Two Plays High Schools Should Avoid Performing If They Value Their Black Students

In recent weeks, the discussion of black representation on stage has led to some stark admissions and positive solutions for the future. Many theatres, from professional to community, are putting forth action plans to produce for material written and performed by black artists.

The goal is not only to increase black presence on stage but also to rethink what types of roles black performers are cast in.

I feel that this action plan should also extend to colleges and high schools as well. Many of these theatre programs are overwhelmingly white. If you don’t believe me, you’ve clearly never been to a Thespian conference.

So to answer the call to increase black presence on stage, these schools should be looking very carefully at producing shows that require black talent or casting more black students in roles otherwise thought to be white. For instance, there is no reason Ariel couldn’t be black in The Little Mermaid.

But I also believe that special attention needs to be paid to what types of roles schools want black performers to fill. I don’t feel it’s a progressive step to only have black performers play roles that perpetuate stereotypes or serve only as window dressing. That’s not fulfilling any type of call to action.

So there are two popularly produced plays that I feel should be avoided by high schools that truly want to embrace and welcome black students to get more involved in their theatre departments.

You Can’t Take It With You

(Photo: Joan Marcus)

The George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1936 play is a high school staple. It’s performed every single year across the country. I’ve seen the show twice and played “Ed” in a local production as well. It’s a decent comedy that really relies on the talent of the cast to make the humorous moments pop and it’s a challenge to block.

That being said, the only characters who are written as black characters are Rheba and Donald, the housemaid to the Sycamore family and her boyfriend. While they are on stage quite a bit, they hardly have any lines, are referred to as “Porgy and Bess” and don’t have much to do except performing chores around the set and reacting to the rest of the family.

From my end, I don’t think casting black students in roles like these does anything to show how you value black students in your theatre program, especially if those are the only black student you cast in the show.

I am sure that when this was written in 1936, given black actors this type of opportunity was probably significant. But nearly 100 years later, the need for better representation for black actors on stage has changed in a way where a show like this doesn’t do anything to serve that mission. High schools should steer clear.

The Foreigner

Larry Shue’s piece has been becoming more and more popularly produced by high schools in recent years. But there have been some issues with schools that decide to produce it because at the climax of the show, students dress as the Klu Klux Klan.

It should be mentioned that they are depicted as villains in the show. As Howard Sherman pointed out,

“The image was from a dress rehearsal of Larry Shue’s mid-80s comedy The Foreigner, and the Klansmen appear briefly in sheets and hoods at the climax of the show as a threat to the shy title character, after the racist behavior of the Klan and their like have been clearly made out as ugly and malignant in the show. The Foreigner is hardly a social justice piece and it does use the Klan for humor, but it in no way endorses their real-life behavior.”

And there is where the problem lies. I don’t know how I would feel performing a show with a predominantly white cast that features of the KKK as a tool for humor. I don’t know how they helps embrace and encourage black students to get involved.

I’m not the only one either. Productions of this piece have been canceled throughout the country with many pointing out that comedy and satire aside, there’s no place for the KKK to appear on high school stages presented that way. I’m in agreement with that

In the end, I think it’s fantastic that any school wants to make efforts to encourage diversity on their stage. But leadership has to take the right steps and think about how they’re casting black students and what types of messaging they want to send with their show selection.

Note: This article previously features “Lend Me A Tenor”. However, it was confirmed that the play had been changed to remove the racist elements.