‘A reset button’ — Black theater leaders push for change

NEW YORK — What’s better than a powerful voice from the Black theater community singing about change? Vanessa Williams, Billy Porter and Audra McDonald and other founding members of Black Theatre United have recorded the song and video “Stand for Change,” with all proceeds donated to social justice efforts. “It’s almost like a reset button now.” Black Theatre United was formed in response to the wave of national unrest over racial injustice that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. “Instead of longing for old Broadway to come back, let’s be excited for the Broadway that’s coming to us if we take this time and do the work that we all deep down want to do and want to be done,” says Celia Rose Gooding, who stars in “Jagged Little Pill.” The group Broadway & Beyond has launched virtual networking workshops for stage managers of color, while Broadway Records and the Black Theatre Coalition have teamed up to create an album of new works by emerging Black musical theater writers, elevating their voices. Black playwrights and actors will be showcased in a revival of Alice Childress’ “Trouble in Mind”; “MJ,” a musical about Michael Jackson by Lynn Nottage; “Skeleton Crew” by Dominique Morisseau; “Thoughts of a Colored Man” by Keenan Scott II; and Melvin Van Peebles’ “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death.” Broadway has had seasons where diversity gains have been recorded and then lost.