Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC)

“At 61.5 % of available roles across the industry, White actors continue to be the only race to overrepresent by almost double their respective population size in NYC”

RESEARCH PROJECT: The Visibility Report: Racial Representation on NYC Stages

COVERAGE: 2017-2018 New York City theater season

RESEARCH PARTNERS: American Theatre Wing and the AAPAC Steering Committee - Pun Bandhu, Cindy Cheung, Angel Desai, Christine Toy Johnson, Peter Kim, Julienne Hanzelka Kim, Kenneth Lee, Eileen Rivera & Nandita Shenoy.

The mission of AAPAC (ASIAN AMERICAN PERFORMERS ACTION COALITION) is to expand the perception of Asian American performers in order to increase their access to and representation on New York City’s stages. AAPAC was started by a group of Asian American performers who came together in the summer of 2011 after this question was posted on Facebook: “Where are all the Asian actors in mainstream New York theatre?” Since that fateful online conversation, we have spearheaded organizing forums for the artistic community to discuss issues of racial representation in New York theater and collecting statistics from New York theater seasons dating back to 2006 to highlight casting inequities. These statistical reports have become a trusted resource in the theater community at large. In 2020 we were awarded an Obie Award for Advocacy in the Field of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

FINDINGS: At 61.5 % of available roles across the industry, White actors continue to be the only race to overrepresent by almost double their respective population size in NYC. Black actors represented at 23.2%, Asian American actors 6.9%, Latinx actors 6.1%, MENA actors 2% and Indigenous Actors 0.2%.

In its new Economic Impact section for the non-profit sector, the study found some theatre companies guilty of redlining the most diverse stories to the smallest stages which correlated with lower salaries, creating a system of economic inequality.