Nikita Chernin is a New York City-based theater maker, working as a producer, stage manager, and production manager on new work including Slam Frank, Dirty Books, I'm Still Not That Girl, Take Me to Dollywood, An Axemas Story and other projects that generally begin with someone saying, "this might be impossible," which, unfortunately for him, is exactly the kind of sentence he loves to hear.
His background in stage management and production management means he loves rehearsal rooms, color-coded spreadsheets, solving problems before anyone else notices them, and the very specific thrill of making a hundred impossible things happen at once while pretending everything is completely under control.
Outside of theater, he works in food advocacy with Project Hospitality, contributing to the growth of Staten Island's largest food pantry. During his time there, he helped more than double the organization's volunteer base and expand its impact by over four times, increasing access to food across some of the borough's most underserved communities. He also collaborates with NYC Votes on voter outreach initiatives, supporting engagement efforts in the 2025 New York City mayoral election, which drew more than 2 million voters citywide, marking the highest turnout in over 50 years.
He believes the theater industry is, in many ways, deeply broken. Too many opportunities depend on money, access, and already knowing the right people. He is interested in blowing that wide open and building something more collaborative, more accessible, more community-driven, and a little less obsessed with who gets invited into the room.
None of this would be possible without his parents, who came to this country as immigrants with almost nothing and somehow built an entire life from scratch. They remain his biggest supporters, inspirations, and proof that if you care enough about something, work hard enough, and are just stubborn enough, you can build what does not yet exist.
