Actors Equity President Pens Column on Diversity After HAMILTON Hullabaloo

As previously reported by BroadwayWorld, the producers of Hamilton recently sent out a casting notice specifying they are "looking for non-white men and women, ages 20s to 30s, for both the Broadway production and upcoming national tours. No theatre experience necessary."

This started an uproar about hiring qualifications, discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunity, prompting statements from both the production and Actors' Equity Association (you can read the latter here) on the fairness of the casting call.

Now Kate Shindle, president of AEA, has written a guest column for Variety, in which she outlines how the theatre community can and should go further in its commitment to diversity, now that this issue is receiving more national attention.

She writes:

"Anyone who followed the #Oscarssowhite controversy in 2015-16 probably understands that diversity in casting is a daunting mountain for the entertainment industry to climb. 'Hamilton' is a valuable benchmark in that respect, unquestionably demonstrating that there is a robust audience for stories told by actors of color; it also tells us that if the story and the performances are strong enough, patrons will pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for that experience.

"With its decidedly race-specific casting of primarily non-Caucasian performers who portray many of the very real (and very white) historical figures involved in the birth of the United States, 'Hamilton' makes an extremely visible case that both artistic and financial success can be directly traced to imaginative casting and creative choices.

"But as rightly celebrated as this musical is, it would be shortsighted to assume that it solves the industry's diversity problem, any more than electing Barack Obama solved America's. Indeed, the theater is a microcosm of the nation, in terms of the forces at work and the problems that need remedies. Certainly, one should expect that entrenched power brokers throughout the industry may dig in their heels to defend existing paradigms, as power brokers do in just about every other context. Nor should 'Hamilton' and similar shows be expected to satisfy some kind of diversity quota, allowing the rest of the status quo to stand unchallenged. While it could be argued that some diversity is better than none, this is simply not good enough."

Read Shindle's full piece for Variety HERE.

The cast of Hamilton is comprised of Lin-Manuel Miranda (Alexander Hamilton), Daveed Diggs(Marquis De Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler), Christopher Jackson (George Washington), Jonathan Groff (King George), Jasmine Cephas Jones (Peggy Schuyler, Maria Reynolds), Javier Muñoz (Hamilton alternate), Okieriete Onaodowan (Hercules Mulligan, James Madison), Leslie Odom, Jr. (Aaron Burr), Anthony Ramos (John Laurens, Philip Hamilton) and Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton).

From bastard orphan to Washington's right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country's first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, Hamilton is an exploration of a political mastermind. George Washington,Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe, Aaron Burr, all attend this revolutionary tale of America's fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we've become. Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail directs this new musical about taking your shot, speaking your mind, and turning the world upside down.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter Keddy