Quiara Alegría Hudes (and Lin-Manuel Miranda) on IN THE HEIGHTS Casting Controversy

Lin-Manuel Miranda and
Quiara Alegría Hudes.

The fact is that creating true artistic diversity often takes hard work. Concerted, extra effort. It takes time and money. You cannot just put out a casting call and hope people come and then shrug if they don’t show up. You may need to add extra casting calls (I do this all the time), to go do outreach in communities you haven’t worked with before. You may need to reach out to the Latino theaters and artists and build partnerships to share resources and information. You may need to fly in actors from out of town if you’ve exhausted local avenues, and house them during the run. When faced with these expensive obstacles, an organization’s status quo sometimes wins because it’s cheaper and less trouble. The Latino community has the right to be disappointed and depressed that an opportunity like this was lost. It can be very disheartening, as an artist and as an audience member. –QUIARA ALEGRÍA HUDES (on behalf of her and LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA)

Read the rest of the official statement from Pulitzer Prize winners (and creators of In The Heights) Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda by reading Howard Sherman's Arts Integrity blog by clicking here. Also, check out the Michael Dale article in Broadway World by clicking here.

For more information on the casting controversy regarding In The Heights at Chicago's Porchlight Music Theatre, click here, here, and here.