Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals Moves To Cast Women In Its Shows

Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the third-oldest theater troupe in the world, announced Thursday that this fall, it would allow women to be cast for the first time in nearly 200 years, according to the Harvard Crimson.

The famed group is led by a woman and has allowed women to be involved in all other aspects of the show, but only men were able to play both male and female roles, according to its website. Many women have auditioned in protest, but none were given callbacks.

The announcement came the same day Mila Kunis was honored as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Woman of the Year. In the past, the honor has gone to actresses like Meryl Streep and Octavia Spencer.

At a press conference, Kunis said she would not have gone to Cambridge to celebrate the honor if women were not allowed to be cast by the troupe.

“It wasn’t a stipulation,” Kunis said. “It was just something that to me was very important, and I think that, to clarify, this is something that this program has always wanted to do. It has nothing to do with me or today. It simply is something that was going to happen inevitably.”

According to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ website, some of the theatre troupe’s famous alumni includes John Adams and John F. Kennedy. More recently, the troupe included Andy Borowitz, Rashida Jones and BJ Novak.