Former CW Actress Files Big Lawsuit After Losing Broadway Role

Ciara Renée claims she was axed by a Broadway production, and she wants to be cut a check for the money she says she missed out on as a result. The New York Post reports the Broadway and TV actress says she was wrongfully terminated.

Renée played the character Hawkgirl in the CW shows Arrow and The Flash. Other credits include her as Jenna in Waitress, Elsa in Frozen, and in the 2013 Broadway shows Pippin and Big Fish.  

Her lawsuit states that she believed she was set to join the cast of the upcoming musical Wanted after starring last year in the show’s run at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ. Previously titled Gun & Powder during its initial run in the Garden State, Renée earned positive reviews for her role as Mary Clarke, one half of the Black gun-toting twin sisters in 1893 Texas who became outlaws.

A review from Broadway World praises its casting and ability to touch on taboo issues of its time. “Gun & Powder has messaging that proves as timely today as it was in the legendary story. The musical examines issues of race and prejudice, pride in a person’s identity, family bonds, and how women can defy the norms of the day to take charge of their destiny,” it reads in part. 

The show is based on a true story. It was listed as a “critic’s pick” by The New York Times. Not only did she star in the show, but she says in her filing that she recorded songs from the show in the studio at the producers’ request. 

Per Renée, in August 2024, she was asked to appear at an event for potential investors in Martha’s Vineyard. At the time, she says she was introduced as “a member of the future Broadway cast of the play.”

She also says producers asked her to appear at other events, including a stage reading of the show in October and a Nov. 18 awards show for the New Jersey production. But she says she was fired a week after the awards by producer Alecia Parker — who also served as an executive producer of Waitress — and by Samuel Lopez.

Parker and Lopez told Renée they’d “advised” Sisters Clarke LLC, the company behind the play, not to negotiate with or hire her because she’d “failed to collaborate” and was “unwilling to accept feedback from the creative team,” during the Jersey run. 

But Renée is stating otherwise, saying she would have earned $486,000 for a nine-month run in the Broadway production, which is expected to debut in 2026. Lawyers from the defendants are denying her claims, saying in a statement: “We vehemently deny her allegations and will vigorously defend her falsehoods.”