Date: February 1st, 2017

From: Katy Gentry

Subject: Research Proposal - Diversity in Theatre
Topic description: Broadway has historically been lacking in providing
theatrical roles for minorities, including people of color, women, members of
the LGBTQ+ community, the disabled, and others. Over the past few years,
Broadway seasons have seen a slight shift in the representation of their
roles, however whether thats due to a permanent, ongoing change in the
level of diversity on the great white way, or simply a limited response to a
particular situation or political climate of the era, is debatable.
Documentation Style: MLA
Tentative List of References:
Seymour, Lee. "The Tonys Are Just As White As The Oscars." Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 18 Apr. 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/leeseymour/2016/04/04/the-tonys-are-
just-as-white-as-the-oscars-here-are-the-tonyssowhite-
statistics/#6f521e597635>.
Collins-Hughes, Laura, and Alexis Soloski. "Broadway Might Not Be So
White, But Is It Woman Enough?" The New York Times. The New York
Times, 31 May 2016. Web. 1 Feb. 2017.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/05/theater/women-on-broadway-a-
year-of-living-dangerously.html>.
Tran, Diep. "Hamilton Swept the Tonys, but Has Diversity Swept
Broadway?" AMERICAN THEATRE. American Theatre, 05 Jan. 2017.
Web. 01 Feb. 2017.
<http://www.americantheatre.org/2016/06/28/hamilton-swept-the-
tonys-but-has-diversity-swept-broadway/>.
Paulson, Michael. "This Broadway Season, Diversity Is Front and
Center." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Sept. 2015. Web.
1 Feb. 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/theater/this-
broadway-season-diversity-is-front-and-center.html>.
Kennedy, Mark. "Broadway Embraces Diversity, but Have Things Really
Changed?" The Big Story. Associated Press, 8 June 2016. Web. 01 Feb.
2017.
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e09f4cdf62464188be698a6c05b81966/b
roadway-embraces-diversity-have-things-really-changed>.
Davenport, Ken. "How to Get More Diversity on Broadway." The
Producers Perspective. N.p., 17 Dec. 2016. Web. 31 Jan. 2017.
 <https://www.theproducersperspective.com/my_weblog/2015/12/how-
to-get-more-diversity-on-broadway.html>.
Purpose: As a theatre major, my ultimate goal is to eventually be working
professionally and on Broadway, creating new kinds of theatre and helping to
promote messages that I believe in. In particular, I feel that crafting works
that promote diversity is an incredibly important focus, and knowing where
these works originate and how they have been received and influenced each
other can be vital in helping to pick out and support these works in my future
career. Additionally, calling attention to these issues and being educated on
them can assist in others working in theatrical professions to help identify
and produce these kinds of works, and to help them see how their own works
might fit into the larger Broadway image.
Intended audience: Other theatre professionals, in particular those who
are working to create new and more diverse roles for actors on Broadway,
can benefit from this research by being able to look at the trends and
perhaps apply those situations to their own shows, and use them as a point
of reference for how past bids for more inclusive casts were or were not
successful.
Preliminary Thesis/Argument: The tendencies in Broadway history of
relatively uniform and incredibly white-male-centric casting habits compared
to the diversity of recent seasons has led me to examine the ways in which
diversity and representation on Broadway has changed and developed over
the years, and the way those trends are influenced by the state of the world.
Types of research areas: The research on this topic will likely come from
both field research, internet, and, possibly, scholarly research. While
information will likely be most readily available online, there are perhaps
some theatre professionals who might be available to comment, as well as
several online communities within the theatre world that will likely chart and
provide information on the topics. I personally am not yet especially familiar
with the kinds of papers and publications produced in the theater on a
professional academic level, however I am planning to look into what is
available and if applicable, include those sources as well in order to create as
well-rounded a paper as possible.
Graphs or charts: https://www.graphiq.com/vlp/gGd9GUOlJsN (from first
source)