VIDEO: Zakiya Young Shares Her Experiences as a Black Performer on Broadway

By: Jun. 07, 2020
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Zakiya Young, who has appeared on Broadway in The Little Mermaid and Stick Fly, has taken to Instagram to share her experiences as a black performer on Broadway.

The video series is called "To Be Young, Gifted and Black on Broadway." In these videos, Young discusses "the micro-aggressions that have come from other actors, from PR reps, wig designers, music directors and the differences in how PR firms market black Broadway shows versus white Broadway shows."

"Grateful and Silent"

"Broadway Is Running Exactly The Way They Want It To"

"Micro-Aggressions From Our Allies"

Here is video 3 of 3. "Micro-aggressions from our allies". This list is by no means all inclusive, but these are the top micro-aggressions that I've heard as an actress by my white friends who consider themselves to be allies. This public service announcement explains why these statements are offensive and why you have seen your black friends shut down or change the subject when you say these things. And y'all say these things. A lot. We are no longer biting our tongues when confronted with these micro-aggressions so I don't want anyone bringing their tears when they're called out - saying they don't understand why so-and-so got so mad. Mmkay? Cool. Y'all get to work. #burnitdown #sowecanbuildsomethingbetter #dobetter #listenandlearn

A post shared by Zakiya Young (@officialzakiyayoung) on Jun 6, 2020 at 7:11pm PDT

Zakiya Young has appeared on Broadway in Stick Fly and The Little Mermaid (OBC), as well as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Off-Broadway credits include Storyville (AUDELCO Award Nomination), The Lightning Thief, and Tenderloin. Regional credits include Good People (George Street Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre), The War Department (O'Neill Center), Aida (Starlight Theatre), White Christmas (Syracuse Stage), Little Miss Sunshine (La Jolla Playhouse),and It's a Bird, It's a Plane...It's Superman (Dallas Theater Center). She is the first black actress known to have played the iconic role of Lois Lane in any Superman project.

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.


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