Actors' Equity Association today named Natasha, Pierre,and the Great Comet of 1812, Come From Away and A Doll’s House, Part 2 the co-recipients of the Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award for the 2016–17 theatrical season. Presented by Equity’s National Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, the award honors shows that exemplify and promote the union’s founding principles of diversity, inclusion, non-traditional casting and equal opportunity for all who work in the theatre.
The award is scheduled to be presented to representatives from the shows at Equity’s regular July 11 Eastern Regional Board meeting in New York.
"We are thrilled to honor three productions this year for the ways in which they exhibit diverse and inclusive casting not routinely seen on Broadway," says Christine Toy Johnson, National Chair of the Equity’s National EEO Committee. "In The Great Comet, a multi-cultural company of actors offers an expanded window into the retelling of a classic Russian story. In Come From Away, based on a true story portraying citizens of a largely Caucasian community, a diverse and inclusive company of both onstage and understudy actors play multiple characters without regard to race, age or type."
EEO Committee Vice Chair Allyson Tucker adds, "In A Doll’s House, Part 2, we are treated to a cast where talent reigns supreme and where we cease to be confined by our visual limitations and definitions. The diverse casting serves to strengthen the message of the play by demonstrating the universality of the issues that are at the heart of the show."
