A Theatre Company in Germany Plans to Perform 'Hair' Without its Black Characters(Updated)

This August, a professional theatre company in Germany is set to mount a production of Hair that is generating outrage in its community. The reason for the outrage is that in this production, the creative team has removed Black characters, their songs, and replaced it with an all-white cast.

In a time where there is a global discussion of increasing representation of Black performers, this theatre company seems okay with erasing them from the iconic musical.

The company in question is Theatre Chemnitz in Chemnitz, Germany. Due to COVID-19, the company canceled its original plan to perform Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita (also with an all-white cast) and then replaced it with Hair.

However, when casting was announced, area performers and others noticed that not only was the character of Dionne(written as a Black woman) cast with a white actress in the role but the character of Hud was completely cut from the show. Sources connected with the show also report that Hud’s songs such as “I’m Black” and “Black Boys” have been cut.

Once people started noticing the change, they began to post their outrage on Theatre Chemnitz’ social media pages.

So far officials from the theatre have no responded to the negative reaction. However, it’s been reported that the theatre is saying they received permission to make the changes in the show. It’s possible that they could have obtained rights to the “concert” version of the property that would allow some flexibility in how numbers are staged.

However, it’s questionable if they would have permission to cut a character and their songs if they were staging the whole show, rather than selections.

Sometimes in these situations, there are those that defend such choices citing lack of diversity in the area. However, that’s not the case here. Beyond being a diverse area, I’m told that a local performer of color inquired about auditioning for the show and was turned away. It would seem that the creative team had a certain vision for this show to have an all-white cast no matter what.

It’s quite unsettling that at the end of the summer, after the Black Lives Matter movement has generated discussion and calls for action in the entertainment world, that a professional theatre company would consciously eliminate Black characters from a show that made it so important for them to be included.

I’ll update this article with new information as it becomes available.

Update

7/6/2020

As of today, the company has apologized for this casting. They released the following statement on their website:

Ladies and Gentlemen!

I want to issue a personal statement, because of the valid criticism concerning the decisions, which led to the current Hair cast. The theatres of Chemnitz and I not only accept this criticism, we acknowledge a mistake, that needs to be corrected. The theatre and I want to learn from this for the future. My name is Patrick Wurzel, as the Managing Director of the Opera, I am also in charge when it comes to questions concerning the castings of the productions of the music theater. The theatres of Chemnitz are my employer and I am proud to have earned the trust to be able to work in this institution.

The casting for Hair was arranged during an unusual situation for me. At that time, I left out any reflection and profound consideration. This was and is a mistake I want to apologize for sincerely.

Because of personal and professional experiences and my way of working, I felt very well prepared to handle issues about diversity. This was a fallacy that led to the current situation. I brought colleagues from the cast of the new production Hair in a situation where they need to justify themselves.

I want to correct this mistake and use it as a means of personal development. This is me speaking as an employee of the theatres of Chemnitz, but also as a theater person. Not only do I need to constantly question myself about art and how to translate it, I should not only comment and attend debates in our society as a whole, but I also need to actively work on myself and my self-development. I want to make sure for us as a theatre and for myself, that a situation like this will not happen again, because it needed active criticism from the outside to question our actions.

At the same time, I and the theatres of Chemnitz will take the opportunity to rethink conceptually and to approach colleagues to support us with Hair and enrich the cast with their artistic participation. We will also hold on to our idea of a panel discussion, and like many colleagues I will follow it closely.

Yours sincerely
Patrick Wurzel