Celebrating Pride Month at Broadway Stages

At Broadway Stages, we value diversity and promote inclusion of experiences, talents, and culture. We celebrate what makes each of us unique! We are proud to have such a diverse group of talented artists utilizing our facilities at any given time. This month, we shine a light on some of the hardworking actors and actresses from the LGBTQ community who have been a part of the Broadway Stages family.

Earlier this year, the world finally got to see HBO’s highly anticipated “The Gilded Age,” and we were so happy to add Cynthia Nixon to the Broadway Stages family. Nixon, a winner of two Primetime Emmys and two Tonys, plays Ada Brook, a naive spinster who lives with her wealthy sister and niece in 1880s New York City. Interior shots of their extravagant brownstone are filmed at our Glendale facility. A longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Nixon has received the GLAAD Vito Russo Award and a Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign. The show’s large ensemble cast includes several openly gay actors, including Nathan Lane who plays Ward McAllister and Claybourne Elder as John Adams.

Broadway Stages is also home to Showtime’s “Billions,” which has been filming at our facilities in Greenpoint since 2016. “Billions” is often credited as being the first American television series to feature a non-binary character played by a non-binary performer. Asia Kate Dillon plays Taylor Mason, CEO of Taylor Mason Capital and the former CIO at Axe Capital. Dillon also played inmate Brandy Epps in the New York-set “Orange Is the New Black,” also filmed at our facilities. The Netflix staple featured multiple queer storylines, and the diverse cast included transgender actress Laverne Cox as inmate Sophia Bursest. In 2014, she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy in an acting category.

Another groundbreaking show that filmed at our facilities was FX’s “Pose.” The series about New York City’s 1980s ballroom scene included five transgender castmembers – Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Angelica Ross, Hailie Sahar, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, a Golden Globe winner who last year became the first transgender woman to earn an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Their co-star Billy Porter is a Tony, Grammy, and Emmy winner who in 2019 became the first gay Black man nominated in any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmys.

A current show tackling modern LGBTQ+ issues is Tracy Oliver’s “Harlem,” filmed at our studios. The series centers on four young and ambitious Black gal pals in New York City. Jerrie Johnson plays Tye, a successful lesbian dating app creator and CEO. Other LGBTQ cast members include Whoopi Goldberg who plays Dr. Pruitt and Juani Feliz who portrays Isabela.

We are also proud to work with the legendary Queen Latifah on CBS’s hit series “The Equalizer,” filmed right here at our Greenpoint facility. A year ago, she accepted BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award and thanked her longtime partner Eboni Nichols at the end of her acceptance speech. It marked the first time she publicly acknowledged their relationship.

At Broadway Stages, we are also honored to support film projects like “Spoiler Alert,” which just wrapped up principal photography at our Foster Avenue facility. The upcoming film stars Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello, author of the bestselling memoir “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies.” Ausiello lost his partner of nearly 14 years to terminal cancer in 2015. The film also stars Ben Aldridge from “Pennyworth,” Antoni Porowski of “Queer Eye,” and Jeffery Self from “Search Party.”

Another film we are proud to promote is Hulu’s “Fire Island,” starring Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, and Margaret Cho. A loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” the film follows two best friends who take a trip to the famously gay hot spot just south of Long Island. Several key scenes were filmed at our Foster Avenue facility.