As we reflect on this past season, we find it important to always reevaluate how well we continue our commitment to DEI and representation of our entire community at all levels in our organization.
This past season we plateaued in our casting of our mainstage shows with about 20% BIPOC actors on average throughout the season, however, when coupled with our reading series– which included color-blind casting in many readings as well as a readings of “Othello” and of an original play, “Hey! I Heard You Were Black!” by BIPOC playwright, Alicia Whavers, overall casting rose to about 30%. In the coming season, we are excited to present “Laughs in Spanish” by Alexis Scheer and directed by our Creative Producer, Leticia Diaz. This script was selected specifically to help us increase our representation of Latine voices in our company and open our doors even more broadly to this specific community. We continue to strive to overcome the roadblocks that previously existed at Studio, and while we have admittedly had higher representation in a few previous seasons, we are proud that each production is more representative of all communities than our pre-2020 seasons. The progress continues.
We had hoped to present a professional world-premier of Maxine Lyle’s new musical “Step Show” this August, but due to funding shortages, the production has been postponed until August, 2027. This beautiful new work tells the multi-generational tale of one young woman coming to terms with her identity through step on an HBCU campus– connecting with her history along the way. We have pledged to work more closely with Maxine and her team in the coming season to help bring this vision to fruition. Please stay tuned for opportunities to help in our grassroots effort to bring this touching new work to life!
While representation on stage is important, we also understand that representation must happen at all levels of an organization to be authentic. We are proud to welcome A’layeah Thompson (Greater Tuna, A Night at the Theatre) as a new DEI co-chair (along with Idris Talbott) on our board, and we also proudly welcome (the aforementioned playwright) Alicia Whavers as our new manager of ushers. These additions, along with our representation of neuro-diverse board members, have helped us amass the most diverse Board of Managers in Studio Players history.
We continue to do the work, and we cannot wait to see you at the theatre!
