Interview: Broadway Banned Books Week Launches With George Takei & Performers

Broadway has always been about telling stories that illuminate, challenge, and connect us. Next week, the stage community is stepping into a new role as a defender of stories beyond the footlights. From October 5–11, 2025, Broadway and the No Book Bans coalition are teaming up to launch the inaugural Broadway Banned Books Week, a new annual tradition coinciding with National Banned Books Week.

The initiative kicks off with UNSCRIPTED: A NIGHT AGAINST CENSORSHIP at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library (10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238), featuring George Takei, Broadway and Off-Broadway performers, and community partners. The week continues with ticket and merchandise giveaways, voter registration drives, and show engagement from productions like BEETLEJUICE, MEXODUS, THE OUTSDIERS, and New Victory Theater.

For Jody Drezner Alperin, co-founder and Artistic Director of Off The Page Education and Lead Organizer for No Book Bans, this partnership with Broadway is a natural fit. “Over the past year, No Book Bans has been partnering with individual Broadway shows,” she explains. "We thought, 'What if we could get all of these different shows and different players to come together for a united front one week of the year? These are issues that Broadway is concerned with.'"

That united front, she says, matters deeply because book bans aren’t just about books. "At first glance, you might look at it and be like, 'Oh, it’s just a book,'" Alperin says. "But the books are not actually the targets of the bans. The stories that are told and the communities that are represented in those books are the targets."

"We’re often talking about targeting Brown and Black communities, Latine communities, Asian-American communities, Muslim communities, Jewish communities, disabled communities, and definitely the LGBTQ community as well," she continues. "Basically, any of the communities that don’t conform to a very specific idea of who should be centered in American life right now."

That’s why bringing Broadway into the conversation is so important. "Broadway is the pinnacle of telling stories that connect us," she explains. "Whether that means someone sits in an audience and sees their story reflected on a stage and knows that they’re not alone, or someone who doesn’t have experience with that story sits in an audience and starts to understand the connections across our humanity, Broadway is the pinnacle of doing that. So what better partner to be fighting these bans with?"

The partnership has also been about creating ways for people to engage in advocacy. "People are looking for ways to do something in this moment," Alperin states. "One of the great things about this partnership is it’s giving people ways to act. Unfortunately, we think we’re going to have to keep fighting bans like this for a while. So let’s make this a new Broadway tradition."

The kickoff event with George Takei highlights that spirit. "I hope that one of the things that people will take away is seeing how they can take small steps to start to get involved to fight book bans," she says. "One of the easiest actions you can take is making sure you are registered for a library card with your local library, or if you have young people ages 13 to 21 in your life, making sure they have access to Brooklyn Public Library’s digital library card, which is a phenomenal program available across the entire United States."

Part of the programming is designed to connect the dots between stories and civic action as well. "We like to encourage people to feel inspired by the art that’s on display, by the conversations that they’re having, by the community that we’re sharing," Alperin elaborates. "And because of those feelings, they’ll feel empowered to take some actions locally or at the national level to fight book banning."

As for the participating shows, Alperin says the selection came from a mix of existing relationships and natural alignments. "THE OUTSIDERS, because of the work we did around the Books Save Lives Act with them last year, was ready to go," she explains. "BEETLEJUICE—true story—the bookwriters and I went to high school together. And MEXODUS is a great example of a perfect fit, because it’s telling a story that’s been hidden. We don’t get taught in our history classes about the Underground Railroad that went south to Mexico. That is also what we’re talking about: whose stories get taught, what history gets to be claimed as our American history."

At the core of Broadway Banned Books Week is the phrase Alperin often repeats, "Protecting stories means protecting people." She explains, "When we allow for the dehumanization of entire groups of people, that is when we allow for violence and the disappearing of them. One way that we can ensure people are not dehumanized is by hearing and respecting their stories. When we make sure those stories are not erased from our communities and from our stages and from our libraries, it’s one way to say the people represented in these pages and on these stages are not to be disappeared."

Looking ahead, Alperin hopes Broadway Banned Books Week will expand to include every show on the Great White Way. "We’d like to expand and get more action items that are ready for the audiences right there," she says. "Maybe inserts in Playbills, maybe curtain speeches. Expanding that and having just as many partners as possible come together to say, 'This is what’s going on, but look at how many of us value these storytellers.'"

And while New Yorkers will get the in-person experience, Alperin is quick to emphasize that theater and book lovers everywhere can join in. "They can follow No Book Bans on social media," she says. "There are going to be ticket giveaways, show merchandise, plus banned book giveaways. You don’t have to be in New York to participate."

For Alperin, the fight against censorship is both personal and artistic. She recalls reading Toni Morrison in college and realizing, "'Why haven’t I read Toni Morrison before?' That has definitely impacted my work as a theater maker and as an educator."