Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals adds women to cast for first time ever

After almost 175 years of all-male casts, Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals officially has added six women performers to its ranks, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Six female Harvard students —Shirley L. Chen ’22, Laura Sky Herman ’19, Celia K. Kenney ’20, Ashley M. LaLonde ’20, Annabel O’Hagan ’19, and Ellen L. Shaheen ’21 — were added to the cast Sunday night, according to the Crimson. While women have worked behind the scenes on Hasty Pudding shows, the cast has been all-male since since the theatrical group’s first performance in 1844.

“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,” Hasty Pudding president Grace C. Ramsey wrote in an emailed statement to the Crimson Monday morning.

The oldest collegiate theatrical group in the nation, Hasty Pudding Theatricals announced its decision to allow women to audition in January 2018 at the start of a roast honoring its Woman of the Year, Mila Kunis.

“While we have great respect for the art form as it’s been presented by the Pudding for over 170 years, the world is in a very different place,” then-Pudding president Amira Weeks said during the ceremony. “We are very proud to take this organization forward as a leader in women’s rights and gender equality.”