Our Projects and Their Findings

Our studies cover a broad range of specific interests and methodologies. They investigate representation for people working within different disciplines—performers, playwrights, directors, designers, musicians, technicians, dramaturgs, stage managers and administrators. They focus on different locales and sectors of the field—e.g. Broadway, LORT, specific cities and regions, etc.

Most important, each defines its own community of concern by race, gender, disability, singly or together.  Most of these “counters” have been collecting data for over a decade, some on their own, some in groups. The findings have changed over time and continue to evolve.

Our search page is intended as a portal to accountings and examinations of the American professional theater. This is  a picture composed of many pictures, not a Rashomon-style portrait where everyone sees the same thing differently, but a look at one subject from many different angles.

Despite these different angles of vision, the view is similar: there is neither parity nor equity in hiring practices in our field. What this means is simple: the stories and pictures of the world that appear on our stages don’t represent the range of voices and visions in that world. More, the bodies that appear on our stages, in our orchestras, at our rehearsals, and among the decision makers within our theaters don’t come close to true representation, to the actual demographics of our society.

On this page you’ll find descriptions and a few key findings of these numerous studies. By navigating this virtual space, you’ll find links to their full work.