"A New Deal For Broadway" abolishes all-white creative teams; includes commitments from Shubert, Nederlander, Jujamcyn to each rename theatres after a Black Artist

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "A few renaming ideas:

– The Davis-Dee Theatre (named for Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis)

– The Paul Robeson Theatre

– The Langston Hughes Theatre

– The Pearl Bailey Theatre

– The Lloyd Richards Theatre

– The Eubie Blake Theatre

– The Audra McDonald Theatre (she's young, but weirder things have happened!)



Here are the houses from those 3 theatre owners that are not already named for a PERSON. Wouldn't necessarily be limited to this list, since there are others (like the Cort and Booth) named for long-dead people...

Ambassador (Shubert)

Broadway Theatre (Shubert)

Imperial Theatre (Shubert)

Lyceum Theatre (Shubert)

Majestic Theatre (Shubert)

Marquis Theatre (Nederlander)

Music Box Theatre (Shubert)

Palace Theatre (Nederlander)

St. James Theatre (Jujamcyn)

Winter Garden Theatre (Shubert)"



Since there is no sensible reason to have theaters named after Brooks Atkinson or Walter Kerr (critics? really??) -- it would be a nice start to rename those 2 buildings.

JSquared2 said: "Since there is no sensible reason to have theaters named after Brooks Atkinson or Walter Kerr (critics?really??) -- it would be a nice start to rename those 2 buildings."

Walter Kerr had a successful career as a writer/director, too, with 6 Broadway credits. Though I agree that it seems more likely that Nederlander and Jujamcyn would rename those houses than, say, the St. James and the Palace, two iconic and storied houses.

I so hope the Broadway is one of the renamed houses. I love the space, but the name causes endless confusion for their marketing teams, and feels so.... blah compared to an actual storied name attached to a person.

Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes, and Josephine Baker are wonderful and historic name pulls. Bert Williams deeply deserves the recognition as well, but I doubt they would honor him in such a way today given that he performed in minstrelsy. A deeply important person, but harder to explain than a hero of the Harlem Renaissance like Hughes.

BCfitasafiddle said: "Lorraine Hansberry deserves a theatre."

She was certainly a trailblazer and it would be deserved, but she only wrote 3 Broadway shows (two produced in her lifetime)...something tells me they might want to go for artists whose body of work spanned a longer period of time. But who knows!

And I think I was misreading: Jujamcyn would not have to rename a theatre (unless they want to) since they already have one, and the stipulation is one.

In my selfish way Majestic, Palace, St. James, Imperial, and Winter Garden are "famous/classic". Personally, I'd hate to lose one of those names.

I feel like Nederlander can do the Marquis, because it really means nothing. Shuberts have more of an option. Maybe the Music Box to the Ethel Waters Theatre, where in 1933 "As Thousands Cheer" became the first Broadway show to give an African American performer equal billing with white performers?

Well there needs to be a starting point, and one is a good place to start for companies that have zero theatres named for Black artists. One per owner isn't necessarily enough, but maybe someone like Shubert will want to play a game of oneupmanship and rechristen two houses. (There will also be rebranding and signage costs for the theatre owners.)

And frankly, in my opinion, the renaming of theatres is more of a cosmetic thing; the real change will come from increasing representation within the industry's workforce and creating more equitable protocols.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "A few renaming ideas:

– The George C. Wolfe Theatre (the most Tony-nominated Black artist ever)

– The Audra McDonald Theatre (she's young, but weirder things have happened!)

Here are the houses from those 3 theatre owners that are not already named for a PERSON. Wouldn't necessarily be limited to this list, since there are others (like the Cort and Booth) named for long-dead people...

Yes. Maybe I just have recency bias but why not Brian Stokes Mitchell? Also, good point about theaters that aren't already named for a person.

Only 3-1/2 of the 42 current Broadway theaters are named after women. And Second Stage insists that its house only be called the Hayes.

JDonaghy4 said: "this sorta tokenism-- everyone has to name one theater after a Black person, and then they will have fulfilled their obligation!- so insulting and so performative. Don't get me wrong, that August Wilson is the only Black artist to have their name on a theater is mortifying, but that seems like a symptom of non-inclusivity and not something to be remedied by making sure the Shuberts and the Nederlanders are forced to come up with more."

Going along with this: How about it not just be black artists? I'd say have the theatre owners choose a POC, not necessarily black, and rename a theatre after them. That way if there's a Latin person of note, or Asian, the wealth can be spread a little?