Let's Make a List of Diverse Broadway Professionals

Tarell Alvin McCraney - Academy Award winner for Moonlight and Tony Award nominee for Choir Boy.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins - 2-time Pulitzer Finalist for Gloria and Everybody

Michael R. Jackson - First Black musical theatre writer to win the Pulitzer for A Strange Loop

Jason Michael Webb - Won a Special Tony Award for his musical arrangements in Choir Boy.

Juanita Hall - First black person to win a Tony Award (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) for South Pacific in 1950.

Stew - First black person to win the Tony for Best Book of a Musical for Passing Strange in 2008

Charlie Smalls - First black person to win the Tony for Best Original Score for The Wiz in 1975

Joseph A. Walker - First black person to win the Tony for Best Play for The River Niger in 1974

I’ll stay off actors just for a second, as I feel it’s important to highlight those whose names we see but may not know who they are.

Kenny Leon - Director
Toni Leslie-James - costume designer
Daryl waters - orchestrator
Zane Mark - composer / arranger
Emilio Sosa - costume designer
Saheem Ali - Director
Clint Ramos - costume designer
Paul Tazewell - costume designer
Kai Harada - sound designer
Harold wheeler - music Director / orchestrator
Joseph Joubert - conductor / orchestrator
Shelton Becton - music Director / pianist

Not all of these people have worked on Broadway, but here are some non-white theatre artists who are significant to the industry today, and/or some of my underrated favorites. This list is obviously wildly incomplete, partly because I'm picking and choosing a bit, but also because I'm sure I forgot a ton of important examples. But here goes:

Writers/Composers:
August Wilson
Adrienne Kennedy
David Henry Hwang
Lorainne Hansbury
Miria Irene Fornes
Quiara Alegria Hudes
Robert O'Hara (also a director)
Suzan-Lori Parks
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Mfoniso Udofia
debbie tucker green
Qui Nguyen
Lynn Nottage
Dominique Morisseau
Mia Chung
Jeremy O. Harris
Jackie Sibles Drurie
Ayad Akhtar
Nassim Soleimanpour
Luis Alfaro
Donja R. Love
Lauren Yee
Young Jean Lee
Celina Song
Christopher Chen
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Michael R. Jackson
Dael Orlandersmith
Anna Deavere Smith
Amiri Baraka
Danai Gurira
Eboni Booth
Larissa FastHorse

Directors:
George C. Wolfe (also a playwright)
Lileana Blain-Cruz
Leisl Tommy
Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Robert O'Hara
Kenny Leon
Chay Yew
Saheem Ali
Awoye Timpo
Leah C. Gardiner
Stevie Walker-Webb
Satoshi Miyagi
Yukio Ninagawa


Performers:

Audra McDonald
James Earl Jones
Rebecca Naomi Jones
Joshua Henry
Kelvin Moon Loh
Adrienne Warren
Lindsay Mendez
Merle Dandridge
Phillip Boykin
Nikki M. James
Raymond J. Lee
Ann Harada
Chita Rivera
Krysta Rodriguez
Telly Leung
Nicolette Robinson
Kristolyn Lloyd
Mandy Gonzales
Cush Jumbo
Sahr Ngaujah
Amber Grey
John Douglas Thompson
Sophie Okonedo
Ruthie Ann Miles
Ashley Park
Zainab Jah
Joel Perez
Arian Moayed
Karen Pittman
Brandon Victor Dixon
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Billy Porter
Joaquina Kalukango
Bryonha Marie Parham
Saycon Sengbloh
Jocelyn Bioh (also a playwright)
Quincy Tyler Bernstine
Jason Tam
Lea Salonga
Ari'el Stachel
Lilli Cooper
Chuck Cooper
Eddie Cooper
Andre de Shields
Eva Noblezada
Phillipa Soo
Lin-manuel Miranda
Leslie Odom Jr.
Rene Elise Golsberry
Daveed Diggs
Brian Tyree Henry
James Seol
Titus Burgess
Condola Rashad
Phylicia Rashad
Myra Lucretia Taylor
Vaishnavi Sharma
Daphne Ruben-Vega
Ato Blankson-Wood
Jeremy Pope
Mia Katigbak
Conrad Ricamora
Heather Alicia Simms
David Alan Grier
Blair Underwood
J. Alphonse Nicholson
Jelani Remy
Taylor Iman Jones
Ana Villafañe
LaChanze
Thom Sesma
Francis Jue
Michael Benjamin Washington
Derrick Baskins
Sean Carvajal
Arinze Kene
Danielle Brooks
Javier Munoz
Christopher Jackson
James T. Lane
Jin Ha
Nneka Okafor
James Monroe Iglehart
Jelani Alladin
Jasmine Cephas Jones
Patina Miller
Liza Colon-Zayas
Starr Busby
Priscilla Lopez
Larry Owens
Cynthia Errivo
Tonya Pinkins
Vanessa Williams
Heather Headley
Jennifer Holliday
Leslie Uggams
Norm Lewis
Robin de Jesus
Ephraim Syskes
Colman Domingo (also a playwright)
Keala Settle
Karen Olivo
Anika Noni Rose
Sharon D. Clarke
(and many, many more)

Updated On: 6/1/20 at 06:18 PM

Brittney Johnson, first black Glinda (and truly one of the best Glinda’s wicked has ever had).

Ellen Stewart—Experimental theater impresario

Stephen McKinley Henderson—actor/director/educator

May Adrales—director

Sheldon Epps—director

Ntozake Shange—playwright

Mashuq Mushtaq Deen—playwright

Chay Yew—playwright/director

Katori Hall—playwright/Director

Griffin Matthews—writer/actor/composer/activist

Yussef El Guindi—playwright

Jordan E. Cooper—playwright/actor