decades. Her career has been built on stability, adaptability, and unwavering professionalism.

Host Sean Kling explores what it really takes to work on a production as massive as Wicked, how Teri managed costume crises that audiences never see, and why her backstage skills now help businesses build high-performing
teams. Teri shares the intense choreography of quick changes, what it means to serve as confidante and crisis manager to performers, and how "reading the room" backstage translates to leadership in any field. From costume repairs and shoe cobbling to being a sounding board for actors, her role was about helping performers shine while maintaining perfection behind the scenes.

Key Topics Explored:

19+ years as Wardrobe Professional for Wicked on Broadway, facilitating quick changes and managing elaborate costumes for Elphaba, Glinda, and the entire cast, maintaining iconic makeup and wardrobe through eight shows per week, backstage crisis management when things go wrong during live performance, serving as confidante and problem-solver to actors in one of Broadway's most demanding shows, working as a seamless team where stepping in during emergencies is essential, transitioning from theatrical wardrobe to content creator, copywriter, and corporate speaker, and applying Broadway's "show must go on" principles to building agile business teams.
This conversation explores how theatrical production principles— recision timing, teamwork, crisis management, and supporting others to shine—apply to business, leadership, and professional excellence. Teri's insights are valuable for Wicked fans curious about the real Broadway production, business leaders building teams, and anyone who understands that supporting others to succeed is its own form of mastery.

About Teri Pruitt:

Teri is a theatrical professional with 30+ years of experience since 1992, including 19+ years as Wardrobe Professional for Wicked on Broadway. She specialized in quick changes, costume maintenance, and supporting actors as confidante, problem-solver, and team member. She now applies her Broadway experience to content creation, copywriting, and corporate speaking teaching businesses how to build teams that perform under pressure using backstage Broadway techniques. Her mission is to help people get their voice into the world, just as she helped actors shine in the spotlight for nearly two decades.

Whether you're fascinated by Broadway, a Wicked fan curious about the show behind the movie, a business leader seeking team-building strategies, or someone transitioning unique experience into new opportunities, this episode delivers insights from someone who spent nearly two decades ensuring perfection on one of theater's most iconic stages.

Join our community: Subscribe to our free newsletter for weekly Kerfuffle updates: https://podcast.seankling.com/thekerf...

Connect with Teri Pruitt:

  / teri-pruitt-a2b341101  
https://www.teripruitt.world/

Follow @thekerfufflepodcast across all platforms