And the nominees are...

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It’s one of my favorite days of the year: Tony nomination day! As someone deeply enmeshed in the theater world - both as a creator and an audience member - it’s an exciting morning. Last year, I celebrated when L Morgan Lee was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for her performance in A Strange Loop, making her the first openly transgender actress to receive a Tony nomination. This year, we’re getting more exciting news. 

Today, J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell became the first nonbinary-identifying actor nominees. Here’s what we can learn from their history-making nominations.

On forging new paths

It isn’t easy to be a “first.” Whether you’re a Tony-nominated actor or the first woman of color to lead a team at your organization, being the “first” or the “only” is no walk in the park. If you’re a member of any marginalized group - women, LGBTQ+ people, BIPOC people, disabled people, neurodivergent people, and many more - you’ve probably experienced being the “only” at least once in your life. You may have even been a “first.” When the “firsts” start happening, it’s an exciting time, but it’s often imperfect. These Tony nominations are a great example.

Because the Tonys’ acting categories are gendered, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming actors must choose the category in which they want to be considered. It’s a requirement that doesn’t sit well with many, including with & Juliet performer Justin David Sullivan, who withdrew from consideration, saying “I could not in good faith move forward with denying any part of my identity to conform to a system and structure that does not hold space for people like me.” While Ghee and Newell did choose the actor category, Sullivan brings up an important question. How will the Tonys make the nomination process more inclusive going forward? 

Newell says they chose the category “based off the English language. The standard has always been a male is an actor and a female as an actress, and I don’t like that. Because when I say I’m an actor, I mean that is my profession, the craft that I studied, the craft that I’m doing. Everyone who does acting is an actor. That is genderless.” Ghee told Elle in February that “staying in [Tonys consideration] was very intentional,” and thanked producers for the conversations they had about choosing a category. “Someone else’s labels or limits are not going to bound me and my ability to do anything,” they said. “My artistry and the work will speak for itself.”

All three of these actors (and I’m using the word in a gender-neutral way) are forging new paths. Sullivan’s withdrawal and advocacy for more inclusion in the Tony categories is starting necessary conversations. Ghee and Newell’s nominations are doing the same. There isn’t one way to achieve a goal. Both paths are valid, and both are vital to the future of theater. 

I love the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” While “go where there is no path” is where many people take the lesson, I’ve always thought that “leave a trail” was the most important bit of wisdom here. Being a “first” or an “only” (or an ally of the “first” and “only”) means that we get to help others travel the path after us. I work with many queer, trans, and nonbinary creatives as employees and in partnerships, not only because I want to support my community, but because I am uniquely positioned to see their value. I want them to have the career freedom I have. In turn, they do the same. Leaving that trail is how we get the kind of progress that we need.

Sharing your expertise and offering opportunities to others in your field is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone. Many of us in the thought leadership space got into this business for that very reason. No matter who you are, as you leave the beaten path for a better destination, don’t forget to hold out your hand for others to follow you. 

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