Counting Together is an evolving coalition of theater artists and service professionals.
Each coalition member is engaged in separate, long-term studies of race, gender, and/or disability in the American theater.
By telling the stories of our findings, we aspire to identify and forge pathways to greater equity and inclusion.
We hope that our collected findings will assist others with new avenues of research. This is meant to be an evolving tool for people to access what is known for them to interpret and to use in their unique arenas. We celebrate the different needs and uses for these data projects, just as we celebrate the differences of the artists whose stories underlie them. We also celebrate the different perspectives and goals of theaters and artistic projects across the field.
We research towards something better.
We began counting together early in 2019 to share and compile data on the workings of the theatrical ecosystem and provide evidence of systems of exclusion in our profession. In recent months others have joined us, dedicated to collecting and analyzing information, gathering testimonials of personal experience, expanding resources, and taking collective action to combat inequities in our industry.
What our studies have in common is simple: each gives a clear picture of a field in which women, people of color, people with disabilities, and transgender or non-binary artists are greatly under-represented in all disciplines in relation to the demographics of the culture at large. In the rare instance where parity is observed (e.g. women playwrights in small professional theaters outside of New York City), it mostly occurs in the lowest compensated parts of the profession, emphasizing, if not numerical lack of parity, financial inequity.
Over the years these research projects have been up and running, and with the addition of many new projects in the wake of new calls for accountability in 2020, we “hold a mirror” to the field whose purpose is to mirror the world in which we live.
We all believe that the clearer the reflection, the more accurate our map of the world and the easier it will be for our field to acknowledge and to correct patterns of exclusion.
Our goal, in short, is to tell as complete a story as we are able about participation in the field from multiple perspectives.
This website is a living, evolving document. We will add, edit, and alter it as we better understand its public uses and impact. We welcome you to help us realize the best version of shared resource.
Our Partners
Counting Together is grateful to many people who helped along the way.
The Dramatists Guild wishes to acknowledge The Lillys Foundation both for instigating The Guild’s work on Counting Together and for its leadership on The Count.
Thanks to Trudy Appling, Marie Cisco, Tina Fallon, Josh Gershick, Patrick Gabridge, Dr. Ann Haugo, Brian E. Herrera, Greg Lam, Brandon Lorenz, Lisa Rafferty, Sarah Rebell, Randy Reinholz, Betsy Theobald Richards, Delanni Studi, Gwydion Suilebhan, Victor Vazquez, Zannie Giraud Voss, and Rhiana Yazzie.
Counting Together is hosted by The Dramatists Guild and The American Theatre Wing, facilitated by Todd London and Luis Castro. Website Design by Emmanuel Wilson, DG. Logo Design by Ian Weiss and Kayla Williamson, American Theatre Wing.