The mission of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) on diversity with artistic institutions and the Broadway community including partnering with allies on national initiatives. While our work remains specific to New York City, we endeavor to have a meaningful impact on representation for Asian Americans in the greater American theatre.
is to expand the perception of Asian American performers in order to increase their access to and representation on New York City’s stages. AAPAC publishes the only publicly available annual statistics report on racial representation in the NYC area of its kind and has been a leader in discussions and forums
www.aapacnyc.org
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This report was made possible through the generous support of the American Theatre Wing.
Letter from AAPAC
2024
This marks our first report since AAPAC received the 2022 Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre in recognition of our contributions to increasing diversity across the industry. Over the past three years, we have been hard at work migrating our database to an advanced system that will allow us to collect data and compare variables easier and faster. Thanks to a generous grant from the Rodney L. White Foundation and continued support from the American Theatre Wing, we are now better positioned to work towards reporting statistics in a more timely manner which will provide a more relevant resource for the industry and help arm us with pertinent data on the ground as conversations are happening. We have also continued our advocacy work with stakeholders and community partners and provided leadership to organizations seeking to change their ways of doing things to make diversity more of a core value across their enterprises. Finally, to better serve our Asian American/Pacific Islander community, we have undergone a comprehensive survey of AAPI theatre artists that points to the persistence of racial issues pertaining specifically to this group
that are not currently being addressed by theaters even as they have made an effort to enact diversity initiatives. The results of our survey will be published separately as part of The AAPAC Theater Practices Toolkit: Creating an Inclusive Environment for AAPI/ Asian Artists in the near future. In the last two years, we are also particularly proud of the Transportation Fund we engineered with the Indie Fund to give financial assistance to AAPI theatre artists so they did not have to take the subway to and from work at a time when antiAsian hate crimes increased by 300% in NYC and when Asians were being assaulted and murdered across the country. So much has happened in the last three years that we might need to remind ourselves of what the theatre landscape looked like in the 2021-22 season, the focus of this report.
The 2021-22 season was the first season back after the industry-wide shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Industry leaders faced economic uncertainty (would theater patrons feel safe to come back?) at a time when many non-profits were already on shaky financial
ground after 16 months of stasis. It was also a very tumultuous time socially—people were angry and demanding social justice after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, violent crime was rising in NYC and there was an alarming increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, all within the context of a political landscape that made it seem like the fundamentals of American democracy were at risk, forcing everyone to take sides. After BIPOC theater artists published a seminal missive entitled We See You, White American Theater that outlined abusive and inequitable practices baked into the theater system, the industry was under intense scrutiny. How was it going to respond to this moment?
As this report details, most sectors of the industry not only overcame obstacles it had never faced before but made a conscious effort to address issues of inequity, leading to the most diverse theater season on record. The media immediately touted the great gains in diversity that season, but their analysis was incomplete. With the benefit of now being able to analyze the season as a whole in depth, we can see that “diversity” meant different things to different stakeholders and was not applied equally everywhere, particularly when looking at the commercial vs. the non-profit sectors. As we shall see, both sectors increased Black representation by leaps and bounds which should be celebrated, but only the non-profits went on to also increase representation for Asian, Latinx and MENA artists. Broadway, in contrast, saw diversity mostly as a Black and White issue. In the context of Black Lives Matter, there would likely have been riots if Broadway hadn’t increased diversity for Black artists that season and AAPAC would have been a part of that charge. However, opportunities can and should increase for all underrepresented groups without pitting them against each other in the Oppression Olympics that the system of White supremacy has historically perpetuated. In subsequent seasons, there have been AAPI stories on
Broadway such as KPOP, LIFE OF PI, HERE LIES LOVE and most recently this past season, YELLOWFACE, but they have been few and far between accounting for a tiny percentage of each season’s offerings and certainly not proportional with the percentage of AAPI in NYC or the country.
The 2021-22 season proved that with conscious, collective effort, diversity numbers could be improved rapidly. It showed that if enough energy was put into it, stories from underrepresented groups could be developed that would appeal to a broader audience. The recent renaissance of Asian playwrights in the non-profit space (see our Spotlight on pages 20-21, “The Rise of Asian Playwrights”) is proof that the talent is out there. Recent seasons have shown that diversifying Broadway is good for business and can help to innovate and energize the form but Latinx, Indigenous, and AAPI voices in particular are systematically being excluded. Although this report focuses on the 2021-22 season, it still serves as a clarion call that Broadway can do better.
Respectfully,
Pun Bandhu and Julienne Hanzelka Kim, Co-authors and Co-Chairs of The Visibility Report
on behalf of the AAPAC Steering Committee: Pun Bandhu, Cindy Cheung, Vichet Chum, Christine Toy Johnson, Peter Kim, Julienne Hanzelka Kim, Eileen Rivera, Lipica Shah and Nandita Shenoy.
Introduction
The story of the 2021-22 season is partly about an industry trying to find its footing after the shutdown at a time when Covid-19 variants were still raging. But it is also the story of an industry bent on doing things differently, addressing the social and racial injustices we collectively witnessed during the pause, and being willing to look at the injustices baked within its own systems, creating changes that led to the most diverse season in its history. The statistics in this report represent much sweat, equity and courageous leadership on all levels, from administrators at the non-profits who worked to dismantle institutionalized White supremacy at their organizations, to producers and investors who backed more BIPOC stories than ever on Broadway. Previously, improvements in diversity had come slowly. The lesson that we as an industry have learned is that change doesn’t have to be incremental. It can happen fast, in leaps and bounds overnight if there is conscious, concerted effort and a united purpose. The first and foremost purpose this season was showing the world that Black Lives Matter.
Black actors, at 40.5%, hit near-parity with the number of White actors hired at 43.1%, a significant increase from the last full season before the pandemic, 2018-19, where Black actors made up 29% of all roles cast. Black writers jumped from 11.7% in 2018-19 to 27.3%. On Broadway, 12 out of 33 Broadway
productions (36.4%), were dedicated to telling a Black-centered story. Similarly, at the non-profit theater companies, 28 out of 74 non-profit productions (37.2%) were dedicated to Black stories.
These numbers, while better than years past, hardly make up for the decades of historicunderrepresentation of Black artists who have dedicated their lives to the American theater. Whether or not it will continue after this moment has passed remains to be seen. Black artists proved that Black lives not only mattered, but that they were vital to the ecosystem and indeed, an important part of its lifeblood. Black artists gave theater a purpose and showed us how theater could be the balm we needed to begin to process and understand these fraught times while also showing us that theater as an art form is alive and well.
Notwithstanding the tremendous gains which should be celebrated this season, the vast majority of gatekeepers and creatives are still disproportionately White (see our write-up on Broadway producers, general managers, non-profit artistic leaders and board members on page 28). The differences are most glaring when comparing the non-profit and commercial sectors.
There are big differences in numbers between the two sectors this year and, as we argue on page 34, this is due to a difference
in underlying philosophies and priorities. 100% of the BIPOC stories on Broadway this season were Black stories. The non-profits, in contrast, have engaged in actively antiracist practices that have a broader, more inclusive definition of diversity, hiring a greater spectrum of Global Majority artists across all categories. In addition to hiring more Black actors than Broadway did (41.3% vs. 40.9%), the non-profits also employed more than twice the percentage of Asian actors (9.9% vs. 3.7%), more Latinx actors (6.9% vs. 4.1%) and over four times the percentage of MENA actors (4.4% vs. 1.1%).
In addition to increasing their percentage of Black writers hired this season (31.1%) compared to their last full season before the shutdown (16.7%), the non-profits also increased the number of Asian playwrights hired, (5.1% up to 12.3%), increased Latinx writers slightly (0.7% to 1.9%), and increased MENA writer representation (0.7% to 3.8%). (Indigenous writers were the only category to decrease (0.7% to 0%). Similarly, as Black directors increased this year (11.1% to 25.7%), the non-profits also took care to increase Asian American directors (5.6% to 12.2%),and MENA directors (0.9% to 1.4%) Latinx directors were the only ones to decrease (3.7% to 2.7%).
While there is room to grow at the nonprofits, particularly when it comes to leadership, they have a long-term diversity
plan that includes a broader representation of Global Majority artists; Broadway may be relying on reactionary responses. If the commercial sector is truly trying to reverse its history of exclusion, it must have, as part of its analysis, an understanding of how White privilege has impacted all people of the Global Majority. While the industry increased the number of Black-centered stories this season, it also maintained its status quo of White stories dominating the majority of opportunities. We refuse to subscribe to a scarcity model that pits Black sibling against Brown sibling. If the pie does not get bigger for everyone, this means that power, especially at the top, is not being shared. We need more Global Majority leaders across the industry and more importance placed on truly diversifying the industry to reflect the world in which we live.
What follows in the next section of the report are the overall numbers for the entire industry. The Broadway numbers begin on page 40. The non-profit section begins on page 56. For details on how our research was conducted, please see our Methodology on page 110.
Who is Visible? Who is Invisible?
Visibility Matrix
of all roles on New York City stages went to White actors during the 2021–2022 season, making them the most visible on stage.
However, Black actors were nearly on par at 40.5%.
White and Black actors over-represented relative to their respective population sizes in New York City.
Often Are BIPOC Actors Hired in Racially Nonspecific Roles?
21.5% of
Percentage of roles that went to BIPOC actors in racially nonspecific roles at non-profits, up nominally from 20.7% during the 2018-19 season.
Percentage of roles that went to BIPOC actors in racially nonspecific roles on Broadway, a decrease from 28.4% during the 2018-19 season.
The vast majority of BIPOC actors at both non-profits and on Broadway were cast in racially specific roles as opposed to being cast inclusively.
MENA actors were the least likely group to benefit from inclusive casting this season.
Inclusive Casting
allows for BIPOC actors to be cast in roles regardless of their race—either because they have been cast in traditionally White roles or have been cast in racially nonspecific roles. Inclusive casting is one way to help address the inequity of opportunities for BIPOC actors on NYC stages.
This season there was a slight overall decline in inclusive casting, down to 21.5% from 22.7% during the 2018-19 season, which was largely attributed to an increase in racially specific casting in BIPOC-centered productions. Of the 21.5% of roles cast inclusively, Black actors were hired the most at 59.1% and Latinx actors were the second-most-hired group at 21.5%. Asian Americans comprised 15.6% of inclusively cast actors, and MENA 3.8%. As was the case in the 2018-19 season, there were no Indigenous actors hired inclusively or in racially specific roles. 24.8% of the BIPOC actors hired inclusively were mixed-race.
Broadway and the non-profits were on par this season when it came to the hiring of BIPOC actors in racially nonspecific roles. However, on Broadway, the vast majority, or 75.2%, of inclusive casting hires were employed as chorus roles in musicals as opposed to principal roles.
Racially-Specific Casting vs. Inclusive Casting
Latinx actors cast in racially-specific roles
Asian American actors cast in racially-specific roles
Black actors cast in racially-specific roles
MENA actors cast in racially-specific roles
MENA actors inclusively cast
Latinx actors inclusively cast
Asian American actors inclusively cast
of Indigenous actors were cast in racially-specific roles
of Indigenous actors were inclusively cast
Of all BIPOC actors cast this season, Does Race Change the Story Being Told? A Potential New Trend.
Latinx actors were the racial group most likely to be cast inclusively. Since Latinx writers comprised just 1.3% of all writers hired this season, there was little opportunity for Latinx actors to be hired in culturally specific stories. As a result, 85% of all Latinx actors hired this season were employed as the result of inclusive casting.
Asian Americans were hired in racially nonspecific roles 44.6% of the time while Black and MENA actors were cast inclusively less often at 31.3% and 23.1% respectively.
The industry continues to provide more opportunities to mixed-race actors in racially nonspecific roles than in race-specific roles—64.1% hired this season were inclusively cast.
A new trend came along this season that has fundamentally changed how we at AAPAC determine whether or not a show is inclusively cast. Two projects this year took plays from the canon and commissioned a BIPOC writer to tell the story from a specific cultural lens. These adaptations transformed the originals into something wholly new, so much so that we have decided NOT to classify them as Inclusive Casting but rather as BIPOC Stories, projects written by, for and centering a BIPOC culture with racially specific casting. Continues on next page
When non-traditional casting started in the 1960s, casting an actor of color in roles that were traditionally denied them not only served as casting reparations for hundreds of years of exclusion, but also re-invigorated the art form and reinforced the universal impulses that unite us. When we see an Asian actor playing Hamlet, we can still believe that we are in Denmark. In our report, any production—including new plays by BIPOC writers— which casts an actor of color in a role that is not racially specific is considered Inclusive Casting. In the early 2000s, the concept of color-conscious casting came into vogue, where an actor’s race is not besides the point but is the point, becoming a vital part of the concept or story. Many examples of this abound, such as the 2019 production of MUCH ADO at The Public, filmed for PBS’s GREAT PERFORMANCES, which set the play in an upper class neighborhood of Atlanta. Campaign banners for Stacey Abrams for President are on prominent display as we witness an all-Black cast reconciling Shakespeare’s comedy of sexual politics and gender divisions in a #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatters world. None of the text was changed, but color-conscious casting was used to make the play resonate differently and, hopefully, prove more relevant to a modern audience.
This season, a new trend has emerged that takes this directorial concept a step further by hiring a playwright to adapt a classic to make it an even more intentional and deliberate cultural fit. These productions hew close to the original but are given the freedom not to be limited by it either. In Jocelyn Bioh’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR shortened to just MERRY WIVES, at The Public this season, she situates the play in East Harlem among a panoply of West African immigrants. She cuts about half of the original characters, changes character names, and trims the play down to 110 minutes, doing away with much of Shakespeare’s outdated slang and adding a feminist and queer sensibility. While the plot is the same, the dialogue feels more colloquial, the jokes more relatable and the characters authentically African.
Director Saheem Ali also used music, costumes and other cultural tropes to make the story come alive, but it is the reworking and reshaping of the text that makes it feel like not just a concept, but something entirely new.
On Broadway this season, Lincoln Center Theater brought in playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins to add additional text to Thornton Wilder’s THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH The show follows the Antrobus family as they navigate their way through a period of about 100,000 years that includes surviving an Ice Age, a deluge of biblical proportions, and a cataclysmic war. A testament to humankind’s resilience, the play has often been described as being about the Everyman. As director Liliana Blain-Cruz says, “I wanted to challenge our normal perceptions of who the Everyman is or who gets to occupy that space. JacobsJenkins is known for adaptations (in fact, he re-interpreted EVERYMAN, the morality play from the Middle Ages which was the first play to introduce the concept of an Everyman, which he renamed EVERYBODY). Jacobs-Jenkins chose not to change too much. Some of the storytelling could be told visually, such as when Montana Levi Blanco’s costumes make clear that the war that is being talked about is the Civil War, but Jacobs-Jenkins’ small textual changes help to situate us and also provide humor, reminding us that we are an audience in the 21st century. When the maid, Sabina, played by Gabby Beans, breaks the fourth wall, she tells us that she too has no idea what is going on in this play and much prefers acting in August Wilson plays. In Act III, when the Stage Manager interrupts the action of the play to talk about the great thinkers of our civilization which, in the original, included philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle, Jacobs-Jenkins takes away the western-centric focus of Wilder and instead substitutes them with Black thinkers like bell hooks. Similarly, a quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is replaced by a poem from Maya Angelou. These textual changes preserve Wilder’s intentions but bring them into a new cultural context while upending the tacit assumptions baked into the original that White culture is the wellspring of civilization and the driving force of human history.
Productions like these fashion an existing work onto a new cultural body. We predict that there will be more of these adaptations to come because it is a natural extension of inclusive casting practices and because of the current impulse to be as authentic as possible when it comes to presenting BIPOC bodies on stage.
SPOTLIGHT:
Whose Stories Are Being Told?
White
Despite huge gains for BIPOC writers, particularly Black writers, the majority of writers across the industry as a whole were White. 27.3% Black
Percentage of White writers at non-profits. Percentage of White writers on Broadway.
For the first time on record, the non-profits nearly reached parity between White and BIPOC writers.
On Broadway, writers remained predominantly White and all BIPOC writers represented were Black
Indigenous
BIPOC writers who identified as Mixed-race
of all writers hired were BIPOC, an increase of over 20% from the 2018-19 season.
SPOTLIGHT: The Rise of Asian and Asian American Writers at the non-profits
The 2021-22 season had 9 productions written by AAPI/Asian writers in the non-profit sector, a record high. For the first time, AAPI/Asian writers hit double-digit percentages, representing 12.3% of all writers hired this season.
This is a huge jump from 5.1% in 2018-19, the last full season before the pandemic. Part of this increase is due to the fact that one of the shows, OUT OF TIME happened to be a collaboration between 5 AAPI writers, pushing the total number of Asian writers hired for the season to 13, not 9 (though one writer, Sam Chanse, had 2 projects this season, so 13 contracts were given to 12 writers).
Still, there has been a marked shift in the non-profits’ willingness to produce AAPI writers which began 4 seasons ago, with 7 AAPI writers produced in 2017-18. Prior to that, one would be lucky to see 2 AAPI stories in any given season. The non-profits doing internal work to meet the demands for greater diversity have a lot to do with this new openness, and the industry has only benefited from it. The sheer talent within the AAPI writer community is undeniable and has innovated and enriched the artform and brought more visibility to AAPI artists across the board.
The offerings from AAPI playwrights in the 2021-22 season were no exception. The themes, stories and even forms of storytelling were varied and innovative. PS by Sam Chanse (and Amina Henry) at Ars Nova started as a bold experiment during the pandemic to allow audiences to experience episodic storytelling in the form of letters written between two characters which theater-goers received in their mailboxes while isolating at home. The production finally culminated into an in-person, multi-media performance once people were allowed to come together again. LETTERS OF SURESH by Obiewinning and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph, produced at Second Stage, also crafts a script made up almost entirely of letters between a Japanese priest and a young American contestant of an origami competition. They learn
from each other over a 10-year correspondence, seeking peace with a hunger to connect. KRISTINA WONG, SWEATSHOP OVERLOAD by Kristina Wong at New York Theatre Workshop picks up similar themes. It details Ms. Wong’s autobiographical journey during the pandemic of building a community while in isolation, sewing masks with her Asian Auntie Squad even as leaders of the country were calling the Covid-19 pandemic “the China virus.”
A chronicle of what we’ve lived through and an imagining of what we want to become, this show won the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle award for Outstanding Solo Show and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. THE NOSEBLEED by Aya Ogawa at Lincoln Center Theatre’s LCT3 was also an autobiography, this one about the playwright’s relationship with their father in a story about failure and forgiveness, told through absurdist vignettes and fracturing the voice of the protagonist, Aya, who is played by a racially diverse cast of female-identifying and non-binary actors. The play received an Obie Award among other accolades. TO MY GIRLS by JC Lee at Second Stage, a comedy about a group of gay millennials on a weekend getaway, takes aim at the worst of gay culture through the lens of the central Asian character, giving voice to the experience of those even more marginalized within an already marginalized community. Two of the shows produced had a global perspective. SNOW IN MIDSUMMER by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig at Classic Stage Company is a modern retelling of one of the most famous dramas from Chinese Classical Theatre, bringing light to the injustices—and the cosmic consequences of injustice—faced in poor rural villages in current day China. GOLDEN SHIELD by Anchuli Felicia King at Manhattan Theatre Club tackles the topical subject of Chinese espionage in the US Tech industry, told through the story of two sisters at the center of a legal battle with international implications. OUT OF TIME by Jaclyn Backhaus, Sam Chanse, Mia Chung, Naomi Iizuka, and Anna Ouyang Moench at the Public Theater, was a collection of monologues performed by an ensemble of Asian actors over 60 commissioned and co-produced
by the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO). THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh, also at the Public Theater, tells the story of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman in America, who was put on display as a living exhibit. In his examination of America’s long history of exotification and racism against Asians (and Asian women in particular), Suh also forces a modern audience to examine its own gaze. This play won the Steinberg Award, the Horton Foote Prize, and the Herb Alpert Award and would go on to become one of the most-produced plays across the country in the 2021-22 season.
Notably, of these nine plays, six were directed by AAPI/ Asian directors They collectively employed 41 AAPI/ Asian Actors and 26 AAPI/Asian designers. Also of note: when producing theaters had more than one stage, these plays were more often produced in their smaller venues, ultimately impacting lower box office royalties for the playwrights and lower salary minimums for the actors
There is no guarantee that AAPI writer representation will continue in the double digits, and we don’t need to be reminded that there were no AAPI writers on Broadway at all this season nor in most seasons. We asked the playwrights that serve on our Steering Committee to give us their perspective and this is what they said:
“The need for theaters to invest in AAPI/Asian playwrights of all ages and at various stages of our careers remains vital to our inclusion on NYC stages. A reimagined and more expansive definition for ‘emerging playwrights’ would acknowledge the fact that many writers who have been writing for decades are still catching up from the lack of opportunities and access that have historically been in place. In addition to commissions and fellowships, intentional and extended strategies from artistic leadership could help ensure that our stories get on stages and/or be connected to other important resources and networks. In addition, with so many established developmental programs and organizations shuttering and smaller grassroots organizations either closing or reducing programming, there is a deep concern that the current wave of AAPI plays being produced is in jeopardy of being temporary
There remains a pervasive feeling that our communities are being tokenized as if there’s only room for a few “Asian” plays in a season. It perpetuates the perception that we are a monolith with only one story to tell. As evidenced by the diversity of content, style, and craft of AAPI/Asian playwrights in the 2021-22 season, audiences are gifted with the uniqueness and specificity of these pertinent storytellers. AAPI/Asian playwrights deserve to be witnessed for their own singularity. And so, it is important to note that of the 12 writers referenced here, nine playwrights identify as being of East Asian descent, two of South Asian descent, and only one of Southeast Asian descent. There were no Pacific Islander writers produced.
Still, we celebrate the increase in our representation during the 2021-22 season and remain determined to write the multitude of our stories into the narrative of the American theater.
Christine Toy Johnson, Nandita Shenoy, Vichet Chum
Who Gets to Shape the Stories?
Percentage of White directors at non-profits.
Percentage of White directors on Broadway.
Despite significant gains for BIPOC directors, the majority of directors hired were overwhelmingly White. BIPOC directors increased by over 20% at non-profits and by 17% on Broadway.
Note: Each sound decibel ( | ) represents one director. of all NYC theatre productions were shaped by BIPOC directors, an overall increase of 16.4% from the 2018-19 season.
Who Gets to Shape BIPOC Stories?
33.3% of all productions written by at least one BIPOC writer, composer, librettist or lyricist were directed by a White director, down 25.5% from the previous season when it was 58.8%.
16 out of 48
productions written by at least one BIPOC writer were directed by a White director.
White directors helmed far fewer productions written by BIPOC writers at both the non-profits and on Broadway this season at 30.9% and 33.3% respectively.
4 out of 12
Broadway productions written by at least one BIPOC writer were directed by a White director.
Conversely, BIPOC directors directing productions written by White writers occurred 10.5% of the time, an increase of 1.6% from last season.
13 out of 41
non-profit productions written by at least one BIPOC writer were directed by a White director.
Who Gets to Design the Stories?
Across the overall industry, BIPOC designers increased by 24.2% from the 2018-19 season.
The non-profits hired majority BIPOC designers this season, an increase of over 25% from the 2018-19 season. Broadway also saw a roughly 25% increase in BIPOC designers this season.
Are Gatekeepers Biased?
Non-Profit Artistic Directors
Only 21.7 % of associate producers were White. Many of the Black (43.5%), Asian (26.1%), and Latinx (8.7%) producers were producing for the first time. By and large, however, most of these shows were possible because White producers thought these stories were important and wanted to invest in them. This is to be commended, and yet lead producers need to do a better job of reaching out beyond their existing rolodexes to actively bring coproducers of color on board. What might have been different in terms of innovation, audience outreach, and marketing with more BIPOC producers on board? We speculate on this in the Spotlight on the pages 32-33, What Can BIPOC Producers Add?
Non-Profit Managing Directors
What does it mean to have a mandate
to increase diversity when almost all of the power lies within the dominant group?
These are the leaders who increased overall diversity by leaps and bounds when it came to hiring creatives, actors and designers, when it came to greenlighting projects and building bridges to expand their audiences, but it is telling that not much power has been shared at the very top. Broadway producers were 87.1% White in 2021-22, a 6.5% increase in BIPOC producers compared to before the pandemic. Broadway general managers were 99% White, a nominal improvement by 1%. The increase in Black stories on Broadway this year opened the door for more producers of color than ever and for the first time on Broadway, there were 6 BIPOC lead producers, all of them Black. Associate producers, something we have begun tracking for the first time, were the most diverse and while not every show had associate producers, it points to the fact that when investments were offered in smaller increments, it proved more accessible and ended up increasing diversity.
Associate artistic directors were 46.2% BIPOC, the non-profit leadership category most likely to hire a BIPOC professional
Non-Profit Associate Artistic Directors
The non-profits were the driving force
for diversity this season and yet, just like Broadway, minimal power was shared at the very top. They added more BIPOC members to their boards, going from 88% White board members before the pandemic to 83.7% in 2021-22, a difference of 4.3%. There was no change at the artistic director level: 100% were White (editor’s note: New York Theatre Workshop hired a BIPOC artistic director after the 2021-22 season, Patricia McGregor, whose tenure began in the 2023-24 season), but movement was made at the associate artistic director level, new to the report this year,
when Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Horizons, The Public, Second Stage, The Vineyard, and WP Theater all added BIPOC associate ADs. Associates at non-profits were only 53.8% White, making this the leadership category most likely to hire a BIPOC professional. Managing directors at the non-profits, also new to the report this year, came in at 94.4% White.
Percentage of White leadership at non-profits. Percentage of White leadership on Broadway.
The top positions of power in the New York theatre industry continue to be filled with predominantly White leaders.
Broadway Producers
Broadway Lead Producers
Broadway Associate Producers
General Managers
The vast majority of Broadway leadership was White with the exception of associate producers which were 78.3% BIPOC. of Color (see Spotlight on the next page) will help move the needle.
What will it take to give up power at
the top? Unfortunately, this is one arena where significant change will not come rapidly. Some artistic directors have held on to their tenures for decades and some make hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual salaries. Broadway producers, too, have no incentive to retire. There is no 401K or golden parachute to collect early. (In fact, for many Broadway producers who made their money in other fields, producing is part of their retirement plan).
That said, there has been a lot of public pressure to improve diversity on boards at theater companies, and that is likely where we will see more movement in this category. In the commercial realm, nothing stops a person of color from becoming a producer, so hopefully efforts like Theatre Producers
Broadway lead producers have also realized that there are plenty of established people in other fields such as music and film who don’t normally produce on Broadway but would hop on board for a mission-driven project and could help to bring in audiences that traditional Broadway marketing hasn’t reached. The Old Guard has realized that diversity is good for their business—as long as they are still the ones steering the ship.
SPOTLIGHT:
The Next Generation of BIPOC Producers
Our community partners at The Industry Standard Group (TISG) and Theatre Producers of Color are doing something different. Formed during the pandemic, Theatre Producers of Color are actively attracting and training the next generation of BIPOC producers and giving them access to Broadway stakeholders through workshops and seminars Through TISG as an investment vehicle, people can invest in shows collectively for as little as $500, bringing in different communities far from the usual Broadway investing pool to help shape the future of Broadway
Find out more at theatreproducersofcolor.org and theindustrystandardgroup.com
SPOTLIGHT:
What Can BIPOC Producers Add?
This year, for the first time ever, there were 6 Black lead producers on Broadway in addition to many more BIPOC co-producers and associate producers making their Broadway producing debuts. Just as it is important to have BIPOC artists being able to tell and shape their own stories, equally important is allowing them to take the lead when it comes to how the show is represented in its marketing and advertising, having a say in how the show takes care of its artists, and how a show conducts audience outreach, particularly to diverse audiences who may not have felt welcome in the past given Broadway’s history of exclusion. BIPOC producers play an important role not just in diversifying the theater audience but quite possibly in changing the industry itself. What can BIPOC producers add?
–BIPOC producers have championed stories—and ways of telling stories—that Main Stem Broadway producers have overlooked. Five out of the six lead producers on THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN were Black, and marketing materials called it “the first Broadway project to be written by, directed by, starring and lead produced by Black artists”. It was the type of play that is rare on Broadway, using song, spoken word, and slam poetry to capture portraits of 7 Black men grappling with existential questions of race and masculinity. The playwright, Keenan Scott II, a slam poet with no track record in playwriting, workshopped the play independently, maxing out credit cards and borrowing from family members before he met originating producer Brian Moreland who set the play on a more historically traditional path, workshopping the play at Arena Stage and New York Theatre Workshop and enhancing a regional production along with fellow producer Ron Simons at Baltimore Center Stage. Both men had co-produced on Broadway before but this would be their first project as lead producers. The task was not an easy one, and Keenan Scott II has gone on record as saying, “Brian and I had to knock on every single door in New York, two to three times” (The Bottom Line News). It was the racial reckoning and the fact that this play spoke immediately to breaking down
stereotypes about Black men that finally opened those doors.
Similarly, CHICKEN AND BISCUITS was a risk by Broadway standards. Though its originating producer, Hunter Arnold, is White, Mr. Arnold sought out Black partners and co-producers, including 2 Black lead producers, Broadway performer E. Clayton Cornelious and Pamela Ross, neither of whom had previous producing credits. In interviews, Mr. Arnold has said, “When you’re looking at who was willing to take the risk to bring Broadway back first, it wasn’t producers of regular material, and that says something” (Andscape). These producers were willing to bankroll a playwright, Douglas Lyons, with credits on Broadway as an actor but with no track record as a writer; a director, Zhailon Levingston, who, at 27, was the youngest Black director in Broadway history and a show whose previous OffOff-Broadway production had been cut short by the pandemic before any buzz could build at a venue that had never before transferred a show to Broadway, the Queens Theatre in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The show itself, a comedy about a Black family at a funeral, seemed geared to an audience that was not typical of the traditional Broadway audience, with cultural references and archetypes that many Black audiences might immediately recognize but would hopefully appeal to a larger audience. As an example of making a non-traditional audience feel more welcome, the director and producers eschewed the traditional pre-show announcement which usually comes with a list of prohibitions, and instead, directed its audience to “Shout. Say hallelujah. Say amen.”
–BIPOC producers have taken care of their own. At a time when artists of color are highlighting industry practices that continue to create trauma and psychological harm, BIPOC producers are taking it upon themselves to create safe spaces for their artists. No producer has been more vocal about this than Antoinette Nwandu, writer of PASS OVER. She insisted that lead producers Lincoln Center Theatre and Jujamacyn make her a producer on her show. In addition to giving her three
actors twice the union minimum salary of $2,512/ week she also successfully advocated for providing car rides home after the show and an additional $250/week wellness stipend that they could spend on what they needed in order to decompress from the process of performing trauma on stage eight times a week. “I need theater to be less about administration and more about giving the artists a living wage to do the work that is the magic.” (From NYTimes Audio Podcast Interview “The First Play Returning to Broadway is Doing Things Differently” Aug 6, 2021). Written in response to the slaying of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent trial in 2013 and with a production before the pandemic at Lincoln Center’s OffBroadway LCT3, in this Broadway iteration, Nwandu changed the ending of her play, choosing not to portray a Black man getting shot on stage every night. Nwandu has said that in the wake of George Floyd, the world no longer needed awareness of police brutality but needed healing and she believed that the healing needed to be present in every single part of the production.
–BIPOC producers have created opportunities for more Global Majority artists. In addition to hiring predominantly BIPOC cast members and hiring BIPOC directors, it is noteworthy that all three of these productions sought diverse teams throughout all aspects of the production, including roles that we do not include in our statistics. THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN hired 4 out of 6 BIPOC designers, PASS OVER hired an all-BIPOC design team and had a Black stage manager, as did CHICKEN & BISCUITS which made history with the first allBlack design team on Broadway including the first Black female sound designer, Twi McCallum.
–BIPOC producers have brought BIPOC audiences and innovated traditional Broadway marketing. An entirely new area of specialization has sprung up in the field of Broadway marketing to reach diverse audiences. All three shows hired a Black, female-led marketing company called RealEmN to augment traditional press and marketing to specifically reach Black audiences listed in
programs as “Diversity Marketing Consultant.” A greater portion of the ad budget went to Black radio stations and Black periodicals compared to traditional Broadway shows. You never saw a Broadway booth at Harlem Day before, a celebration of NYC’s famously diverse neighborhood, but you’ll likely see one there every year from now on. The same might be true for Kwanzaa ticket promotions on social media, or cast members of Broadway shows hosting A Night at The Apollo. Theme nights such as Black Out Night started with Slave Play the season before the pandemic, but were carried through this season by these three shows – CHICKEN & BISCUITS even created special after-parties after the show. PASS OVER closed down streets and threw a block party. Underscoring all these events was a focus on community never making people feel like producers viewed them solely as consumers. Accessible ticketing options played a large role in this. PASS OVER, for instance, reserved premium seats at every show that were sold for only $40 and distributed in partnership with community partners such as churches and BIPOC-led community groups. THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN carrying through a theme in the show, partnered with the YMCA of Greater New York to bring a mobile barbershop to give free haircuts to neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx. These are just some of the many initiatives, all pointing to the fact that BIPOC producers have relationships with organizations that serve specific communities and are more motivated to go to where fellow community members are and to let them know that there is a show on Broadway that may speak to their experience. It will take years before The Great White Way can erase its elitist reputation, but bringing in shows like these and supporting innovative marketing initiatives is an important step.
BIPOC producers play an important role in redefining the Broadway brand
Which Sector is More Likely to Hire BIPOC Artists?
Broadway vs. the Non-profits, A Tale of Two Differing Priorities
accomplished a historic increase in diversity but did so in different ways. What emerges in comparing the two is a tale of two differing priorities, or one might even say two different underlying philosophies.
Both sectors prioritized Black stories in the 2021-22 season; On Broadway, 12 out of 33 Broadway productions (36.4%), were dedicated to telling a Black-centered story and coincidentally, a similar percentage was true at the non-profit theater companies with 28 out of 74 productions (37.8%). The biggest difference is that Broadway responded Broadway and the non-profits
to the moment in extremely binary terms. There were no BIPOC stories on Broadway except for Black stories. White writers still comprised an eye-raising 76.3% of all writers on Broadway. Black writers made up the remaining 23.7%. In contrast, the non-profits viewed diversity through a wider spectrum. They achieved more equity by hiring 50.9% of White writers and 49.1% BIPOC writers. Black writers received the highest focus at 31.1% of all writers hired, but the non-profits also hired Asian American writers (12.3%), MENA writers (3.8%) and Latinx writers (1.9%), all of which represented increases from the season before the pandemic. Indigenous writers, on the other hand, had no representation at all.
Not surprisingly, the diversity of
writers hired influenced employment opportunities for actors. While Broadway reached near parity with 50.2% White actors and 49.8% Global Majority actors, Black actors accounted for 40.9% of all BIPOC actors. In contrast, the non-profits, for the first time ever, hired more Global Majority actors (62.5%) than White actors (about 37%). They hired a slightly larger percentage of Black actors than Broadway did (41.3%) and in addition, also hired more than twice the percentage of Asian actors (9.9% vs. 3.7%), more Latinx actors (6.9% vs. 4.1%) and over four times the percentage of MENA actors (4.4% vs. 1.1%).
Broadway diversified in extremely binary terms. There were no BIPOC-centered stories except Black stories.
The non-profits increased diversity across the board for all BIPOC theater makers.
White on Broadway but more diverse at the non-profits at 58.1%. There was also a large gap between Broadway and the non-profits when it came to White designers, 67.8% vs. 47.5% respectively.
What can we glean from this difference in focus? While no one could call this momentous season business as usual, many of the shows on Broadway were the traditional fare that we have come to expect from previous seasons: star-driven projects (Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in PLAZA SUITE, Lawrence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss in AMERICAN BUFFALO, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in THE MUSIC MAN, Billy Crystal in MR. SATURDAY NIGHT, Daniel Craig
Similarly, directors were 76.5% and Ruth Negga in MACBETH); adaptations of well known properties (MRS. DOUBTFIRE THE MUSICAL); tony British imports (THE LEHMAN TRILOGY, HANGMEN); and revivals that were aimed squarely at the traditional musical theater audience (FUNNY GIRL, COMPANY). Some shows that were counted this year–DIANA THE MUSICAL, THE MUSIC MAN, MRS. DOUBTFIRE, THE MINUTES, and SIX THE MUSICAL were already set or had begun previews in the 2019-20 season before Covid-19 shut down the industry. In addition, one of the new BIPOC projects this season, MJ, about the pop icon Michael Jackson, had a built-in wide audience base that would likely have come to Broadway even without the call for more Black stories in the wake of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Part of the credit for Broadway produce THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN and associate produced PARADISE SQUARE. The majority of Black-centered stories were shepherded by White lead producers, which has been true for most of Broadway’s history, but this year, with more Black lead producers and BIPOC co-producers, the membrane of close-knit investors and inner circles seemed a bit more permeable.
numbers rising came from the non-profits that produce on Broadway. Five out of the 12 Black-centered stories on Broadway this year were produced by a non-profit: LACKAWANNA BLUES, SKELETON CREW (both from Manhattan Theatre Club), the adaptation of THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH (Lincoln Center Theater), TROUBLE IN MIND (Roundabout Theatre Company), and CLYDE’S (Second Stage). If we were to take out their contributions and look at the commercial sector by itself, writers on Broadway would have been 81.8% White and directors would have been 87% White. Still, the commercial sector gets credit for producing the other 7 of the 12 Black-centered stories, which in itself would have been a new high. The risk-taking they were willing to undergo and the types of stories being told that helped us to make sense of the current moment, particularly for projects like PASS OVER, CHICKEN AND BISCUITS, THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN, A STRANGE LOOP, PARADISE SQUARE and FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF (we go into more depth on three of them on pages 32-33), showed that profit was not the main motivator, which is rare for Broadway. Finding themselves with available theaters early in the season when Main Stem producers were still too skittish to bring in their shows, theater owners took greater risks. In fact, for PASS OVER, the theater owner, Jujamcyn, uncharacteristically stepped up as a lead producer. The Shubert Organization, another theater owner, also helped to co-
The question is, was Broadway
just responding to current events and will this focus be sustained over the long term?
It is safe to say that some things have fundamentally changed. The number of BIPOC artists, designers, and producers with Broadway credits has now increased, the pool is substantially more diverse than it has been and will only become more so. Along with Covid Safety Officer as a new position this year, we also saw Intimacy Coordinators credited for the first time on Broadway, a sign that some shows on Broadway, at least, were trying to create safe spaces and undo the harm outlined in the We See You White American Theatre missive. The Broadway League, the trade association for Broadway theater producers, added 2 BIPOC producers this year, both Black, to their Board of Governors and created a new position, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, hiring Gennean M. Scott. Ms.Scott launched the now-annual Juneteenth concert on Broadway and held private diversity summits with Black-led advocacy groups. (Editor’s note: Ms. Scott has recently resigned).
Designers
Structurally, it is hard to institute
change in a sector where there is no oversight. The biggest advantage of the commercial sector is that there is very little barrier to entry. In some ways, it is more open than the non-profit sector in that anyone with capital can decide to produce a play. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to drive a cohesive vision as a sector; there is no magic lever to include Asian, Latinx, MENA or Indigenous stories across the whole enterprise. The Broadway League negotiates on the producers’ behalf with the Broadway unions, but itself does not govern the producers of each Broadway show which are run as separate companies. Broadway is a business, and a show must survive on its own merits. It then becomes beholden upon each arm of the industry, from producing offices to general management companies to casting agencies, to determine for themselves how they want to respond to the demand for more diversity and to see diversity as more than just a Black and White issue. Much of the catalyst that has caused Broadway to change has come from independent outside agencies. During the pandemic and throughout the return, it was grassroots organizations like Broadway for Racial Justice and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, not the Broadway League, that were leading discussions on race and how Broadway needed to change. Established Black artists created groups like Black Theatre United and the Black Theatre Coalition, demanding from the Broadway League and theater owners specific changes like the
renaming of Broadway theaters to recognize the contributions of Black theater artists and initiatives such as mentoring and apprentice programs. It is to the credit of the old guard that they responded positively and in many cases, provided the money for these initiatives to happen. Largess should be commended, but without more of the Global Majority in leadership positions, the power dynamics remain the same.
The non-profits, on the other hand,
seemed to be looking inward. They crafted statements in response to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s murders which also often included recognition of the institutional racism at their own organizations and the influence of white supremacy on the theater system. Many provided diversity training for their employees and created their own internal committees that discussed via Zoom how to change their companies’ practices when the industry came back. They became more concerned with who they were as an institution and the core values that they stood for. Almost all hired more BIPOC staff members including new associate leadership positions, and one, the Roundabout Theatre Company, established advisory boards of diverse artists who would play a role in season selection, a big and innovative step that signaled a desire to overturn their past track record when it came to diversity. This newfound acknowledgement of institutionalized racism did not happen overnight. Diversity has been a core topic
at annual conferences held by the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) where theater makers across the country come to learn from and share resources with one another. These conversations have always sought to include Asian, Latinx, MENA and Indigenous voices in discussions on race. The pandemic spurred existing diversity initiatives into high gear, driven by many of the BIPOC employees at these institutions. The fact that many of them began instituting a practice of land acknowledgments before official meetings, first rehearsals and every performance, demonstrated an awareness of the Indigenous people who have been erased and on whose lands they occupy. This is just one indication of how exclusionary practices did not boil down to simply Black/White race relations, as was the case on Broadway.
The non-profits, of course, have
a natural advantage in that they have multiple slots in a season to fill and a greater opportunity to present multiple voices as part of their overall season selection. Budgets for productions are smaller Off-Broadway, there aren’t as many seats to fill, and more risks can be taken. Most crucially, the non-profits have an existing pipeline. Dramaturgs and artistic associates are hired specifically to develop new work and familiarize themselves with emerging artists. This is very different from the commercial sector, which relies solely on each individual producer to develop their own projects. For all these reasons,
one would assume that the non-profits are always more reliably diverse than Broadway. Our report has proven that assumption to be untrue. In the 14 years for which we have data, the non-profits have only consistently bested Broadway as far as diversity is concerned since the 2016-17 season, just 5 seasons ago. For many years before that, the two sectors were almost indistinguishable from one another statistically. Just because a theater company had four or five slots to fill did not mean that the wealth was shared equally. For years, artists of color were made to compete with each other for the one slot each season dedicated to diverse fare (which typically happened because the non-profit could get grant funding for producing it). What happened this year, where more BIPOC artists were hired than White artists, is truly remarkable. There is still work to be done, particularly in regards to Asian, Latinx, MENA, and Indigenous representation. Still, what this season showed was that the non-profits were willing not just to share, but to give up power (in all areas except at the Artistic Director level). They enlarged the pie across the board for BIPOC theater makers, making it the first season in the 14 years for which we have data where a scarcity model did not exist, that is, where numbers for all other BIPOC groups did not go down when one group rose up. The scarcity model still exists for the Broadway sector, especially when it comes to those with creative power. While the huge gains for Black artists is cause for celebration, all other BIPOC groups are equally poised to make significant
strides forward. According to our report this year, there remains an invisible barrier that preserves the whiteness of the status quo at 76.3% for writers and 76.5% for directors.
In conclusion, the non-profits,
notably within the last 5 seasons, have been actively working to be anti-racist, to dismantle their own racist institutions with an understanding of how White supremacy has impacted all BIPOC groups. While Broadway showed a willingness to support Black artists during a moment of tragedy and to make changes when under pressure, it is unclear as to whether or not this empathy will be sustained and develop into a broader reaching diversity plan. Because the non-profits are institutions, they are better able to make diversity a core value that defines who they are as a company. They are now asking “Who is not at the table? What voices are we missing? How can we find more diverse talent?” Without this awareness, it will be much more difficult for Broadway to sustain diversity measures consistently over the long run.
Broadway
For the first time ever, there was near-parity between White actors (50.2%) and BIPOC actors (49.8%) on Broadway. Of the 49.8% BIPOC actors hired, Black actors represented 40.9% of all roles. This was a function of the unprecedented jump in the number of Black writers on Broadway, from 2.7% in the season before the pandemic to a new high of 23.7%. Of the 33 new productions on Broadway, 12, or 36%, were written by Black writers and centered Black stories. Still, White writers dominated, writing 76.3% of all Broadway plays and musicals produced this year.
Similarly, 76.5% of all directors on Broadway were White despite big gains from Black directors. Of note was a new urgency to pair BIPOC stories with BIPOC directors, more so than in years past. While 100% of the Broadway shows written by BIPOC writers were directed by White directors in the season before the pandemic, in the 2021-22 season, only 12% of BIPOC stories were directed by White directors (CLYDE’S, PARADISE SQUARE, MJ THE MUSICAL, and A STRANGE LOOP). Many BIPOC directors made their Broadway debuts this year including Danya Taymor (PASS OVER), Zailon Levingston (CHICKEN & BISCUITS), Steve H. Broadnax III (THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN), Lileana Blain-Cruz (THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH), and Camille A. Brown (FOR COLORED GIRLS). Before Ms. Blain-Cruz and Ms. Brown, there had not been a single Black woman to direct a Broadway show in 65 years. Both women were Tony-nominated for their work.
The same story applied to Broadway designers—big gains were made as a result
of Black directors bringing BIPOC designers onto their teams. CHICKEN & BISCUITS had the first all-Black design team on Broadway. Lighting designers Jiyoun Chang (FOR COLORED GIRLS) and Yi Zhao (SKIN OF OUR TEETH) became the first Asians to be nominated for a Tony award for Lighting Design in a Play. As a result, White Designers came in at 67.8% this year, a big change compared to before the pandemic where they over-represented at 92.6%. Still, White designers dominated Set and Lighting Design (78.8%), Sound Design (73.5%) and Projection and Video Design (91.7%). Costume designers, interestingly, made way for the most opportunity for BIPOC talent, experiencing the biggest change from pre-pandemic times—they were 79.4% White in 2018-19 and 39.4% this season.
There was a great variety of Black stories on Broadway this season. We saw a Black play based on a western classic, PASS OVER by Antoinette Nwandu, which provided an utterly unique take on Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT, and another western classic transformed into a Black play, Thornton Wilder’s THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH that, with new text by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins and under Lileana Blain-Cruz’s direction, made us question how a story about the first human family on earth could have possibly been portrayed as a White family for so long. (See our spotlight Does Race Change the Story Being Told? on page 16). With Alice Childress’ TROUBLE IN MIND, which was slated to come to Broadway in 1957 but was canceled when the playwright refused to make changes that would make White audiences
more comfortable, The Roundabout Theatre Company made a poignant argument this year to excavate and bring to light historical works that might have been excluded from the canon due to racism. The big Tony winner this season was Michael R. Jackson’s A STRANEG LOOP, a transfer from the non-profits about the highs and lows of a queer Black musical theater writer that brought rawness and a brutality that is a rarity on Broadway. Add to this list the well-reviewed revival of FOR COLORED GIRLS, a movement-based lyric poem about Black women moving through their pain that provided healing for haggard post-pandemic audiences as well, and PARADISE SQUARE, a largely untold story about a time in the Five Points neighborhood before the Civil War when Black and Irish Americans lived, worked and married in relative harmony, and you have a season that provides an intersectional kaleidoscope of Black Lives and history that brought humanity to the Black experience. Even without the non-profits producing on Broadway, this would have been a recordbreaking season with more Black writers hired than ever before. The Broadway industry met the moment while living up to multiple challenges. And yet…
All other Global Majority stories were deprioritized. 100% of the Global Majority stories on Broadway were Black stories.
Asian, Latinx, and MENA actor representation stayed relatively the same compared to before the pandemic. Latinx actors saw a slight decrease from 4.5% to 4.1% this year. MENA actors had an incremental uptick from 0.7% to 1.1%. Asian actors decreased, from 4.5% to 3.7%. The disparity was starker when looking at lead roles. Only 1 Asian actor, 1 Latinx actor and 2 MENA actors played leading roles in a musical. Out of the 21 plays on Broadway this season, there were 0 Asian, Latinx, or MENA actors in leading roles. Indigenous actors were again completely shut out with no representation on Broadway.
What this tells us is that there was a very narrow understanding of diversity on Broadway that did not include other BIPOC groups. While it was important to prioritize Black stories during the 2021-22 season, if diversity is not a core value that is demonstrated across all hiring practices on a consistent basis, then what will happen in subsequent seasons, when the impetus to make good after the Black Lives Matter movement has passed?
Broadway Actors
50.2%
of all actors on Broadway were White, resulting in near-parity with BIPOC actors at 49.8%.
Black actors comprised the vast majority of BIPOC actors at 40.9% of all available roles.
Broadway Musicals
White actors continue to dominate the majority of lead and featured roles in musicals.
Lead vs. Featured
Black actors in lead roles increased by over
Principal vs. Chorus
55.2% of roles in musicals were cast with White actors.
44.8% were cast with BIPOC actors, up from 41.1% during the 2018-19 season.
Broadway Plays
44% of roles in straight plays were cast with White actors.
Black actors comprised the majority of roles at 45.2%, but White actors played the majority of lead roles.
Lead vs. Featured
of all lead roles
of all featured roles
of all lead roles 5.1% of all featured roles
There were 0% lead roles played by Asian American, Latinx, MENA or Indigenous actors.
56% of roles went to BIPOC actors, an increase of nearly 30% from the 2018-19 season.
Broadway Writers
Broadway Plays and Musicals Combined
White writers continue to dominate Broadway, despite significant gains for Black writers.
14.3%
BIPOC writers who identified as Mixed-race
Black writers increased by 21%, up from 2.7% during the 2018-19 season.
All other BIPOC writers were shut out this season.
12 out of 33
9 out of 21
36.4% of all productions on Broadway were dedicated to telling a Black-centered story
5 out of the 12 Black-centered stories on Broadway were produced by non-profit theaters.
3 out of 12
Broadway Plays and Musicals Combined
White directors continue to dominate on Broadway particularly when it comes to musicals.
There were only 8 BIPOC directors on Broadway this season and none were hired to direct a musical.
A STRANGE LOOP book by Michael R. Jackson; music and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson; directed by Stephen Brackett
CLYDE’S by Lynn Nottage; directed by Kate Whoriskey
MJ THE MUSICAL book by Lynn Nottage; music by Jason Michael Webb & David Holcenberg; directed by Christopher Wheeldon
PARADISE SQUARE book by Christina Anderson & Craig Lucas & Larry Kirwan; music by Jason Howland & Masi Asare; lyrics by Nathan Tysen; directed by Moisés Kaufman
Shows written by at least one BIPOC writer/composer/ librettist/lyricist that were directed by a White director: of
Broadway musicals were directed by White directors.
of Broadway plays were directed by White directors.
Broadway Designers
Racial Breakdown By Design Discipline:
Despite big gains for BIPOC designers on Broadway, designers remained majority White.
BROADWAY DESIGNERS
BIPOC designers who identified as Mixed-race
BIPOC designers increased significantly to 32.2%, up from 7.4% during the 2018-19 season.
Broadway Plays & Musicals
2021–2022 Season
AMERICAN BUFFALO by David Mamet; directed by Neil Pepe
BIRTHDAY CANDLES* by Noah Haidle; directed by Vivienne Benesch
CHICKEN & BISCUITS by Douglas Lyons; directed by Zhailon Levingston
CLYDE’S* by Lynn Nottage; directed by Kate Whoriskey
DANA H. by Lucas Hnath & Dana Higginbotham; directed by Les Waters
FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF by Ntozake Shange; directed by Camille A. Brown
HANGMEN by Martin McDonagh; directed by Matthew Dunster
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE* by Paula Vogel; directed by Mark Brokaw
IS THIS A ROOM by Tina Satter; directed by Tina Satter
LACKAWANNA BLUES* by Ruben Santiago-Hudson; directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
MACBETH by William Shakespeare; directed by Sam Gold
PASS OVER by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu; directed by Danya Taymor
PLAZA SUITE by Neil Simon; directed by John Benjamin Hickey
POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM
ALIVE by Selina Fillinger; directed by Susan Stroman
SKELETON CREW* by Dominique Morisseau; directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
TAKE ME OUT* by Richard Greenberg; directed by Scott Ellis
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY by Stefano Massini; adapted by Ben Power; directed by Sam Mendes
THE MINUTES by Tracy Letts; directed by Anna D. Shapiro
THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH* by Thornton Wilder & Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN by Keenan Scott II; directed by Steve H. Broadnax III
TROUBLE IN MIND* by Alice Childress; directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
Musicals
A STRANGE LOOP book by Michael R. Jackson; music and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson; directed by Stephen Brackett
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE* book by Tony Kushner; music by Jeanine Tesori; lyrics by Tony Kushner; directed by Michael Longhurst
COMPANY book by George Furth; music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; directed by Marianne Elliott
DIANA: THE MUSICAL book by Joe DiPietro; music by David Bryan; lyrics by Joe DiPietro & David Bryan; directed by Christopher Ashley
FLYING OVER SUNSET* book by James Lapine; music by Tom Kitt; lyrics by Michael Korie; directed by James Lapine
FUNNY GIRL book by Isobel Lennart & Harvey Fierstein; music by Jule Styne; lyrics by Bob Merrill; directed by Michael Mayer
MJ THE MUSICAL book by Lynn Nottage; music by Jason Michael Webb & David Holcenberg; directed by Christopher Wheeldon
MRS. DOUBTFIRE book by Karey Kirkpatrick & John O’Farrell; music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick & Karey Kirkpatrick; directed by Jerry Zaks
MR. SATURDAY NIGHT book by Billy Crystal & Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel; music by Jason Robert Brown; lyrics by Amanda Green; directed by John Rando
PARADISE SQUARE book by Christina Anderson & Craig Lucas & Larry Kirwan; music by Jason Howland & Masi Asare; lyrics by Nathan Tysen; directed by Moisés Kaufman
SIX: THE MUSICAL book by Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss; music by Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss; directed by Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage
THE MUSIC MAN book by Meredith Willson; based on the original story by Meredith Willson & Franklin Lacey; music and lyrics by Meredith Willson; directed by Jerry Zaks
*Indicates a production produced on Broadway by a non-profit theatre that was not a commercial transfer.
Non-Profits
As they have for the past 4 seasons, the non-profits led the industry’s growth this year as far as diversity is concerned. BIPOC actor representation leapt to 62.5% up from 41.3% before the pandemic and a stunning 13 out of 17 theaters hired majority BIPOC actors. This is the first season on record where more BIPOC actors were hired than White actors. Black actors comprised 41.3% of all actors hired at the non-profits, up from 31.5% in 2018-19, and while Asian American, Latinx and MENA actors also saw increases, they were far more modest. No Indigenous actors were hired.
The driving force behind the increases for BIPOC actors, particularly Black actors, was the increase in BIPOC stories (BIPOC productions with at least 1 BIPOC writer that centered BIPOC stories and characters). For the first time on record, there were more BIPOC-centered stories produced at the non-profits than White centric ones. 55.4% of all productions were BIPOC stories—37.2% were Black-centered, 11.5% Asian-centered, and 5.4% MENA-centered. Of the 28 Black-centered stories, there was an explosive variety of shows in the mix with revivals from veteran women playwrights Lynn Nottage (INTIMATE APPAREL), Alice Childress (WEDDING BAND) and Anna Deavere Smith (TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES 1992); two new musicals—BLACK NO MORE with book by John Ridley, lyrics by Tariq Trotter and music by Trotter, Anthony Tidd, James Poyser and Daryl Waters, and THE VISITOR with book by Kwame-Kwei-Armah and Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt; a Shakespeare adaptation by Jocelyn Bioh
(MERRY WIVES) and FAT HAM by James Ijame, a play inspired by Shakespeare’s HAMLET. But the vast majority of productions comprised a cornucopia of Black plays exploring the expansiveness of the Black experience—Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s Afro-surrealist play CULLUD WHATTAH about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, Bioh’s NOLLYWOOD DREAMS about the booming Nigerian film industry of the 1990s, Aleshea Harris and The Movement Theatre Company’s WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN a self-described “play-pageant-ritualhomegoing celebration” exploring racialized violence of Black bodies, and TAMBO AND BONES by Dave Harris about two characters trapped in a minstrel show are just a few examples of the breadth of Black stories told this season. (The non-profits were also responsible for producing 5 of the 12 Black productions on Broadway, see page 36.)
As detailed earlier in this report, the nonprofits single-handedly supported a record breaking 9 Asian-centered stories this season (see Spotlight on page 20) and produced 4 plays that centered a cross-section of MENA experiences. THE VAGRANT TRILOGY by Mona Mansour looked at Palestinian displacement over three generations; Sylvia Khoury’s SELLING KABUL centered an Afghan family caught within the tension of intensifying Taliban pressure and the promises of safety from America; Sanaz Toossi’s ENGLISH about Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam explored the impact of language on broader matters of identity and WISH YOU WERE HERE followed a tight-knit group of Iranian women as they navigate the push and pull
of political unrest and emigration over more than a decade. ENGLISH went on to receive a 2023 OBIE for best new American play, the 2023 Pulitzer for drama, and will be produced on Broadway in the upcoming 2024-25 season. Latinx-centered stories, however, were nearly non-existent this season with only 1 production—Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT adapted and directed by Laurie Woolery and Shaina Taub with a predominantly Black and Latinx cast—counting as a Latinx BIPOC story. 2 mixed-raced Latinx writers were also hired this season—Ruben Santiago-Hudson who wrote, directed and starred in the autobiographical solo show LACKAWANNA BLUES which counted as a Black-centered story due to his Puerto Rican/Black heritage and Ana Nogueira who penned the comedy WHICH WAY TO THE STAGE that explored the tension of a longstanding friendship between a straight woman and a gay man. Nogueira was counted in Latinx writer stats but since her play did not center Latinx characters, we did not count it as a BIPOC story. Latinx actors gained the vast majority of roles this season as a result of Inclusive Casting.
The number of BIPOC directors and designers saw significant increases at the non-profits this season, with BIPOC directors nearly doubling to 41.9% up from 21.3% in 201819 and BIPOC designers comprising 52.5% of all designers up from 26.8%. Diversity in leadership positions continues to be the sticking point for the non-profits and was the only area where there were little gains made relative to the unparalleled improvements in other areas. Leadership was just 16.1% BIPOC, up from 11.6% pre-pandemic. That said, 5 theaters tackled this issue by hiring BIPOC associate artistic directors—Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, The Vineyard Theater, and WP Theater—and Second Stage Theater hired a BIPOC Executive Director. (Editor’s note: as of the date of this publication, 2 out of 5 of those hires have left or were let go).
Non-Profit Actors
41.3%
of all non-profit roles were filled by Black actors. For the first time on record, more BIPOC actors were hired than White actors.
Non-Profit Writers
BIPOC writers accounted for 49.1% of all writers hired, an increase of over 25% from the 2018-19 season.
For the first time on record, there were more BIPOCcentered stories produced at the non-profits than White centric ones.
41 out of 74
non-profit productions had at least 1 BIPOC writer and centered BIPOC stories and characters.
Non-Profit Directors
BIPOC directors who identified as
BIPOC
directors accounted for 41.9%, nearly doubling from 21.3% in the 2018-19 season.
Shows written by at least one BIPOC writer/composer/ librettist/lyricist that were directed by a White director:
BLACK NO MORE book by John Ridley; music by Tariq Trotter & Anthony Tidd & James Poyser & Daryl Waters; lyrics by Tariq Trotter; directed by Scott Elliott
CLYDE’S by Lynn Nottage; directed by Kate Whoriskey
ENGLISH by Sanaz Toossi; directed by Knud Adams
INTIMATE APPAREL book by Lynn Nottage; music by Ricky Ian Gordon; directed by Bartlett Sher
OUT OF TIME by Jaclyn Backhaus & Sam Chanse & Mia Chung & Naomi Iizuka & Anna Ouyang Moench; directed by Les Waters
P.S. by Sam Chanse & Amina Henry & Teddy Bergman; directed by Teddy Bergman
SELLING KABUL by Sylvia Khoury; directed by Tyne Rafaeli
THE VAGRANT TRILOGY by Mona Mansour; directed by Mark Wing-Davey
THE VISITOR book by Kwame Kwei-Armah & Brian Yorkey; music by Tom Kitt; lyrics by Brian Yorkey; directed by Daniel Sullivan
TO MY GIRLS by JC Lee; directed by Stephen Brackett
WHAT THE END WILL BE by Mansa Ra; directed by Margot Bordelon
WHICH WAY TO THE STAGE by Ana Nogueira; directed by Mike Donahue
WISH YOU WERE HERE by Sanaz Toossi; directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Non-Profit Designers
Racial Breakdown By Design Discipline:
BIPOC designers who identified as Mixed-race At 52.5%, the non-profits hired more BIPOC designers than White designers.
DESIGNERS
Non-Profit Theatre Comparison
2021–2022 Season
Note: This chart included actors, writers, directors and designers.
2021–2022 Season
Ars Nova cast 73.3% of all roles this season with BIPOC actors, with Black and Latinx actors both at 26.7% and Asian American actors at 20%. Of note, over half of all BIPOC actors hired were cast inclusively in racially non-specific roles. Although Ars Nova only produced 2 shows this season, 50% of all 4 writers hired were BIPOC, including 1 Asian American and 1 Black writer on the show P.S. BIPOC designers were extremely well-represented this season at 70% of all designers hired and included Asian American, Latinx, Black, and MENA designers. The areas where Ars Nova continued to lack diversity were in directors, which were 100% White in keeping with previous seasons, and in leadership, which was 90.9% White.
ACTORS
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 15
$2.43
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
BIPOC designers
BIPOC actors
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 4
Atlantic Theater Company C
After securing a spot on our Most Diverse list during the 2018-19 season (the last full season prior to the shutdown), the Atlantic fell to the Least Diverse list during the 2021-22 season. This is largely due to the hiring of majority White actors (59.1%), writers (75%) and directors (80%) despite 2 out of 5 shows that centered BIPOC stories—THE LAST OF THE LOVE LETTERS by Ngozi Anyanwu and the Pulitzer prize winning ENGLISH by Sanaaz Toosi. Black actors comprised 18.2% of all roles, MENA 13.6%, Asian Americans 6.8%, and Latinx 2.3%. Of note, all Asian American and Latinx actors were cast inclusively this season in racially non-specific roles. BIPOC designers continued to be well-represented at the Atlantic at 54.5%. With regards to leadership, the Atlantic continues to be predominantly White at 93.5% with only 2 BIPOC board members, both of them Black.
ACTORS
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 44
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors $0.55 BIPOC actors
Classic Stage Company B-
During the 2021-22 season, Classic Stage Company dedicated 1 of their 2 productions to a BIPOC-centered story—the contemporary re-telling of the classic Chinese drama SNOW IN MIDSUMMER by Asian American writer Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. As a result, they hired a record number of 39.3% Asian American actors. 50% of all actors and directors hired this season were BIPOC and 38.5% of designers were BIPOC. Although majority White, some improvement was seen in leadership at Classic Stage with an increase to 20% BIPOC positions held, up from 10% in the 2018-19 season. Most notably, a BIPOC associate artistic director was hired—Middle Eastern American Zuhdi Boueri. (Editor’s note: as of the publication of this report, Mr. Boueri is no longer at CSC.)
ACTORS
TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 28
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors $0.82
BIPOC actors 50%
WRITERS
POSITIONS: 3
Irish Repertory Theatre
In keeping with the 2018-19 season (the last full season before the Covid-19 shut-down), Irish Repertory, a theatre company dedicated to the Irish American experience, produced 100% White writers helmed by 100% White directors in the 2021-2022 season. There was some improvement, however, in the hiring of BIPOC actors, which comprised 19.7% of total roles (up from 1.4% in the 2018-19 season). 14.8% of the BIPOC actors hired were cast inclusively in racially non-specific roles. BIPOC designers also saw a significant boost this season and made up 21.6% of all designers hired (up from 2.2% the previous full season). Leadership at Irish Repertory continues to be 100% White.
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
Lincoln Center Theater B+
During the 2021-22 season, Lincoln Center dedicated 4 out of 7 shows to BIPOC-centered stories including 2 Broadway productions—PASS OVER by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu and Thornton Wilder’s SKIN OF OUR TEETH with additional text by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins and reimagined by director Lileana Blain-Cruz. As a result, 64.9% of all actors hired were BIPOC, a significant improvement from the 2018-19 season, with Black actors holding the majority of roles at 44.3%. Latinx actors comprised 9.3%, MENA 3.1%, and Asian American actors comprised 8.3%, mostly attributed to inclusive casting in supporting roles in SKIN OF OUR TEETH and Aya Ogawa’s production of THE NOSEBLEED. BIPOC directors represented 42.9% of all directors hired, and designers were 40% BIPOC. Leadership at Lincoln Center was 21.6% BIPOC, a slight improvement from the 2018-19 season where BIPOC leadership was 20.9%.
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 97
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
actors
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 11
MCC Theater B-
MCC dedicated 50% of their season, 2 out of 4 productions, to plays that centered Black stories, and 60% of all writers this season were BIPOC. Black actors filled the majority of roles at 66.7% while Latinx actors comprised 4.8% (equating to 1 Latinx actor hired). There were no Asian American, MENA or Indigenous actors hired this season and only 1 BIPOC actor (4.8%) was cast inclusively in a racially non-specific role. BIPOC directors helmed 50% of productions and BIPOC designers saw a significant increase this season to 57.1%, up from 32% during the 2018-19 season. With only 1 BIPOC board member, leadership at MCC continues to be predominantly White at 97.1% and is the biggest contributor to bringing down their letter grade.
ACTORS
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 21
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors $2.39
BIPOC actors 71.4%
Manhattan Theatre Club B-
MTC dedicated half of their productions this season to shows written by BIPOC writers with 44% of all roles going to BIPOC actors. Asian American actors comprised 16% of all available roles, largely due to GOLDEN SHIELD by Anchuli Felicia King, Black actors comprised 24%, and MENA 4%. All of the 3 BIPOC-centered stories this season were directed by BIPOC directors— Ruben Santiago-Hudson directed his one-person show LACKAWANNA BLUES and Dominique Morriseau’s SKELETON CREW, both on Broadway, and May Adrales directed GOLDEN SHIELD. BIPOC designers made up 39.4% of all hires while BIPOC leadership came in at 25%.
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
The New Group B
The New Group pared down their 2021-22 season to just 2 productions—the Black-centered musical BLACK NO MORE (book by John Ridley) and Wallace Shawn’s one-person show starring Lili Taylor, THE FEVER. 83.3% of all writers hired were Black, and Black actors comprised 51.9% of all available roles. Designers were 62.5% BIPOC and included Asian American, Black and Latinx designers. Directors, however, were 100% White. There was a slight increase in BIPOC leadership this season up to 23.3% due to an increase in BIPOC board members.
ACTORS
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 27
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors $1.12 BIPOC actors 51.9%
POSITIONS: 6
LEADERSHIP: ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS TOTAL AVAILABLE
New York Theatre Workshop A+
New York Theatre Workshop earned the second spot on our Most Diverse list during the 202122 season and was one of three non-profits to cast 100% BIPOC actors. 3 out of 4 productions were BIPOC-written shows and included Kristina Wong’s one-person show KRISTINA WONG, SWEATSHOP OVERLORD as well as Aleshea Harris’ ON SUGARLAND and Somi Kakoma’s DREAMING ZENZILE. Additionally, the fourth production by Martyna Majok, SANCTUARY CITY, featured an all-BIPOC cast. NYTW also hired majority BIPOC directors at 75%, and BIPOC designers comprised 64.7% of all positions. Leadership at New York Theatre Workshop continues to be majority White at 83.3%. (Editor’s note: as of the publication of this report, NYTW has hired Caribbean American director Patricia McGregor as its new artistic director, the first and only BIPOC artistic director in all of the 18 theaters in our report.
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS:
Playwrights Horizons
A-
Playwrights Horizons landed the fourth spot on our Most Diverse list during the 2021-22 season and dedicated an impressive 4 out of 5 productions to BIPOC-centered stories. 80% of all actors hired were BIPOC, all of which were cast in racially-specific roles. 2 MENA-centered productions—SELLING KABUL by Sylvia Khoury and WISH YOU WERE HERE by Sanaz Toosi were responsible for the hiring of 36% of all MENA actors. Black actors were cast in 44% of all roles. There were no Asian American, Latinx, or Indigenous actors hired this season. BIPOC directors helmed 40% of all shows while BIPOC designers made up 58.3% of all designers hired. BIPOC leadership at Playwrights Horizons increased from previous seasons up to 12.5% and included the hiring of an Asian American associate artistic director, Natasha Sinha.
BIPOC
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 10
The Public Theater A+
The Public continued to top our Most Diverse list during the 2021-22 season. 85.1% of all actors hired were BIPOC with Black actors cast more than any other race at 50.7%. 8 out of 10 productions were BIPOC stories and included two Asian American productions — THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh and OUT OF TIME by various Asian American writers which was a coproduction with NAATCO (the National Asian American Theater Company). As a result, there was some improvement in Asian American representation onstage up to 13.5% from 3.4% in the last full season on record, and Asian American writers made up 31.6% of all writers hired due primarily to there being 5 writers on OUT OF TIME. The Public hired majority BIPOC directors and designers this season and their leadership was 30% BIPOC including two BIPOC associate artistic directors, Saheem Ali and Freedome Bradley-Ballentine.
ACTORS
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 148
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors $4.87
BIPOC actors 85.1%
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 19
The Roundabout Theatre Company B+
The Roundabout continued to show steady improvement after a history of being one of the least diverse theaters in New York. They produced 1 Broadway show written by a BIPOC writer this season—Alice Childress’ TROUBLE IN MIND. 3 additional BIPOC stories were produced Off-Broadway and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning MENA-centered play ENGLISH by Sanaz Toosi, a co-production with The Atlantic Theater Company. BIPOC actors made up 64% of all actors hired with the majority of roles, 54.7%, going to Black actors. MENA actors represented 6.7% while just 2.7% of roles went to Asian American actors and no Latinx or Indigenous actors were hired. Director and designer numbers improved to 33.3% BIPOC directors and 50% BIPOC designers. Leadership continues to be predominantly White at 87.5% and remains virtually unchanged from prior to the industry-wide shutdown.
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 75
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
BIPOC actors
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 7
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS
Second Stage Theater A
During the 2021-22 season, Second Stage placed third on our Most Diverse list after a damning spot on our Least Diverse list for the 2018-19 season where 100% of productions were written and directed by White theater artists. This season they hired majority BIPOC actors, writers and designers, and 50% BIPOC directors. 4 out of 6 productions were BIPOC-written including one Broadway show—CLYDE’S by Lynn Nottage. Two Asian American playwrights had shows produced—Rajiv Joseph’s LETTERS OF SURESH and JC Lee’s TO MY GIRLS— and 18.2% of actors hired were Asian American. Leadership also saw improvements this season with an increase to 23.1% up from 13.2% prior to the pandemic and included the hiring of a Black executive director, Khady Kamara. (Editor’s note: Ms. Kamara left Second Stage Theater in 2023.)
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 55
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
BIPOC actors
LEADERSHIP: ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 39
DIRECTORS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 3
Signature Theatre
AThe Signature produced just three shows during the 2021-22 season, two of which were written by Black writers—CONFEDERATES by Dominique Morisseau and TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith. The majority of actors, writers, directors, and designers were BIPOC, resulting in the Signature tying with Second Stage as the thirdMost Diverse theater this season. However, Black actors and writers dominated the diversity spectrum with just 1 Asian American and 1 Latinx actor hired this season. BIPOC leadership at the Signature continues to be low at just 13.6%.
ACTORS
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 16
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors $2.86
BIPOC actors 75%
66.7%
BIPOC directors
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 16
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 3
LEADERSHIP: ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 22
BIPOC leadership 13.6%
DIRECTORS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 3
Theatre for a New Audience
BTheatre for a New Audience dedicated just one of their 3 productions to a BIPOC writer this season—Alice Childress’ WEDDING BAND. They still managed to hire 61.3% BIPOC actors, 41.9% of which were hired in roles that were not racially-specific mostly due to inclusive casting in their production of Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. Black actors were the majority at 41.9% with Latinx and Asian American actors each making up 9.7% of all actors hired. 33.3% of directors and writers were Black and 61.5% of designers were BIPOC. BIPOC leadership increased to 14.7% this season up from just 3.6% during the 2018-19 season, an encouraging sign.
ACTORS
33.3%
directors
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 31
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors $1.66
BIPOC designers 61.5%
BIPOC actors
WRITERS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 3
leadership 14.7% LEADERSHIP: ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 34
DIRECTORS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 2
The Vineyard Theatre
BThe Vineyard hired 100% Black actors and directors during their 2-show season which consisted of SANDBLASTED by Charly Evon Simpson, a co-production with WP Theater, and LESSONS IN SURVIVAL by various writers which included 50% Black writers. All actors hired this season were hired in racially-specific roles. BIPOC designers were hired the majority of the time with Asian American designers comprising 22.2% of all designers hired. Leadership continued to be an area where The Vineyard could improve upon at just 13.8% BIPOC. However, of note was the hiring of a Black associate artistic director, Jesse Cameron Alick, during the 2021-22 season.
BIPOC directors
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 6
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors
BIPOC actors
AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 5
LEADERSHIP: ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 29
WP Theater B
During the 2021-22 season, WP Theater only produced one show which was a co-production with The Vineyard—SANDBLASTED by Black writer Charly Evon Simpson. SANDBLASTED was directed by a Black director and 100% of the cast was Black. Additionally, 75% of designers hired were Black. BIPOC leadership improved this season to a total of 18.2% up from just 5.6% during the 2018-19 season. Most notably, Latinx theater artist Rebecca Martínez was hired as associate artistic director prior to the start of the 2021-22 season.
ACTORS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 4
spent on BIPOC actors for every $1 spent on White actors –
BIPOC actors
POSITIONS:
LEADERSHIP: ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS TOTAL AVAILABLE POSITIONS: 22
Non-Profit Productions by Theatre
2021–2022 Season
Irish Repertory Theatre (Continued from previous page)
TWO BY SYNGE by John Millington Synge; directed by Charlotte Moore
THE STREETS OF NEW YORK by Dion Boucicault; adapted by Charlotte Moore; music by Charlotte Moore; directed by Charlotte Moore
YES! REFLECTIONS OF MOLLY BLOOM based on the original work by James Joyce; adapted by Aedín Moloney & Colum McCann; directed by John Keating
Lincoln Center Theater
AT THE WEDDING by Bryna Turner; directed by Jenna Worsham
EPIPHANY by Brian Watkins; directed by Tyne Rafaeli
FLYING OVER SUNSET* book by James Lapine; music by Tom Kitt; lyrics by Michael Korie; directed by James Lapine
ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS music by Heather Christian; directed by Lee Sunday Evans
P.S. by Sam Chanse & Amina Henry & Teddy Bergman; directed by Teddy Bergman Ars Nova
Atlantic Theater Company
ENGLISH by Sanaz Toossi; directed by Knud Adams (co-production with Roundabout Theater Company)
KIMBERLY AKIMBO book by David Lindsay-Abaire; music by Jeanine Tesori; lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire; directed by Jessica Stone
SHHHH by Clare Barron; directed by Clare Barron
THE BEDWETTER book by Joshua Harmon & Sarah Silverman; music by Adam Schlesinger; lyrics by Adam Schlesinger & Sarah Silverman; directed by Anne Kauffman
THE LAST OF THE LOVE LETTERS by Ngozi Anyanwu; directed by Patricia McGregor
Classic Stage Company
ASSASSINS book by John Weidman; music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; directed by John Doyle
SNOW IN MIDSUMMER by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig; directed by Zi Alikhan
Irish Repertory Theatre
AUTUMN ROYAL by Kevin Barry; directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
A TOUCH OF THE POET by Eugene O’Neill; directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
BELFAST GIRLS by Jaki McCarrick; directed by Nicola Murphy
MADE BY GOD by Ciara Ní Chuirc; directed by Olivia Songer
THE BUTCHER BOY book by Asher Muldoon; based on the original work by Patrick McCabe; music and lyrics by Asher Muldoon; directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
INTIMATE APPAREL book by Lynn Nottage; music by Ricky Ian Gordon; directed by Bartlett Sher
PASS OVER by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu; directed by Danya Taymor
THE NOSEBLEED by Aya Ogawa; directed by Aya Ogawa
THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH* by Thornton Wilder & Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Manhattan Theatre Club
GOLDEN SHIELD by Anchuli Felicia King; directed by May Adrales
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE* by Paula Vogel; directed by Mark Brokaw
LACKAWANNA BLUES* by Ruben Santiago-Hudson; directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
MORNING SUN by Simon Stephens; directed by Lila Neugebauer
PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC by Joshua Harmon; directed by David Cromer
SKELETON CREW* by Dominique Morisseau; directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
MCC Theater
NOLLYWOOD DREAMS book by Jocelyn Bioh; directed by Saheem Ali
SOFT by Donja R. Love; directed by Whitney White
SPACE DOGS music by Van Hughes & Nick Blaemire; lyrics by Nick Blaemire & Van Hughes; directed by Ellie Heyman
WHICH WAY TO THE STAGE by Ana Nogueira; directed by Mike Donahue
The New Group
BLACK NO MORE book by John Ridley; music by Tariq Trotter & Anthony Tidd & James Poyser & Daryl Waters; lyrics by Tariq Trotter; directed by Scott Elliott
THE FEVER by Wallace Shawn; directed by Scott Elliott
New York Theatre Workshop
DREAMING ZENZILE by Somi Kakoma; directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
KRISTINA WONG, SWEATSHOP OVERLORD by Kristina Wong; directed by Chay Yew
ON SUGARLAND by Aleshea Harris; directed by Whitney White
SANCTUARY CITY by Martyna Majok; directed by Rebecca Frecknall
Playwrights Horizons
CORSICANA by Will Arbery; directed by Sam Gold
SELLING KABUL by Sylvia Khoury; directed by Tyne Rafaeli
TAMBO & BONES by Dave Harris; directed by Taylor Reynolds
WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN by Aleshea Harris; directed by Whitney White
WISH YOU WERE HERE by Sanaz Toossi; directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
The Public Theater
AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare; adapted by Shaina Taub & Laurie Woolery; music and lyrics by Shaina Taub; directed by Laurie Woolery
CULLUD WATTAH by Erika Dickerson-Despenza; directed by Candis C. Jones
FAT HAM by James Ijames; directed by Saheem Ali
MERRY WIVES by William Shakespeare; adapted by Jocelyn Bioh; directed by Saheem Ali
OUT OF TIME by Jaclyn Backhaus & Sam Chanse & Mia Chung & Naomi Iizuka & Anna Ouyang Moench; directed by Les Waters
RICHARD III by William Shakespeare; directed by Robert O’Hara
SUFFS book by Shaina Taub; music and lyrics by Shaina Taub; directed by Leigh Silverman
THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh; directed by Ralph B. Peña
THE VAGRANT TRILOGY by Mona Mansour; directed by Mark Wing-Davey
THE VISITOR book by Kwame Kwei-Armah & Brian Yorkey; music by Tom Kitt; lyrics by Brian Yorkey; directed by Daniel Sullivan
Roundabout Theatre Company
BIRTHDAY CANDLES* by Noah Haidle; directed by Vivienne Benesch
Roundabout Theatre Company (Continued from previous page)
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE* book by Tony Kushner; music by Jeanine Tesori; lyrics by Tony Kushner; directed by Michael Longhurst
ENGLISH by Sanaz Toossi; directed by Knud Adams (co-production with Atlantic Theater Company)
EXCEPTION TO THE RULE by Dave Harris; directed by Miranda Haymon
TROUBLE IN MIND* by Alice Childress; directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
...WHAT THE END WILL BE by Mansa Ra; directed by Margot Bordelon
Second Stage Theater
CLYDE’S* by Lynn Nottage; directed by Kate Whoriskey
LETTERS OF SURESH by Rajiv Joseph; directed by May Adrales
PATIENCE by Johnny G. Lloyd; directed by Zhailon Levingston
TAKE ME OUT* by Richard Greenberg; directed by Scott Ellis
TO MY GIRLS by JC Lee; directed by Stephen Brackett
53% OF by Steph Del Rosso; directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene
Signature Theatre
A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD by Samuel D. Hunter; directed by David Cromer
CONFEDERATES by Dominique Morisseau; directed by Stori Ayers
TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith; directed by Taibi Magar
Theatre for a New Audience
GNIT by Will Eno; directed by Oliver Butler
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE by William Shakespeare; directed by Arin Arbus
WEDDING BAND by Alice Childress; directed by Awoye Timpo
Vineyard Theatre
LESSONS IN SURVIVAL: 1971 by Marin Ireland & Peter Mark Kendall & Tyler Thomas & Reggie D. White; directed by Tyler Thomas
SANDBLASTED by Charly Evon Simpson; directed by Summer L. Williams (co-production with WP Theater)
WP Theater
SANDBLASTED by Charly Evon Simpson; directed by Summer L. Williams (co-production with Vineyard Theatre)
*Indicates a production produced on Broadway by a non-profit theatre that was not a commercial transfer.
Photo Credits
p. 10
VAGRANT TRILOGY, Joan Marcus
MUSIC MAN, Sarah Krulwich
p. 11
THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN, courtesy of AKA NYC
MRS. DOUBTFIRE THE MUSICAL, Sarah Krulwich for The New York Times
ENGLISH, Ahron R. Foster
p. 40
SKIN OF OUR TEETH, Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New Yorker
p. 41
CHICKEN & BISCUITS, Emilio Madrid
PASSOVER, Jeena Moon for The New York Times
p. 56
MERRY WIVES, Sarah Krulwich for The New York Times
p. 57
THE NOSEBLEED, Brian Rogers THE CHINESE LADY, Joan Marcus
Methodology
numbers).
• Total number of non-profit artistic directors included in the survey was 22.
• Total number of non-profit associate artistic directors included in the survey was 13.
• Total number of non-profit managing directors included in the survey was 18.
• Total number of non-profit board members included in the survey was 519.
• Total number of Broadway producers included in the survey was 752.
• Total number of Broadway lead producers included in the survey was 75.
categories: White (includes White Hispanics and Ashkanazi Jews of European heritage), Black (includes Afro-Caribbean American), Latinx (does not include White Hispanic and refers to race only, not ethnicity or national identity), AAPI/Asian American (includes people whose ancestry comes from East Asia, Southeast Asia, the South Asian peninsula, and Asian Pacific Islanders), Middle Eastern/North African (MENA (includes Israelis of Arabic descent), and Indigenous (American Indian/Native/ First Nation).
• Data was collected from every Broadway show that opened in the 2021-22 season and from the 18 largest non-profit theatre companies in New York City providing employment under the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) Off-Broadway contract or above. AEA contract status of New York City’s non-profit theatres are assessed every five years. Shows produced by nonprofit theatre companies on Broadway (Lincoln Center, Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Second Stage) counted for both Broadway statistics as well as for non-profit statistics, but were not double-counted when looking at the overall industry as a whole.
• Broadway productions included in the 202122 survey included all plays and musicals that opened prior to the 2022 Tony Awards. Special events were not included.
• Total number of actors hired during the 2021-22 season was 1,107—538 were employed by the commercial sector, 718 by the non-profits (149 of which were hired on Broadway contracts and counted towards total Broadway contracts and total nonprofit numbers).
• Total number of writers hired was 150—59 by the commercial sector and 106 by the nonprofits (15 of which were hired on Broadway contracts and counted towards total Broadway and total non-profit numbers).
• Total number of directors hired was 97—34 by the commercial sector and 74 by nonprofits (11 of which were hired on Broadway contracts and counted towards total Broadway and total non-profit numbers).
• Total number of designers hired was 439— 143 by the commercial sector and 349 by the non-profits (53 of which were produced on Broadway contracts and counted towards total Broadway and total non-profit
• Non-profit productions were determined by what the individual theatre companies deemed as part of their 2021-22 season regardless of when they occurred in the calendar year. Workshops, readings, special events, festivals, “5-night” only events, nonequity children’s shows, and shows that were produced by other entities (where the theater was only renting out their space) were not included.
• Total number of Broadway associate producers included in the survey was 23.
• Total number of Broadway general managers included in the survey was 105.
• Tallies for actors included understudies and any replacement casts up until opening night only. Tallies for writers included playwrights, source material authors for adaptations, and lyricists, librettists and composers for musicals.
• Lead vs. featured actors on Broadway followed determinations made by the Tony Award Administration Committee. Broadway understudies/standbys were not counted as “leads.”
• (Similar determinations for the OffBroadway space were not possible as no other awards organization makes their leading and supporting actor determinations public prior to nomination announcements.)
• For all racial designations, individuals were grouped into one of the following racial
• For all individuals tallied, racial designations were based on self-identification as much as possible. Extensive research on each individual was conducted including, but not limited to, the following resources: artist websites, interviews, articles, bios, reviews, social media accounts, and both direct and indirect outreach to individuals and known contacts of individuals. In the cases where self-identification was not possible, actors were categorized based on the role they were playing or using best judgment based on the information available. Racial designations for mixed-race actors were also based on self-identification, the race of their non-white ancestry, how they were cast, most likely to be cast as, or had a history of being cast. They were also counted under a separate mixed-race data set.
• For Broadway producer and general manager data, producers included all those above the title including lead producers, coproducers, associate producers, produced in association with, executive producers and consulting producers. For producing entities, only the general partners of the company were included. For example, where the Shubert Organization was listed as a producer, only Phillip Smith (Chairman) and Bob Wankel (President) were included in racial statistics. General Management companies were contacted if the GM
assigned to a particular show was not apparent from Playbill credits; however if no individual GMs were credited to particular shows, then the owners of the company were counted. Non-profit theatres that were listed as originating theatres were not included. Producers of special events were not credited. If a producer was involved in more than one show, they were counted more than once so as to get an accurate racial snapshot for the leaders of each show. Those that could not be racially identified were left off the final tally.
• Non-traditional and Inclusive Casting (IC) is defined by Actors’ Equity Association as “the casting of actors with disabilities, actors of color (including but not limited to African American, Asian/Asian Pacific American, Hispanic American, Native American, and multi-cultural), actors over 60, and women in roles where race, ethnicity, gender, sex, age, or the presence or absence of a disability is not germane.” For the purpose of this report, IC was confined to race only and did not include instances of open-gender, sex or age, or the casting of actors with disabilities. BIPOC actors were counted in the inclusive casting category when they were cast without regard to their race, that is, where race was not germane to the role, i.e. a BIPOC actor was cast in a role that has been traditionally cast with White actors, or in a new play in a role that was not race-specific. Additionally, when a playwright specified that a role was to be played by a BIPOC performer, i.e. any race, just not White, they also counted towards IC because the actor’s specific cultural/racial background was not germane to the story. IC does not refer to instances when White actors are cast in traditionally BIPOC roles or have been cast when race is not germane to the role. When a play that has traditionally been cast with White actors has been re-adapted and a Global Majority playwright has been brought on board to tell the story through a newly
specific racial lens, that project was not counted as inclusive casting but as a BIPOC Story.
• BIPOC Stories were defined as any production with at least one BIPOC writer, not including source material authors, written by, for and centering a BIPOC culture with racially specific casting in a lead role.
• Non-Profit “Theater Grades” were calculated based on the number of BIPOC individuals hired over the total number of positions available at each theater for actors, writers, directors, designers, artistic directors, associate artistic directors, managing directors and board members. To reflect a goal of 50% parity between BIPOC and White theater artists, letter grades were assigned based on the following: 54% BIPOC representation and above = A+; 50-53% = A; 47-49% = A-; 44-46% = B+; 40-43% = B; 3739% = B-; 34-36% = C+; 30-33% = C; 27-29% = C-; 24-26% = D+; 20-23% = D; 17-19% = D-; 16% and below = F.
• Non-Profit Theater “Dollars Spent” were calculated using actual weekly salaries for each individual venue (based on a formula that includes size of venue and box office receipts as negotiated by Actor’s Equity) multiplied by the actual number of performance weeks, including previews. No similar calculation for production contracts (for commercial Broadway shows) was possible as “favored nations” contracts are less common and negotiated salaries that are above minimums are not publicly available. Non-Profit Theater “Dollars Spent” were calculated using actual weekly salaries for each individual venue (based on a formula that includes size of venue and box office receipts as negotiated by Actor’s Equity) multiplied by the actual number of performance weeks, including previews. No similar calculation for production contracts (for commercial Broadway shows) was possible as “favored nations” contracts
are less common and negotiated salaries that are above minimums are not publicly available.
• Totals in some charts may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
• Demographics for New York City are from July 1, 2023, (V2023), U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates as listed on their website at the time of publication.
Acknowledgments
Data Visualization, Graphic Design, Report Layout by Alyssa Achacoso
Database Design and Development by Jumplogic
Database Input by Peter Kim and Cindy Cheung
Report Written by Pun Bandhu and Julienne Hanzelka Kim
Statistics Committee
Pun Bandhu (report co-chair), Julienne Hanzelka Kim (report co-chair), Cindy Cheung, Vichet Chum, Christine Toy Johnson, Peter Kim, Eileen Rivera, Lipica Shah, Nandita Shenoy
Non-Profit Board Members Data collected by: Lindsay Brill, Ka-Ling Cheung, Josh Doucette, Wayne Duvall, Becca Lish, Alex Neil, Peter Rini, Johnny Sánchez, Vicki Shaghoian, Keith Randolph Smith, Kristin Villanueva. Coordinated by Peter Kim and Cindy Cheung.
Broadway Producers and General Managers
Data collected by: Pun Bandhu, Peter Kim and The Industry Standard Group (Rashad V. Chambers, Miranda Gohh, Adam Hyndman, Toni R. Israel, Rob Laqui, Sammy Lopez, Ronee Penoi, Cynthia J. Tong).
Designer Data collected by: Wilson Chin, Design Action, Coordinated by Peter Kim.
AAPAC original Logo Design by Siho Ellsmore
Special Thanks:
AAPAC founding members Angel Desai, Kenneth Lee, Jennifer Ikeda and Kimiye Corwin. Rachel Berry (Indie Theater Fund/ IndieSpace), Clint Ramos, Actors’ Equity Association, The Actors Fund, Dramatists Guild Foundation, Lisa Gold (The Asian American Arts Alliance), Francis Jue, Jake Manabat, Alex Birnie (The Actors Center), Elena Chang and Ciara Smith from Theatre Communications Group (TCG), Todd London, all members of “Counting Together,” Derek McPhatter (Latz & Co.), Ralph Pena and Ma-Yi Theater Company, Mia Katigbak (NAATCO), NYC AAPI 5k and our “Team AAPAC” runners and volunteers—Eric Branting, John Cooney, Jessica Johnston, Nandita Shenoy, and Lipica Shah—and especially, Heather Hitchens, David Henry Hwang and Luis Castro from the American Theatre Wing for their ongoing support.
American Theatre Wing Rodney L. White Foundation Indie Theater Fund/IndieSpace Angel Donors:
Ally Donors:
Rachel Chang, Kitty Chen, Francis Jue, Cha See, Vilasini Shanbhag, Lata Shenoy, Justin Yu, Wingspace Theatrical Design, our additional NYC AAPI 5k “Team AAPAC” donors, and additional Anonymous donors.
This report is public and any part of the report is encouraged to be used, quoted or re-published widely. We simply ask that proper credit be given to the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC). Prior notice of use in official publications such as books, magazines and periodicals is appreciated by emailing us at the email address below so that we may archive where our statistics are being published. Notification is not necessary for graduate theses or school reports. If you found this report useful, please consider making a donation: givebutter.com/ j6A34s.
