*A trade union for theater actors is accusing the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” of racial discrimination after coming across its open casting call for “non-white” actors.
The post on its official website said producers are looking for “NON-WHITE men and women, ages 20s to 30s, for Broadway and upcoming Tour!”
Writer-composer-star Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s hip-hop musical features a primarily non-white cast retelling the story of Alexander Hamilton and the founding fathers, using people of color to underscore the role immigrants played in the formation of the America.
A spokesperson for Actors’ Equity, the union that represents stage performers, told the New York Daily News that the posting is not consistent with the organization’s policies. Equity stipulates in its guidelines that all actors must be considered “without discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, creed, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression or political persuasion or belief.”
However, Equity states on its website that “Equity neither runs OPEN calls nor provides Equity audition monitors for them. The producer runs all aspects of an OPEN call and is not bound by Equity’s audition procedures.”
A “Hamilton” spokesperson told the Daily News that the wording of the casting notice is being reconsidered.
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