Report #15 of the Wisconsin Theatre Diversity Study
Check out this post for more info on the study and our methodology.
Our fifteenth report is for Renaissance Theaterworks. 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 - 28 roles, 66.7%
Black - 12 roles, 28.6%
Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) - 1 role, 2.4%
Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) - 1 role, 2.4%
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 - 8, 100%
These numbers reflect 8 full productions consisting of 42 total roles for actors.
Only actors listed in the adult cast/adult ensemble were considered for this study. As part of this policy, we have excluded The Wolves from this reporting due to the nature of that collaboration casting students with First Stage’s Young Company in all roles but one.
Their casting rate of white actors at 66.7% puts Renaissance Theaterworks at the 4th highest/5th lowest rate out of the 8 total Equity companies.
That 66.7% represents a little under 2 times the representation in city racial demographics, while their 28.6% Black actor casting rate is a bit under 3/4 of the representation of Milwaukee's largest racial demographic of 38.5%. None of Renaissance’s non-white casting statistics 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.