School Cancels ‘Hunchback Of Notre Dame’ Due To White Student Getting Lead Role
Image Credit: paparatsi.mn
A New York high school has canceled a production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” after a student activist group complained about a white student being cast in a lead role.
The school now will be putting on an alternative production.
Members of Ithaca High School’s Students United Ithaca — all five of them (below) — got together and wrote up a letter and list of demands after the role of Esmeralda went to a Caucasian peer.
Image Credit: The College Fix
“It shows you that theater wasn’t made for you,” said Maddi Carroll, a member of the Students United group who is African-American. “And it shows you that, if you can’t get the parts that are written for you, what parts are you going to get?”
Students United’s letter conceded that the student cast as Esmeralda “is a stellar actor, singer, and dancer” and that any production would be “lucky to have her.”
However, it added: “Our concern is not with her, but with the fact that in terms of demographics, she is the wrong choice for this role.”
The group’s demands, listed on its Facebook page, included a cessation of play rehearsals, a stoppage of hiring (production) people who have not “changed their actions” following complaints from “parents of color” and “social justice activists,” and an end to the “racist and openly stated policy of ‘color blind’ casting.”
According to the Ithaca Journal, the activists got their first wish, helped by “a flood of letters from members of the community.”
