“事实上,我们打开门作家、演员、和艺术家从无处不在,它丰富了电影院。”

弗雷德Zollo

甚至在大流行和2020年的种族清算之前，缺乏多样性、公平和包容性是戏剧行业许多人的主要担忧。自2017年以来，演员权益工会就这些话题发布了一系列报告。In 2020, they released a diversity and inclusion report that looked at the demographics of its members from 2016 through 2019. 在该报告的一封公开信中，演员权益组织执行董事玛丽·麦科尔（Mary McColl）指出，虽然取得了一些进展，比如在全国范围内给女性和有色人种提供了更多的合同，但“这些进展远远不够，而且在全国范围内并不一致。”The report found that of the total Equity contracts nationally—including principal, chorus, stage manager, and assistant stage manager contracts—63.95 percent were given to people who identify as white. “Among production contracts,” the report said, “much of the increased representation of people of color can be attributed to multiple productions of Hamilton alone.” The report also called out that “barely” one percent of contracts were given to members with disabilities.

“我认为我们一直意识到戏剧的问题表示,“奥斯卡说,“但它继续发生。And you think, ‘How does this continue to happen?’ I’m hopeful that something just broke—in a good way—and we make real change. It broke because it’s been breaking for, well, centuries.” He says Mrs. Doubtfire’s creative team made sure that the cast and crew attend a series of diversity trainings before diving into rehearsals.

Casting director Tara Rubin says that representation is at the center of every project she works on now. “It’s the first conversation we have, and it’s no longer a goal—it’s just a given,” says Rubin (CAS’77). “我们过去做得不够好。”

Improving representation onstage begins with those who are doing the casting—a field distinctly lacking in diversity, says Rubin. “But I’d say there is an industry-wide consideration and movement toward improving that,” she says. The professional organization Casting Society of America launched a training and education program for young people who are interested in the field, with the goal of helping BIPOC students jump-start their careers. Rubin says that she and her colleagues also participate in a mentorship program with the goal of helping underrepresented groups break into the casting world. “我们真的在训练自己的眼睛，看看如何改善我们自己的行业，并为人们创造一条可行的渠道。”

Oscar is upbeat about the changes he’s seen. In the two years prior to the pandemic, he performed in three regional plays that featured “the most diverse group of actors that I’ve ever worked with. I’m a white, middle-aged, Jewish gay man, but in all three of those productions, I was a minority. 我想，‘这不是很酷吗？’”

The Broadway revival of Macbeth is notable for its inclusive casting, including actor Amber Gray (’04), in the traditionally male role of Banquo. Greg Allen/Invision/AP

Harvey Young, dean of the College of Fine Arts, also says he’s observed “a sea change in artistic leadership [in regional theater], with more women and people of color appointed as executive or artistic directors.”  

“（地区戏剧）的戏剧阵容、剧作家和制作从未像现在这样能代表美国，”杨说，他是全国公认的戏剧教育家，也是美国戏剧学院的成员。“一季中单一的‘多样性插槽’——女性和/或有色人种剧作家——已经成倍增加。

“What hasn’t changed, or has been slow to change, is the makeup of theater audiences,” says Young. “There is still more outreach needed to make theater accessible and affordable to more people.” 

Some strides in improving accessibility of productions have been made, including presenting shows in new, experimental formats. 扬指出，《料理鼠王》（Ratatouille: the TikTok Musical）的成功，以及在线戏剧《Circle Jerk》获得普利策奖提名，都表明人们开始接受观看和体验戏剧的其他方式。Jeremy O. Harris, who wrote Slave Play, helped produce livestreamed productions of both plays.

Zollo, the producer of Macbeth, has made it a goal to improve the accessibility of his productions. 该演出有一个麦克白2022项目，旨在为学生提供至少2022张门票，目标是吸引在百老汇代表性不足的学生，包括BIPOC社区和残疾学生。“我们希望每个想看这部作品的人都有机会去看，”佐罗说。

Rubin hopes the industry continues to improve on another pressing issue: pay parity. “I would like to make sure that even though we’ve come back—and we’re all very proud of that, and it’s been incredibly hectic—that we don’t take our eyes off the big prize,” she says. “It’s time to really look at some of our financial models and pay structures for all of the departments in creating a theater production.”

Actors’ Equity, in a 2020 hiring bias report that it published in 2022, looked at the industry’s pay statistics in the three months before the pandemic shutdowns and found that “men still earn more than women on average across nearly every job category, and non-binary members tend to earn less than men or women.”

Though there is still a long way to go, Zollo, who has produced more than 100 plays and won seven Tonys in his 40-year career, says the initiatives that are being taken lately have given him hope for better inclusivity across all aspects of productions. “事实上，我们正在向来自世界各地的作家、演员和艺术家敞开大门，这只会丰富戏剧。”