Research Guides: PAL Topic Guides: Diversity in the Performance Hall

About

This is a guide written by PAL Librarians that focuses on resources you can use to diversify the repertoire you teach and perform in your studio or class. If there is a resource, composer, or playwright you think we are missing, please email the Performing Arts Librarian by clicking here, or using the "Email Me" button on the left-hand side of the page.

Implementing Anti Racism in the Performance Hall

Below is a list of resources that can assist you in implementing anti-racism in the performance hall.

Anti-Racist Theatre
A collection of essays and videos from HowlRound that call out systemic racism in theatre and points toward anti-racist practices.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Framework: Reclaiming Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Racial Justice
A PDF publication by Danielle Beavers for The Greenlining Institute. This framework lays out the differences between diversity, equity and inclusion, charts the evolution of diversity campaigns over the decades, and aims to help diversity advocates turn ideals into a concrete tool using the “Four Ws” – who, what, where and why.
SF Theatre: A Virtual Lookbook
A visual representation showing the extent to which San Francisco-based companies were employing BIPOC artists through a collection of production and company photos from 2017 to 2019.
An Open Letter on Racism in Music Studies - Danielle Brown
Danielle Brown reminds us that it is not going to be enough for us as educators to jump on the bandwagon of BLM without making drastic and courageous changes in our classrooms, departments, institutions, and fields. As she points out, it is extremely difficult for white people to cede authority to black, indigenous, and other people of color, especially when that authority derives from many years of research and experience. Brown outlines a fundamental dilemma: the Academy is not (yet?) a place where white privilege can be overthrown by force, but most diversity and inclusion initiatives are doomed to be superficial, cosmetic, and top-down.

Anti-racism Readings

For BIPOC Bay Area Theater, a 'Living Document' Provides Catharsis, Calls to Action
Nicole Gluckstern, KQED
The Performative Arts
Charles Lewis III, SF Weekly
What Happens When Artists Stop Being Afraid
Diep Tran, Token Theatre Friends
What Went Wrong at Philly's PlayPenn?
Rob Weinert-Kendt, American Theatre

BIPOC, LGBTQ, and Women Playwrights - Resources

The Alternative Canon
Non-Western plays, plays by people of color, by women and by queer writers from before 1945.
50 Playwrights Project
Beyond the Canon
The International Centre for Women Playwrights - Database
Contemporary Playwrights of Color - NYU
Ma-yi Theater Company - Writers Lab
Middle Eastern American Writers Lab
#BIPOC Swap List
A growing list of plays, musicals, and acting method readings by BIPOC playwrights, composers, and theatre makers to “swap” in place of material typically used from the American theatre canon; based on similar themes and/or adaptations. A resource for theatre educators.
The Kilroys

BIPOC, LGBTQ, & Women Composers - Resources

Music by Black Composers - Directory
Beyond Elijah Rock: The Non-Idiomatic Choral Music of Black Composers
Beyond Elijah Rock is a catalog of choral music by Black composers that goes beyond the idiomatic canon of spirituals, gospel, jazz, hip hop, and rap. Search by voicing, composer/arranger, title, or more. As the author says, this list is not exhaustive, but it is a starting point – check back often for new entries.
Institute for Composer Diversity
This website, database, and resource is dedicated to the celebration, education, and advocacy of music created by composers from historically underrepresented groups.