& Juliet star Justin David Sullivan is speaking out about The Tony Awards’ gendered performance categories.
In the wake of the awards’ Administration Committee releasing its first round of eligibility determinations earlier today, Sullivan, who is non-binary and playing a non-binary character, has bowed out completely.
Sullivan told Playbill,
“I was told that I had to choose [the category in which] I felt comfortable, and in that process, I struggled a lot.
There’s nothing more that I want to empower than non-binary people, to show that it’s possible to be non-binary on Broadway, play a non-binary character on Broadway and be nominated, and possibly potentially awarded. I felt like I couldn’t choose.
I didn’t feel right being in either category because it didn’t resonate with me. I decided the only thing that felt right to me would be to abstain from nomination consideration.
So I will not be considered for a Tony nomination.”
The Tonys released a statement saying,
Some organizations are looking to make awards more equitable by removing gender from the mix entirely;
- The Lucille Lortel Awards, which honors Off-Broadway productions, made that move beginning last year
- The Outer Critics Circle Awards, which recognizes both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, also has new genderless categories set to make their debut later this year
Sullivan says,
I hope that this is a wake-up call to not only the Tonys, but for every award show to celebrate everyone and to make sure they’re being inclusive.
Things are shifting. There are so many gender-queer and gender-expansive artists in our community, and they bring so much to the table.
So it hurts, and it was a really hard decision to make. As a young theatre kid, that’s all you dream about. I always felt like people just didn’t know where to put me, what to do with me, so it was really a shame to get to this point in my career where I’m breaking ceilings and doing things that I have always dreamed about and to still feel like people don’t know where to put me.
I hope that this inspires a conversation to be had and an important one that needs to happen, to make sure that moving forward, there is more inclusivity in the nomination categories.”
& Juliet is directed by Luke Sheppard, book by David West Read (Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek writer) music by five-time Grammy winning songwriter Max Martin, choreography by Emmy-winner Jennifer Weber, employs pop songs like Since U Been Gone‚ Roar, Baby One More Time, and Can’t Stop the Feeling to tell a story of self-discovery, empowerment and love.
The musical flips the script on the greatest love story ever told by asking,
What would happen next if Juliet didn’t end it all over Romeo?
& Juliet runs through Feb. 5 at the Stephen Sondheim Theater in NYC.
(Photo, Screen grab, BroadwayWorld; via Playbill)
