NEW YORK — It was an emotionally charged day for members of the New York theater community on Thursday as hundreds gathered to raise their voices in protest for the first-ever March on Broadway.

The event kicked off at Columbus Circle with a rally organized by Courtney Daniels and Nattalyee Randall.

"We want transparency from our actors union," said Nattalyee Randall, a performer and rally organizer.

The protest comes a week after Tony Award winning actress Karen Olivo announced she was quitting the Broadway musical “Moulin Rouge” due to the of lack of equality on The Great White Way, and to protest theater producer Scott Rudin. Rudin (who has no affiliation with "Moulin Rouge") is facing allegations that he has emotionally and even physically abused his staff for years.

His Broadway revival of “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster is slated to open this fall, but Rudin announced Saturday he was “stepping aside” from the production.

Olivo was present to support her peers at the rally.

"The industry is broken – and this is the very first step to get things to continue and grow and remind people that we are the storytellers, and we have the power, and those who have the purse strings need to do a little more listening and less delegating" Olivo said.

There was also a major push to enforce change within Actors Equity Association – the union that represents professional stage actors and stage managers.

Speakers at the rally demanded to know how the union is working with BIPOC organizations, and they insist on more opportunities for trans artists, deaf and disabled artists, and people of color when the curtains rise once more on stages in New York and across the country. 

Following the speeches some of the gatherers took to the streets.

"I mean we’re here, we need people to do the work. I need people to realize the injustices that we continue to face. I need people to stop being complicit. I need people to realize in order to fulfill our dreams of being on Broadway we need the change," said Sis, a performer and rally organizer.

The march made its way down Broadway, passing "The Music Man," with a pit stop in Times Square outside of the Actors Equity Building.

The lights aren’t expected to shine bright on Broadway until at least the fall, but for some workers in the now shuttered theater industry, they say the time is ripe for a major reset.