Report #3 of the Wisconsin Theatre Diversity Study
Check out this post for more info on the study and our methodology.
4/9/2026 Update - Updated graphic to clarify past 3 seasons, not all time.
Our third report is for Optimist Theatre. The reporting period is their 2024, 2025, and upcoming 2026 seasons.
Actor Breakdown
The below data is the number of roles cast with actors of each demographic and the percentage total.
White - 25 roles, 83.3%
Black - 3 roles, 10%
Latino/a/x - 1 role, 3.3%
South Asian (SA) - 1 role, 3.3%
Director Breakdown
The below data is the number of times a director of each demographic was hired and the percentage total.
White - 8, 100%
These numbers reflect 8 full productions consisting of 30 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 83.3% puts Optimist at the highest rate out of the 8 total Equity companies.
That 83.3% represents over 2.5 times the representation in city racial demographics, while their 10% Black actor casting rate is slightly more than 1/4 of the representation of Milwaukee's largest racial demographic of 38.5%. None of Optimist'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.