A number of major regional theaters are changing artistic leaders at the moment. Over the last few months, that number has only grown as charges of sexual harassment and misconduct roil the industry. The two trends are linked — and make a call to action ever more critical.

In California, American Conservatory Theater recently made headlines after announcing that outgoing artistic director Carey Perloff would be replaced by Pam MacKinnon. The story was news for other reasons — MacKinnon’s unimpeachable qualifications — and because it is uncommon for a theater to replace a female artistic director with another qualified woman.

I hope for the day when announcements like this are no longer news.

Today the need for theaters to make sure that qualified women and people of color are given the opportunity to serve in leadership positions is more urgent than ever before. Since the New York Times ran its first story on Harvey Weinstein, a number of theaters across the country — notably including The Alley Theatre in Houston – have had leadership changes due to charges of misconduct.