Ari Groover: Building Third Spaces on Broadway and Beyond
By Ricky Anderson
At just 33 years old, Broadway performer, DJ, and cultural curator Ari Groover has already built a résumé most artists dream of: Holler If Ya Hear Me, Head Over Heels, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Little Shop of Horrors—and the list keeps growing. But her greatest contribution to the Broadway community may not be what happens on stage at all. It’s the third spaces she’s creating for artists, especially artists of color, to breathe, to gather, and to simply be.
Sociologists describe “third spaces” as the essential gathering grounds beyond home (the first space) and work (the second space). They’re the bars, community centers, cafes, or dancefloors where culture is made and where people forge identity together. For Broadway artists, especially those who are Black, brown, or queer, such spaces have historically been absent. As Groover notes, “We’re always giving eight shows a week. But where is the space for us—to unwind, to connect, to create community?”
Her answer has been to build them herself.
From Savannah to Broadway
Groover was raised in Savannah, Georgia, where her mother taught dance at Savannah State University. From an early age she was immersed in music and movement—though she never initially imagined herself on Broadway. “I didn’t see myself in those spaces,” she admits. Instead, she dreamed of becoming a visual artist or a backup dancer. That trajectory shifted after attending Atlanta’s Pebblebrook High School for the performing arts and, later, the Broadway Dreams Foundation, where she landed her first professional break in Bare: The Musical under director Stafford Arima. By 2012, she was in New York and making her debut.
Her Broadway journey has since included Holler If Ya Hear Me (the Tupac musical where she befriended Chadwick Boseman), Donna Summer The Musical, Head Over Heels, Tina, Little Shop of Horrors, and more. “I’m still shocked I wasn’t expecting this career,” she says with a laugh. “But I’m grateful to be here.”
Representation on the Great White Way
Yet Groover is candid about Broadway’s ongoing struggle with representation. Historically, the industry has marginalized performers of color, offering few roles written with them in mind, and fewer still created by them. “I never imagined myself in musical theater because I didn’t see myself represented there,” she reflects. “There’s progress, yes, but it’s still a work in progress.”
Her own career is proof of that progress—and also a reminder of how much more there is to be done. For Groover, part of that work is not just about representation on stage, but also creating cultural ecosystems offstage.
SNOB and the Rise of Third Spaces
In 2018, alongside DJ Preston “Duggz” Dugger III and Broadway publicist Emily McGill, Groover co-founded SNOB (Sunday Night on Broadway). What began as a tongue-in-cheek nod to cast members drinking together after Saturday shows quickly evolved into something bigger: a curated party space that celebrates Broadway artists outside of their professional performances.
“Broadway lacked an underground scene,” Groover explains. “Fashion has one, music has one, TV has one. But theater? We didn’t have that.” SNOB filled that void.
The parties were inclusive and intentionally unpretentious. “It wasn’t about clout. It wasn’t about credits. It was about artists coming together to release, to dance, to meet, to network. You could be next to a Tony winner and not even know it—you were just vibing together in the moment.”
The events caught on. Soon Groover was DJing everything from Broadway opening nights to the 2022 Tony Awards Gala. This fall, she joins writer/performer Brandon Kyle Goodman’s Heaux Church, an immersive Off-Broadway show where she’ll appear both as herself and as the onstage DJ—a blurring of her talents as musician, curator, and performer.
DJing as Liberation
For Groover, DJing is more than just a side hustle. It’s a vital form of creative expression and, in many ways, liberation. “DJing lets me say the things I can’t always say on Broadway,” she shares. “On stage, people worry about being perceived a certain way. With DJing, I get to tell stories through music the way I want to. I don’t have to cater to the Great White Way—I can speak directly to the community.”
That community is central to her vision: spaces where Black, queer, and underrepresented voices can celebrate themselves freely, without performance for outside approval. “It’s about healing,” she insists. “Music and culture help heal a lot of things.”
Looking Ahead
Groover dreams of expanding SNOB internationally—to the West End in London, to South Korea, even to Japan. “I want people everywhere to experience what community feels like for a night. Maybe it’ll be a culture shock, but that’s the point. It’s authentic.”
Her ultimate ambition? To live a dual career as both an actor and a DJ, much like Idris Elba. “I want to make a living off reminding people who they are and why they love what they love,” she says. “If DJing helps me get there, I’m going to use every part of my creativity to make it happen.”
In a Broadway landscape that too often prioritizes tradition over transformation, Ari Groover is proving that sometimes the most radical act isn’t what happens on stage, but what happens after the curtain falls—on the dancefloor, in community, and in the third spaces where the future of theater might just be born.
Follow her on IG @arigrooves