Report #6 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 sixth report is for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater (Milwaukee Rep). 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 - 179 roles, 57.9%
Black - 63 roles, 20.9%
Latino/a/x - 35 roles, 11.6%
Multiracial - 16 roles, 5.3%
Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) - 7 roles, 2.3%
Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) - 3 roles, 1%
South Asian (SA) - 3 roles, 1%
Director Breakdown
The below data is the number of times a director of each demographic was hired and the percentage total.
White - 30, 83.3%
Black - 5, 13.8%
Multiracial - 1, 2.7%
These numbers reflect 36 full productions consisting of 303 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 57.9% puts the Rep at the 6th highest/3rd lowest rate out of the 8 total Equity companies.
That 57.9% represents a little over 1.8 times the representation in city racial demographics, while their 20.9% Black actor casting rate is 54% of the representation of Milwaukee's largest racial demographic of 38.5%. None of the Rep’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.