In the theater industry, especially in places like Broadway there has been extreme discrimination of people for various things in the past. This industry was and can still be a very toxic environment to people who are considered different, making it hard for them to start their careers and earn a living.
Throughout the years, people have begun to speak out about some of the unfairness taking place and even passed a law against discrimination. Even though these steps have been taken to make the theater a more diverse and accepting place, the industry is still not completely fixed. Lots of people are still having trouble with being cast in things due to their differences causing a terrible environment for these people constantly trying as hard as they can but end up getting turned away sometimes even before an audition even occurs just because of their differences.
Within the Broadway world, there seems to have been millions of cases of discrimination especially for dancers. In a New York Times article published in 2023 it stated that over the past several decades many companies, organizations and casting teams have consistently sought out artists with extremely slender bodies, for aesthetic and artistic reasons. Because of this more plus sized dancers are being denied jobs and are finding it increasingly hard to make a living off of the thing they love and are good at. As the need for skinnier dancers increases throughout the industry, more people are forced into bad positions at a young age to keep that slender figure that is needed in order to maintain a job in dance.
According to the New York Times, studies have shown that dancers are three times more likely than non-dancers to develop eating disorders. Because of the extreme discrimination dancers are told that being skinny is the only good way to live the life they want to obtain. Being told this alters dancers’ thinking and forces them without even realizing it to develop eating disorders in order to be even considered on Broadway. In the New York Times, Greta Gleissner, a former dancer who now works as a physiotherapist, said, “As you walk in the door of most dance classes, you’re already less than human, you are a body.”
Dancers and performers in industries such as Broadway have become more insecure of their appearance as teachers, choreographers, and coaches begin to tear them apart for things they can’t control. They get criticized on things such as their feet, bone structure, height, and even weight causing them to become more beat down and insecure. Things like this might even drive more performers to end up quitting on their dreams before they even get there because of the amount of discrimination and horrible treatment.
The government has now recently passed a law saying that discrimination on height and weight is illegal unless a role has a specific body type that is important to the plot. Duke theater professor and author Ryan Donovan said in a 2023 article that, though the Broadway industry has come some distance in recent years, it is far from reaching parity on many measures of inclusion. This law isn’t necessarily helping discrimination as fast as it needs to. To some people, this law is viewed as a shift in the industry that will take a while to completely follow. Therefore even though they have made some progress there is still a lot of discrimination in industries like these. They believe they are following the new law but are instead just making exceptions here and there to people with differences.
In my experience, I have been denied many roles in theater because of my height. Only a few times have people made exceptions for me to play roles other than kids. Because of my height people believe the only roles I’m capable of are playing the child roles and because of things like height differences and aesthetic purposes they have chosen to go with people who are taller to play more adult roles. This way if there isn’t a kid in a show, I’m often being put in an ensemble because my height makes me look younger than I am. Seeing this it makes sense that people who are seen as different still find it hard to book gigs even after the law was passed. Even though it has gotten better and more adult roles have been offered to me in the past two years, I still experience discrimination, like people putting me down saying that the only roles that I can play are little kids underestimating all I have to offer. People that have similar problems do make it into shows despite their differences but very rarely is it actually happening to actors and dancers.
Actors and dancers in industries such as Broadway are still discriminated against to this day. Even though it has gotten better because of the law, there are still a lot of things that need to be done in order to be able to follow that law to its full extent. In order for people involved in this industry to have a happy and healthy life doing what they’re doing, there needs to be more strict rules regarding discrimination cracking down on the law and making sure it is being executed well. It is extremely important that people in this industry get more attention making sure everyone is treated right and fairly. Doing this is vital for dancers and actors so that they don’t end up having awful mental health and health issues because they were forced to fit into standards that their body isn’t made for.
