VIDEO: Watch Josh Gad and Asmeret Ghebremichael Discuss Racism in Theater and the World
As BroadwayWorld previously reported, our team is committed to to being a substantial part of a collective industry-wide effort to help address racism and white supremacy in the theatre in as many ways as possible; including a number of specific steps of action that we are already at work to implement.
If you are a Black artist or an artist of color and would like to share your stories, your work, and your experiences, or to recommend someone else that we should get in touch with for one of our initiatives, please feel free to email us at contact@broadwayworld.com.
Below, watch as The Book of Mormon veterans Josh Gad and Asmeret Ghebremichael reunite to chat about the state of the world.
"What you're seeing everywhere now is the frustration of a group of people who have been trying to speak up for years and years.... I have friends [in the Broadway community] who have spoken out quite candidly in the last several days," says Ghebremichael. "These are conversations have been happening in smaller circles and behind closed doors for years."
Watch the full conversation below:
Ghebremichael made her Broadway debut in 1999, playing Rusty, Wendy Jo, Urleen, and the Ensemble in Footloose. She later appeared in the ensembles of Wicked and Spamalot on Broadway, as well as Lone Star Love and In the Heights off-Broadway. In 2007, she played Pilar in Legally Blonde on Broadway. She also played Shawanda in the original Broadway cast of Elf: The Musical, and in 2011 she appeared in the ensemble of The Book of Mormon on Broadway. In 2015, she appeared as a munchkin in The Wiz Live! on NBC. In 2017 she joined the West End cast of Dreamgirls as Lorrell Robinson.
Gad is known for parts like Olaf in Frozen, playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, and LeFou in the live-action adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. His other Broadway credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other theatre: All in the Timing, The Skin of Our Teeth, A One Man Show With Other People.
