re: High school cancels musical after white student lands lead role

Hunchback is a musical? Damn. Do they have a musical about The Diary of Anne Frank?

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“It shows you that theater wasn’t made for you," the student told the Ithaca Journal. "And it shows you that, if you can’t get the parts that are written for you, what parts are you going to get?”

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Or maybe it reveals the obvious that appearance is not the only factor in selecting an actor for a role.

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Student activists then banded together under the umbrella of Students United Ithaca and wrote a letter that included a list of demands, saying that, while the young lady cast as Esmeralda was “a stellar actor, singer, and dancer” any production would be “lucky to have,” she couldn’t be cast in this role because she is the “epitome of whiteness.”

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quote:

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“At best, this is cultural appropriation,” the student group wrote, alleging racial bias within the Performing Arts Program at IHS, and “at worst, it is whitewashing, a racist casting practice which has its roots in minstrelsy.”

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The last time I checked, being an actor in a theater production means you are supposed to pretend to be someone who you aren't in real life.

That's what make-up, wigs, etc. are for.

In this case, the young woman is very talented and perhaps even the most talented person in the production.

The only problem is she is talented but white.

quote:

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After the cancelation, the student group made more demands in a recent Facebook post.

“Stop the racist and openly stated policy of ‘color blind’ casting in the ICSD,” the group wrote, adding “because of institutionalized racism this results in white children being cast in roles written as white parts and also white children being cast in roles that were specifically intended for people of color.”

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Okay, that's it!

Here's what we will do from now on.

If the author of the story that the theater production is based on is white then white people can play non-white roles.

If the author of the story that the theater production is based on is not white then white people can't play non-white roles.

How 'bout them apples?

A queer, a bra-burner, and a person of color...not surprised