The Broadway Advocacy Coalition—founded by members of the Broadway community as a response to racism and police brutality in the U.S.—has created Reimagining Equitable Productions , a program designed to address safety and equity concerns in the theatre industry, brought to the forefront during the past year of examination.

In response to the issues of inequality identified by groups and panels like Broadway for Black Lives Matter Again Forum and We See You WAT, Broadway Advocacy Coalition drew on its Columbia Law School course to create the program. Reimagining Equitable Productions will consist of workshops custom-created for a production company to help them understand internal patterns of inequity and discover new ways of collaborating and planning to meet the needs of its company members.

The program will initially work with the companies of Company and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, as well as alongside Disney Theatrical Productions on a customized pilot process with the Broadway and touring companies of Aladdin, Frozen, and The Lion King.

“As reopening comes into focus we must now move beyond our vision and into action and execution, into a place of providing the support required to get everyone to meet those standards, said REP creator Leia Squillace. “REP is a process that recognizes that change happens in little moments, in developing trusting relationships, and in acknowledging that making lasting change is as necessary as it is challenging.”

Reimagining Equitable Productions was developed by Britton Smith (Be More Chill, Shuffle Along...), Zhailon Levingston (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Leia Squillace (Community Partnerships for Roundabout Theater Company), and Columbia Law School professor and Director of the Center for Institutional and Social Change Susan Sturm.