Earlier this year Actors’ Equity Association put out a statement urging the boards of directors who hire artistic directors at nonprofit theatres to “think really hard about getting more qualified women and people of color into those jobs, because it will fundamentally change how those theatres do their work.” That is for the very obvious reason that diverse hirers will lead to more diverse hiring, and this will filter down; diverse artistic directors will hire more diverse directors, who will then bring in more diverse casts and creative teams. “If you have an expanding network of directors of color, they probably know more designers of color and more actors and so they’re naturally going to shift the world to their place,” says Christine Toy Johnson, chair of Equity’s Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. READ MORE
