Alex Newell reflects on the future of awards show gendered categories post historic Tony

Alex Newell made history this June as one of the first nonbinary actors to earn a Tony Award, alongside fellow Broadway star J. Harrison Ghee.

After garnering the award for best featured actor in a musical for their performance as Lulu in "Shucked," the 31-year-old spoke of their experience of identifying as nonbinary.

“Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts. And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to,” Newell said in their acceptance speech.

The comedy musical follows small town residents in Cobb County searching for a solution to their dying corn problem, which is impacting their livelihood. Leading woman Maizy, cousin to Newell's character, must travel to big city Tampa and find the "corn doctor" to save the town.

Newell and Ghee's Tony wins have sparked conversation around gendered categories at Award shows. Speaking to TODAY.com at the Time 100 Next red carpet, they said the future of separated categories "depends."

"It depends on what people want to see in their award ceremonies. It depends on whether they want to be a part of the solution — if they want to grow, if they don't want to grow," Newell said, adding they they "hope that everybody does the right thing."

They continued, "It is what it is. Change comes hard and change comes slow, but change does come. So, here we go."

For actor Justin David Sullian, who plays nonbinary character May in the musical “& Juliet” and personally identities as nonbinary, the expectation to identify as a gender in order to be considered for an award caused them to withdraw from Tonys consideration altogether.

“The decision that I made to withdraw from the Tony Awards was mostly so that any nonbinary performer who ... ends up on Broadway in any season after me — I didn’t want anyone to be faced with the same question, which was like, ‘Would you rather submit in the male category or the female category?’” Sullivan, who also identifies as nonbinary, told TODAY.com in a previous interview.

Sullivan said there's "room" for award shows "to grow."

“I would love to see change and I’m hopeful that there is change to come,” they said. “And I’m grateful that this has has inspired some conversation and reflection over the way that we think about the world.”

Ghee, who won the Tony for leading actor in a musical for their portrayal of Jerry/Daphne in the musical comedy “Some Like It Hot,” used his speech as a voice for those who thought they "couldn't be seen."

“My mother raised me to understand that my gifts that God gave me were not about me, to use them to be effective in the world, to help somebody else’s journey. So thank you, for teaching me how to live, how to love, how to give,” Ghee said after accepting their Tony. “For every trans, nonbinary, non-gender-conforming human who ever was told you couldn’t be seen, this is for you."

Prior to his Tonys win, Ghee reflected to TODAY.com about his and Newell's legacy on the theater world, saying that being nominated for a Tony felt like “honoring humanity and existence and diversity in the world.”

“It is so humbling to be one of the first openly nonbinary people nominated alongside Alex Newell for best featured actor,” Ghee said, referring to their fellow Broadway star, who also won a Tony Sunday night. “We both feel so grateful to just be making a difference in the world.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com