An initiative to explore the needs of BIPOC theater professionals, aiming to create programs that will support the current and urgent need for greater inclusion.

Fall 2022, after a tumultuous year and a half of shutdown, we witnessed a surge of progress in BIPOC representation within the theater industry. Subsequently, seven new plays that opened on Broadway were by African American playwrights, as well as the debut of the first Korean pop musical. Off-Broadway and LORT regional theaters were announcing their most diverse seasons ever. The Dramatists Guild forged a groundbreaking inclusion rider. Are things actually going in the right direction? How can the initial momentum be sustained? What triumphs still need to be amplified?  What issues, institutional and individual, need to be addressed?

Through an ongoing program dedicated to the nurturing of BIPOC voices, including developmental readings of new works and a quarterly series of Town Hall conversations engaging an inclusive representation of the theater community, TRU affirms its dedication to fostering change in a slow-to-change industry.