'Big River' Production at Risk After Community Theatre Edits Script, Removing Black Characters

In Ellsworth, Maine, a local community theatre known as The Grand has found itself in hot water over its production of Big River—and not because of ticket sales or technical mishaps, but because of a decision that goes far beyond the stage.

Their latest production is Big River—the Tony-winning musical based on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—a story that cannot be told authentically without acknowledging the lived Black experience. And yet, that's exactly what almost happened.

Big River features several Black characters, including Jim, Alice, and Alice’s daughter—roles that are integral to the show’s emotional core and historical weight. According to sources, when The Grand faced difficulty casting Black performers beyond the role of Jim, they made the decision to cut the remaining Black characters altogether. The show was edited—characters, lines, and songs reworked—without the approval of the script’s licensing company.

And that's where the trouble really began.

For instance, Alice’s lines were assigned to a white servant who speaks of Alice and Alice’s Daughter being sold in the third person. Songs like “The Crossing” would be sung by the all-white ensemble offstage and “How Blest We Art” would not have Alice’s daughter’s solo and just have the ensemble sing the entire song.

Once word of the edits reached Concord Theatricals, which holds the rights to Big River, the response was swift: restore the script in full and cast it appropriately, or lose the right to perform it. With that threat on the table, The Grand reversed course and is now working to cast the show as written. They posted the following announcement on their FB page looking for Black performers.

In a statement to OnStage Blog, Executive Director Nick Turner addressed the situation with transparency. “We announced Big River almost a year ago and listed auditions across all social media, website, email blasts, radio, and the newspaper,” he said. “It was cast in January, but we welcomed cast members weeks into the process. We were able to cast the lead, Jim, with an African-American actor, but no other person of color auditioned.”

Turner went on to emphasize the nature of the organization itself. “It’s important to note that this is community theatre and all actors are volunteers and unpaid. We did not have the option to hire actors. We include ‘No experience necessary’ on every audition notice because it is community theater. The Grand belongs to everyone, and casts are often made up of people who have never been on stage.”

And he concluded with a simple, honest truth: “No disregard or disrespect was intended. Our intention was diversity, and we failed.”

And look—community theatre does come with real constraints. There are budget limitations. The talent pool is smaller. Volunteers are the backbone of every production. But when the story you’re trying to tell is built on Black voices and Black history, removing those voices when it gets difficult isn’t a solution. It’s an erasure.

This reminds me of a similar situation a theatre in CT faced last year when they tried to play the role of Richie from A Chorus Line when they couldn’t find a black performer to cast.

Representation isn’t just a casting goal—it’s a responsibility. If a theatre doesn’t yet have the reach or relationships to cast a show like Big River fully and truthfully, then maybe that’s not the right story for right now. And that’s okay. But editing a script to avoid the discomfort of that reality misses the moment entirely.

Theatre, especially at the community level, is about possibility. It’s about making room for voices we haven’t heard yet and building bridges where none existed before. But those bridges don’t build themselves. They take outreach. They take trust. They take time.

So here’s hoping The Grand—and all community theaters—use this moment as a turning point. Not just to fix a casting issue, but to do the deeper work of inclusion and equity that goes beyond a single show.

Because when we say the stage belongs to everyone, we have to mean it. Not just in principle—but in practice.