The creators of the Tony-winning Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen have announced that they will be working to use their voice and reach “to undo an unjust system.”
Composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book writer Steven Levenson, director Michael Greif, and producer Stacey Mindich wrote an open letter to fans announcing a $100,000 donation to two organizations “to help effect change both in our theater community and on a national level.”
“We have spent the last several days listening to the Black members of our companies, our community, our country, and the world, as they share with us their pain, their suffering, and their heartbreak. These truths, we must admit, are not new. The systemic racism against Black people and communities is not new. A theatrical culture in which Black voices have been silenced and erased is now new,” the wrote in the letter. “And as we mourn the unspeakable losses of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, we recognize that the brutal murder of Black people is not new.”
“The shameful reality is that, for all too long, the injustices and inequities endured by our fellow citizens, our peers, and our friends have gone unheard and unheeded. The shameful reality is that none of it is new,” they added. “What must be new is our commitment not merely to listen, but to act, and to act now.”
$50,000 is being donated to the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, to sponsor an industry-wide “Continuing the Conversation” Forum in early 2021. The other $50,000 is being donated to Color of Change.
The DEH creators say they are “examining” their own practices and “looking inward, assessing the personnel, policies, and systems of our show at every level, in every department, and at every location.”
The letter was concluded, “Dear Evan Hansen is about community and connection. We will use our voice and our reach to apply those values in working to undo an unjust system. Even now, while our theaters are empty, our show will not be silent.”
In other news, find out which star is in talks to join the cast of the Dear Evan Hansen movie.
