The Hadestown Casting Controversies Prove Production Teams Need to Do Their Homework

by Chris Peterson

The casting of Geno Segers as Hades in Hadestown should force Broadway producers and casting teams to confront an uncomfortable question: Are they doing even the most basic background checks before hiring performers?

I am not talking only about checking whether someone has a criminal record. Thorough due diligence should include reviewing public social media accounts, searching news coverage, and having direct conversations about anything concerning that emerges. The latest Hadestown casting announcement makes that painfully clear.

Segers is scheduled to begin playing Hades on September 1. Yet a basic review of his public accounts reveals years of videos and posts about transgender people, including still-public videos titled “TRANS FAIRNESS?” and “NO MORE TRANS?” He has repeatedly posted in opposition to trans women participating in women’s sports and mocked the practice of asking people for their pronouns.

This material was published publicly under his own name.

I wrote yesterday that this is especially troubling for a production that has developed a reputation for welcoming trans and nonbinary performers. Someone did not need to hire a private investigator to uncover these videos. They simply needed to type Segers’ name into YouTube and Instagram and watch what he chose to post.

And this comes directly after Hadestown cast Gary Dourdan as Hades earlier this year.

Dourdan pleaded no contest in 2012 in a domestic violence case stemming from a 2011 incident involving his former girlfriend. He received five years of formal probation, was ordered to complete 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling, and was required to stay away from the victim for five years.

That history was widely reported and immediately raised concerns when he was announced for a role built around a controlling husband whose wife is trying to escape him.

This does not mean people can never work again after a criminal case or public controversy. It also does not mean every unpopular opinion or past mistake should result in permanent unemployment. Background checks should provide context, not automatically produce a blacklist.

But that context should force producers to ask serious questions before a contract is signed.

Has this person demonstrated accountability? Have their views or behavior changed? Could the casting make other company members feel unsafe, unwelcome or disrespected?

And yes, hateful opinions matter.

Trans people are not an abstract idea that someone can publicly mock while insisting they would still behave politely around them at work. A company does not have to wait until someone calls a cast member a slur, starts a confrontation in rehearsal, or physically harms someone before deciding that their public behavior presents a problem.

The standard cannot simply be that “nothing terrible has happened inside the theatre yet.”

For this particular production and role, I believe there was enough publicly available information in both cases for the producers to move on to another candidate.

Instead, the information was left for audiences to discover after the announcements. Producers either failed to find it or found it and decided it did not matter. Neither explanation inspires much confidence.

Actors are constantly warned that casting teams may review their social media. College students are told to clean up their accounts before auditioning. Employees in other industries routinely lose opportunities because organizations determine that their public behavior does not align with the workplace they are trying to build.

Broadway cannot preach professionalism to performers while neglecting basic due diligence when hiring its stars.

Casting is about more than finding the best voice, the strongest audition, or the most recognizable name. It is also about building a workplace and deciding who will represent the production to audiences.

When a simple search can uncover information that may affect the safety, reputation, and trust of an entire company, there is no excuse for acting surprised after the announcement goes public.

Broadway casting teams need to do their homework before audiences are forced to do it for them.