Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP) has announced that Diane Benjamin, longtime executive director of the general management and production company, will step down. Benjamin will depart in January 2026 and stay on as a consultant. Additionally, SFP has named Kash Bennett as Benjamin’s successor. Bennett will begin her tenure as executive director in late September 2025.
Benjamin began with SFP 25 years ago as part of its original team of three staff members, and served as general manager until 2012, when she assumed the position of executive director. Before joining SFP, Benjamin served as business affairs manager for Ambassador Theatre Group, and established and oversaw the contracts department of the U.K.’s National Theatre (NT), where she first met SFP founder Sonia Friedman.
“It’s impossible to sum up what Diane Benjamin has meant to me and to Sonia Friedman Productions over the past 25 years,” Friedman said in a statement. “She is a true one-off — the very best in the business when it comes to overseeing a large, international producing theatre company. She is a leader, a mentor, a friend — known for her great kindness, her generosity of spirit and her fierce dedication. She is utterly irreplaceable, and I honestly can’t imagine this company without her. But change is inevitable. Happily, she won’t be disappearing entirely — she’ll remain close and continue to advise us as a consultant — but this marks the end of an extraordinary era. I will miss her more than I can say.”
“2026 marks 25 years of working with Sonia Friedman and SFP, during which time it has been the honor of my career to have been part of some of the most groundbreaking, inspirational and extraordinary productions worldwide,” added Benjamin. “From ‘Boeing-Boeing’ to ‘The Nether’ and ‘Jerusalem,’ from ‘The Book of Mormon’ to ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,’ it has been a joy to work alongside the best in the industry, to work side by side with Sonia and the entire amazing team at SFP. They are the most caring, dedicated and passionate group of people I could have had the good fortune to work with. I look forward to continuing my relationship with SFP and the wider industry, as I move to the next stage in my career.”
Bennett comes to SFP following a tenure as executive producer of National Theatre Productions, a subsidiary of NT, where she oversaw the production of live theater outside the NT, including in the West End, on Broadway and on national and international tours. Prior to her time with NT, Bennett was head of production for Stage Entertainment U.K. Bennett is currently president of the Society of London Theatre, the trade association for London-based theater owners and producers.
“We are very privileged to have the indefatigable Kash Bennett join SFP, taking up the role of executive director from the end of next month,” said Friedman. “Her incredible track record speaks for itself, and as we evolve to the next phase in our company’s life, her brilliance, passion, unique experience and tenacity will prove both an essential and inspirational addition to our team.”
“I’m incredibly excited to be joining Sonia Friedman Productions,” commented Bennett. “SFP’s reputation for bold, brilliant, world-class theater is second to none, and I’m thrilled to be working alongside such an extraordinary team. It’s no secret that I have long admired Sonia — she is an exceptional producer with exquisite taste – and I can’t wait to collaborate with her to bring groundbreaking stories to the stage and share them with audiences around the world.”
While based in the U.K., SFP has shepherded many productions to Broadway, including Best Play Tony Award winners “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “The Ferryman,” “The Inheritance” and “Leopoldstadt,” as well the Tony-winning revival of “Merrily We Roll Along.” Beyond the aforementioned “Cursed Child,” SFP is currently represented on the Main Stem by the long-running, Tony-winning musical “The Book of Mormon,” the recent transfer of “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” and the upcoming “Oedipus” and “The Queen of Versailles.”
