by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

Last week, I reported that an Australian theatre company had opened their production of ‘A Chorus Line’ but had removed the role of ‘Richie’ from the show. Richie is a role written to be played by a Black performer. The news sparked backlash and alerts to the licensing rights holders.

The theatre company, Drew Anthony Creative, has now apologized for the situation and cast the role. Still, their apology fails to explain why they thought cutting the role in the first place was acceptable and does not offer any atonement to the Black performer community of Perth.

On their social media pages, they posted the below statement,

While the statement, which I won’t refer to as an actual apology, does explain the legal requirements of casting the role, that’s where it stops. Drew Anthony, who directs the show, doesn’t explain how he decided to erase the role of “Richie”.

He doesn’t say if the decision was due to audition issues or if he ever intended to include the role in the first place. He doesn’t explain why they didn’t consult with the rights holders(Origin Theatrical) before deciding, which any responsible theatre director/producer would do.

But most importantly, in his list of those he’s apologizing to, he doesn’t include the marginalized group he erased from his production, the Black community in Perth.

He very much owes them an apology and explanation.

It also should be noted that the questions shouldn’t end with Drew Anthony; I also have some for Origin Theatrical.

For instance, if opening a show having removed a character without permission from the rights holder was a breach of copyright, why wasn’t licensing revoked and the production canceled? In the United States, a similar issue happened, and the rights holders of ‘A Chorus Line’ (Concord Theatricals) revoked their rights when a theatre did the same thing with the role of “Richie,” and the production’s entire run was canceled.

Why was Drew Anthony Creative afforded the opportunity to correct their error when their situation was seemingly more egregious because they opened the show and had no intention of notifying the rights holders?

It makes me question how much Origin Theatrical values their shows that include Black roles and, to a larger extent, BIPOC roles. After all, this is the same licensing company with no problem with a whitewashed production of ‘In The Heights’ in Brisbane.

It took massive backlash from the community to shut down that production, not intervention from the rights holders who were entrusted to protect the piece created by Lin Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes, who both have said that non-educational productions of the show must always be cast the way they intended.

While I’m glad Origin forced Drew Anthony to correct his terrible casting decision, I believe there should have been a harsher penalty for what he tried to do.

But Drew Anthony’s lack of contrition is just another example of how theatre groups led by white people can’t get it right when they mess up on the necessary due diligence in casting Black performers and then fumble trying to explain and apologize. The Bradley Playhouse in Connecticut had the same problem when they couldn’t come up with an accurate response to their failed ‘A Chorus Line’. And it only got worse because inaccuracies in their statements were discovered very quickly.

Why can’t folks like Drew Anthony get these explanations and apologies right? If Drew Anthony ever wants to be able to cast from the Black performer community in Perth, he’d better start doing the work to be better.

He owes them, at least, that much.

Australian theatre company's apology, for cutting Black role, falls way short

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