Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals Casts Female Performers for the First Time Ever
Today, The Harvard Crimson reported that the Hasty Pudding Theatricals Troupe has officially cast six women to perform in the annual production that Harvard University has had for nearly 200 years, which during that period during only men could act in Pudding productions.
The Hasty Pudding Troupe is famous for its glitzy annual drag shows, which have long used satire and parody to skew the political and social elite, and themes that any could relate to.
The six female students — Celia K. Kenney, Ellen L. Shaheen, Annabel O’Hagan, Laura S. Herman, Shirley L. Chen, and Ashley M. LaLonde were the first, cast alongside six other men, making the theater troupe completely equal this year.
“We as an organization continue to be in awe of the level of talent of the students on Harvard’s campus, and we are so excited that for the first time in 175 productions, Harvard students of all genders will have the opportunity to showcase that talent on the Hasty Pudding stage,” said the Pudding President Grace C. Ramsey in a statement to The Crimson.
I'm 50% "Hooray for these amazingly talented young women!" and 50% "Took you damn long enough!" https://t.co/X0G1uHKagP
— Lelaina V (@LelainaV) September 17, 2018
This decision was made back in January when Mila Kunis was celebrated as Woman of the Year by the theater troupe. This comes after a long range of controversy coming towards Harvard University, where in 2016 they stripped the privileges of members of single-gender clubs, including holding club presidencies, varsity athletic team captaincies, and from receiving certain prestigious post-graduate fellowships.
