Report #21 of the Wisconsin Theatre Diversity Study
Check out this post for more info on the study and our methodology.
Our twenty-first report is for Milwaukee Chamber 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 - 38 roles, 50.7%
Black - 28 roles, 37.3%
Latino/a/x - 5 roles, 6.7%
Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) - 2 roles, 2.7%
Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) - 1 role, 1.3%
South Asian (SA) - 1 role, 1.3%
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 - 10, 71.4%
Black - 3, 21.4%
Latino/a/x - 1, 7.1%
These numbers reflect 14 full productions consisting of 75 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 50.7% puts Milwaukee Chamber Theatre at the lowest rate out of the 8 total Equity companies.
That 50.7% represents a little over 1.6 times the representation in city racial demographics, while their 37.3% Black actor casting rate is just short of equaling Milwaukee's largest racial demographic of 38.5%. None of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre 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.