Report #11 of the Wisconsin Theatre Diversity Study
Check out this post for more info on the study and our methodology.
Our eleventh report is for Wisconsin Classic Stage. The reporting period begins with Henry V in 2025 and runs through their current production of The Persians in 2026.
Actor Breakdown
The below data is the number of roles cast with actors of each demographic and the percentage total.
White - 18 roles, 78.3%
Black - 2 roles, 8.7%
Latino/a/x - 2 roles, 8.7%
Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) - 1 role, 4.3%
Director Breakdown
The below data is the number of times a director of each demographic was hired and the percentage total. These numbers include directors and co-directors.
White - 2, 100
These numbers reflect 2 full productions consisting of 23 total roles for actors. Only actors listed in the adult cast/adult ensemble were considered for this study. Their casting rate of white actors at 78.3% puts Wisconsin Classic Stage at the 7th highest/7th lowest rate out of the 13 total storefront companies.
That 78.3% represents a little over 2.5 times the representation in city racial demographics, while their 8.7% Black actor casting rate is about 1/5 of the representation of Milwaukee's largest racial demographic of 38.5%. None of Wisconsin Classic Stage’s individual non-white casting demographics equaled or exceeded their relative representational populations per in the City of Milwaukee that were tracked per the census.
Milwaukee Demographics
White (Alone) - 31.1%
Black (Alone) - 38.5%
Latino/a/x or Hispanic - 20.9%
AAPI (Alone) - 5.2%
Indigenous (Alone) - .8%
All Others (Including Multiracial) - 3.6%
Current Milwaukee Census Estimates: Link
We acknowledge that census data is imperfect, in part due to a lack of representation for SWANA and South Asian populations and confusion for Latin/Hispanic populations, but it gives us a starting point to understand where we’re falling short when it comes to representation in our community.