Report #12 of the Wisconsin Theatre Diversity Study
Check out this post for more info on the study and our methodology.
4/24/2026 - updated highest/lowest ranking note
Our twelfth report is for Next Act Theatre. The reporting period covers their 23/24, 24/25, and 25/26 seasons.
Actor Breakdown
The below data is the number of roles cast with actors of each demographic and the percentage total.
White - 42 roles, 61.8%
Black - 11 roles, 16.2%
Latino/a/x - 8 roles, 11.8%
Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) - 4 roles, 5.9%
Multiracial - 2 roles, 2.9%
Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) - 1 role, 1.5%
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 - 10, 83.33%
Black - 1, 8.33%
Multiracial - 1, 8.33%
These numbers reflect 12 full productions consisting of 68 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 61.8% puts Next Act Theatre at the 5th highest/4th lowest rate out of the 8 total Equity companies.
That 61.8% represents a little under 2 times the representation in city racial demographics, while their 16.2% Black actor casting rate is a bit under 1/2 of the representation of Milwaukee's largest racial demographic of 38.5%. Next Act’s casting rate of AAPI actors matched or exceeded their relative representational population 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.