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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are productions available for high school use that do have specific race and ethnic group casting requirements because of the specific nature of the show.  As someone else mentioned -- Hairspray is a good example as would be West Side Story.  Nice high school shows, but you need a good mixed race cast to do them.  (And, for hairspray you need a strong female lead with some weight.)  There are others of course.  And, there are standards that have now been placed on the back burner, because of race/ethnic issues with characters.  Anything Goes is an example of that.

My kids have all done high school theater and the oldest even has down a few years of musical direction as he was a high school choral teacher.  The process is pretty standard.  You take a look at the kids you know will be involved based on prior years' involvement and who is in the music classes.  Look at who is returning as an incoming Senior and Junior (getting the main rules).  Who likely will be back as a Sophomore and how many Freshman can you fit into minor roles.  It is pretty wide open this year as covid likely prevented lots of performances last year and even choirs, so there will be lots of unknowns.

You look at who is likely coming out and the numbers.  Who can sing?  Who can dance?  If you have 8 girls who are likely trying out for major roles and 6 guys going for male leads -- you come up with what you can find that works.  Most of the time you have lots more girls than guys who can do lead roles and shows are selected to accommodate those numbers.  That is why you don't see Guys and Dolls that often.  Not enough good female roles.  On the other hand -- shows like Beauty and the Beast are popular, because characters can be any race and most importantly you can put tons of kids on stage.  Got 20 freshman?  They can be in the bar singing with Gaston, selling flowers in street scenes, play a fork.  etc. . . Lots of choruses and lots of stage time even if no lines.

The whole point is to get kids on stage.  Our old high school even took to having dance scenes as it was in an area where lots of girls took dance lessons so choreographing a couple big dance numbers was pretty routine.  Again -- the whole point is to get kids on stage.  And no -- no matter how talented your kid is as a freshman, they really will not get a lead, because that is not how high school productions work.  After your kid pays their dues.  Sings in the chorus.  Dances in the back.  Has fun with the cast and crew a couple of years, they will get a lead.

So -- to the original poster -- if you do not know why a particular show was picked for your kid's school; get involved.  This stuff does not come out of the blue.  Shows require tons of volunteers.  Moms help sew and fit costumes, parents sell tickets, take tickets, police hallways, act as study room overseers during rehearsal nights, pick up, drop off food, clean up cafeterias, help with staging, scenery, electronics.  Then you will know.  You will know the kids, the budgets, the process.  If you do not get involved, that works, but understand it does have an impact on your kid.     [/quote]

those sound like really valid reasons. I'd still hate to be the faculty sponsor explaining how theater isn't an exception to the 'no discrimination for any reason' policy that every county has for schools when a kid doesn't get a role because it has an assigned race. [/quote]

Agreed. If these shows come with such restrictions, they shouldn’t be done in a public school.[/quote]

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