# Pennsylvania college cancels play after author objects to white actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 21, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138 "2015-11-21T01:03:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/41 "2015-11-21T19:35:20Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > And this is why visibly non-white actors will always be at an disadvantage. There are so many roles out there where the “part” is a white person. Usually a white male. The default human being is still a white male, in many people’s minds. If you depart from this, suddenly you’re politicizing and making a “message”. Please. > > Imagine for a moment an all-black theater group. Maybe the group is located in a predominately black locale, or it is associated with a predominately black institution (like a historically black university). In other words, the group’s make-up is not intentional. It’s just coincidence. Should the group avoid putting on a Shakespeare play for fear of needlessly “politicitizing” and just stick with “Raisin in the Sun”? Or should they put on whatever hell kinda play they want to as long as people pay to see it? > > How does a black actor ever get to prove their acting chops as a Shakespearean lead if the only roles they are selected for are for their “part”? I’m not saying that there should be a law prohibiting cross-racial acting nor am I saying that there should be an internal policy in casting to always, without exception, cast parts on the basis of race. The only thing I am saying is that it is not racism and should not be frowned upon for a casting director to have a policy that he or she wants a certain race and gender for a role. And that simply reflects the actual policy that is in effect and has always been in effect. When Denzel Washington was cast as Malcolm X do we pretend that his race had nothing to do with it? Do you think that any white actors were even considered? So if an all black troupe wants to put on a Shakespeare play, then wonderful. If there is a mixed race troupe where the director doesn’t care if a black man is cast as Henry V, then also great. But equally fine is a director casting according to race. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/42 "2015-11-21T21:12:22Z")
[Quote=ITR Champion] I’m not aware of any such uproar. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few morons on Twitter have complained about a black actor Spiderman or something like that. There are always a few morons on Twitter. But uproar? [/quote] > [@brickbacon](#): > > Right, because when you aren’t aware of something, it doesn’t exist. For reference see [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/sorry-peter-parker-the-response-to-the-black-spiderman-shows-why-we-need-one/2011/08/03/gIQAViObsI_blog.html), [here](http://www.techtimes.com/articles/57658/20150623/spider-man-is-a-white-kid-again-and-here-is-why-you-should-be-angry-about-it.htm), [here](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/star-wars-force-awakens-haters-urge-fans-boycottstarwarsvii-because-lead-black-1524717), [here](http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/white-until-proven-black-imagining-race-in-hunger-games)… I’ve read the four articles that you linked to. They confirm what I said. Nobody complains about the casting of a minority actor as Spiderman or in Star Wars or The Hunger Games, except for a tiny number of idiots on Twitter. There is no uproar, no opposition of any significance, to the casting of minority actors. There is opposition to the casting of white actors, in some cases. It comes from prominent newspapers and other supposedly respectable sources, unlike the small number of Tweets opposing black actors. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/43 "2015-11-21T21:20:05Z")
The facts of this case seem to support that the school had fucked up in putting on a public production without, shall we say, the “expressed written consent” of the owner of the intellectual property (or his/her delegated representative for those rights). They screwed up. But still the facts do seem to support that the owner of the said intellectual property would have been fine with letting it proceed anyway if there were “South Asians” in the roles … when South Asian actors trying out for the parts _did not exist_. It seems to me that he is inadvertently _promoting_ Eurocentrism. This is a small school (less than 5000 total students) that [has](http://www.collegeportraits.org/PA/Clarion/characteristics) less than 1% of its student population Native American, about 1% Asian, 7% Black, and 83% White. If they were to universally follow his guideline they would pretty much be restricted to putting on shows that did not have any characters who were Native American, Asian, and even limited in putting on shows that had many Black characters … unless the drama department was overrepresented with minority students. Personally, given a lack of minority talent in a small college I would not choose forcing the college to only do Eurocentric works. I would think that cause of what [Molefi Asante](http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/molefi-kete-asante-why-afrocentricity/) refers to in a defense of “Afrocentrism” as sharing of the intellectual space, is better supported by having non-Eurocentric works be performed than not performed. This circumstance is in point of fact the exact opposite of what **monstro** presents: a predominantly White college which, by the guidelines this author promotes, is restricted to putting on shows that are part of the Eurocentric canon. Nope, you’re a mostly White school … stick with Shakespeare and maybe Fiddler on the Roof (if you have Jews there that is). Ideal solution that has everyone coming out smelling like roses for this particular snafu? Would have been the author granting the permission with the proviso that he also come out and adds on a session after the show discussing how having the characters be other than the races he intended them to be alters or does not alter experience he had intended. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/44 "2015-11-21T21:36:45Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > How about Romeo and Juliet? If you have a man play Juliet you are doing one of two things. Making statments about gender equality and sexuality OR holding true to the original traditions of Shakespeare. Depeding on how it is staged either could be really interesting and work. Her femaleness is essential to the character and having her played by a male changes things. > > Let’s get really advanced and talk about Othello! His race is IMPORTANT to the character. Have Othello played by a white guy in black face and, well, it’s not good. Don’t do it. All you are saying is that you don’t have black actors. Sure Orson Wells did it, it wasn’t great then either. Have a black guy play Iago? It could work. But having a non minority actor play the part of a minority character when ethnicity is important has a name. > > BLACKFACE IS BAD. Even if you aren’t putting on blackface as an African American. White guys playing Asians is also bad. > > Why do so many white people still need to be told this? Perhaps it’s the libertarian in me speaking, but I don’t see any reason why anyone should oppose any casting decision, ever. As I said, acting means a person pretending to be a different person, always. So why should anyone try to prevent any actor from taking any role? Black guy as Henry V? White guy as Othello in blackface? White guy as Othello not in blackface? Man as Juliet? White guy playing Asian? Disbabled transsexual Choctaw Indian woman as Spiderman? None of it harms me or anybody, so why should I oppose any of it? If I dislike any casting decision in a play, I can choose to not buy tickets to that play. So can you. So can anyone else. But if there’s a theater troupe that wants to put on a production and an audience that wants to see it, why should anybody ever raise a stink about it just because of the race of an actor? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/45 "2015-11-21T21:42:02Z")
With plays, the author can maintain some control of how their work is produced. I’m never going to get permission to do an all-nude Phantom of the Opera. That would harm the main brand, so to speak. The real story here is about a school flagrantly violated a listen every that they agreed to. In other words, who cares? They chose to do it, and the result was expected. As for colorblind casting, I’m of the opinion that sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn’t. For most historical and fantasy settings, we’ve come to accept color blind casting. For works directly addressing race, it definitely is something that requires more thought before doing. For realms where ethnic actors have been systematically pushed out for white actors playing broad stereotypes (such as portrayals of Asians), it gets delicate. If you are looking for a hard and fast rule, you aren’t going to find it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/46 "2015-11-21T21:43:51Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > This sounds wonderful, but it’s not what happens in the real world. Who do you think has an easier time finding roles to play? A white actor or a non-white actor? If the world worked the way you say it should, they should have the same opportunities out there. This. You can talk all you want about minorities given roles meant for whites and being fine with it, but overall, IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY. That’s why the few instances do stand out, because the opposite is just business as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/47 "2015-11-21T22:05:38Z")
The college group should have chosen a different play. They don’t have any sort of _right_ to choose this one. An all white group choosing to put on a play in which the race of the characters really matters is just plain silly. This doesn’t encourage Euro-centrism (and Europe, for those who haven’t looked recently, ain’t all that white), it encourages choosing productions in which race isn’t relevant to the characters. Non-white writers aren’t always writing about race anymore than white ones are. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/48 "2015-11-21T22:06:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m no expert on the matter, but do some folks use “South Asian” to refer only to the Indian subcontinent? Perhaps one answer to my question would be: > > A Jordanian? He’s Middle Eastern, not South Asian! > > But then you start thinking… what about Iran or Afghanistan? Anyway, it’s not at all clear to me what makes a person “South Asian”. In general usage, “South Asian” has a very well understood and unambiguous definition—the six countries of the Subcontinent: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In cases in which say Afghanistan or Burma or Tibet are included, it’s usually indicated in some way. I’ve never seen Iran included in South Asia when people are referring to ethnicity. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/49 "2015-11-21T22:13:34Z")
This thread has upset me so much, that I’m going to have to play the soundtrack to “The Wiz” to calm myself. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/50 "2015-11-21T22:57:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > In general usage, “South Asian” has a very well understood and unambiguous definition—the six countries of the Subcontinent: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. > > In cases in which say Afghanistan or Burma or Tibet are included, it’s usually indicated in some way. I’ve never seen Iran included in South Asia when people are referring to ethnicity. Wikipedia disagrees: _The current territories of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka form the countries of South Asia._ I have a feeling this is going to vary by country. In the US, “South Asia” is a new term, not much in use. Perhaps in Britain is more established. We’re used to “Ease Asia” and, of course, “Southeast Asia” (thanks to the Vietnam War). ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/51 "2015-11-22T00:08:48Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Perhaps it’s the libertarian in me speaking, but I don’t see any reason why anyone should oppose any casting decision, ever. I don’t QUITE get how libertarianism gets you to that conclusion. I sorta kinda see it, but I’m not 100% there yet, especially since one of the major ways a minority, for example, would make their displeasure with a casting decision known IS to oppose it, either personally to register their displeasure, or publicly so audience members of their group would know not to see it. Isn’t that part of the free market making decisions libertarians go on about? How is opposing casting decisions NOT part of that choice? Anyway, some would argue that what we have now is the result of people trying to read the market: producers in movies, e.g., who want to attract white audiences at the expense of everyone else (for fear their picture will be cast as a niche movie, no doubt, on the assumption that white = default). Why else would they have specifically rejected non-white actresses to cast Tiger Lily in the last Peter Pan flick? > [@](#): > > None of it harms me or anybody, so why should I oppose any of it? “When a person tells you that you hurt them, you don’t get to decide that you didn’t.” — Louis CK ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/52 "2015-11-22T00:36:48Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I’ve read the four articles that you linked to. They confirm what I said. Nobody complains about the casting of a minority actor as Spiderman or in Star Wars or The Hunger Games, except for a tiny number of idiots on Twitter. There is no uproar, no opposition of any significance, to the casting of minority actors. There is opposition to the casting of white actors, in some cases. It comes from prominent newspapers and other supposedly respectable sources, unlike the small number of Tweets opposing black actors. A few “morons on Twitter” are certainly a small sample of the larger group of people who feel the same way. These comments come up all the time, and they often become a big enough issue that the actors themselves or the production people have to address them. It’s perfectly reasonable to call these situations “uproars” considering the context, and the fact that many reporters have used the same characterization. More importantly, given your history, I doubt there is any reasonable threshold where you would concede the point, as I am sure you would contend the KKK at their height were “just a few idiots”. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/53 "2015-11-22T01:23:10Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I don’t QUITE get how libertarianism gets you to that conclusion. I sorta kinda see it, but I’m not 100% there yet, especially since one of the major ways a minority, for example, would make their displeasure with a casting decision known IS to oppose it, either personally to register their displeasure, or publicly so audience members of their group would know not to see it. Isn’t that part of the free market making decisions libertarians go on about? How is opposing casting decisions NOT part of that choice? Sigh. Obviously anyone who wants to organize a boycott of a play, solely because they dislike the skin color of an actor, can legally do so. The point I was making is that it’s a stupid thing to do. I believe that no one should be hated or rejected due to skin tone or ethnicity. But even if one must hate certain plays because of an actor’s race, why not adapt a live-and-let-live approach? You see the plays you want and I will see the plays I want, without trying to stop you. That’s what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/54 "2015-11-22T01:29:34Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Perhaps it’s the libertarian in me speaking, but I don’t see any reason why anyone should oppose any casting decision, ever. As I said, acting means a person pretending to be a different person, always. So why should anyone try to prevent any actor from taking any role? > > Black guy as Henry V? White guy as Othello in blackface? White guy as Othello not in blackface? Man as Juliet? White guy playing Asian? Disbabled transsexual Choctaw Indian woman as Spiderman? None of it harms me or anybody, so why should I oppose any of it? > > If I dislike any casting decision in a play, I can choose to not buy tickets to that play. So can you. So can anyone else. But if there’s a theater troupe that wants to put on a production and an audience that wants to see it, why should anybody ever raise a stink about it just because of the race of an actor? The choice of who is cast makes a statement. It’s art, that’s how art works. You can’t say one bit is meaningless. It’s either all intentional or you are bad at making art. So even if it is accidental, and accidentally statements happen, when you chose to put white actors in blackface you are making a pretty strong statement… And it’s usually a racist one. There is history there that can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. In the case of this play of you then aren’t putting the actors into south Asian face, then you are saying that, contrary to the text, the ethnicity isn’t important. So then you are fighting the text to shoehorn in more white actors rather than giving opportunity to actors of color. If it’s done because you don’t realize what you are doing or if it’s done intentionally… It’s probably pretty racist no matter what. I’m not saying it’s impossible for it to work, but this director doesn’t sound like he had a plan to make a statement about racial politics. It sounds like it was negligent passive racism. The playwright didn’t want his play to be used, without his permission, as a vehicle for this kind of racism. He has the right to say “no, don’t do that” . The world of theatre gave him that power back in the 1800s. They didn’t ask his permission and made what he saw as fundamental changes to his play. He gets to say no. They should have asked. That the playwright is getting called a racist, by white people, in this situation adds a layer of irony which is pretty stunning. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/55 "2015-11-22T01:34:02Z")
A friend of mine in college who was a theater major once mentioned that the performance license for contemporary plays often restricted the kind of casting choices the director could make. (This would not be an issue for public domain works like the plays of Shakespeare.) IIRC she specifically said that the license commonly would not allow for an actor whose gender or race did not match the character description to be cast in that role. Does anyone with more theater experience know if this is true? If my friend was correct then I think that if a _student_ knew this then the director at Clarion should have known it too. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/56 "2015-11-22T01:42:37Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > … In the case of this play of you then aren’t putting the actors into south Asian face, then you are saying that, contrary to the text, the ethnicity isn’t important. So then you are fighting the text to shoehorn in more white actors rather than giving opportunity to actors of color. … What part of “Clarion University, with about 4,900 students, has a student body that is 0.6 percent Asian and that no Asians auditioned for the play.” did you not comprehend? The issue in this particular case is not “not giving opportunities to actors of color” … there was not a single actor of color who tried out. If at a school students of color do not want to be in plays taking the parts of color, should the school drama department restrict itself to plays with no minority characters? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/57 "2015-11-22T01:46:41Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > A friend of mine in college who was a theater major once mentioned that the performance license for contemporary plays often restricted the kind of casting choices the director could make. (This would not be an issue for public domain works like the plays of Shakespeare.) IIRC she specifically said that the license commonly would not allow for an actor whose gender or race did not match the character description to be cast in that role. > > Does anyone with more theater experience know if this is true? If my friend was correct then I think that if a _student_ knew this then the director at Clarion should have known it too. Yes. Playwrights get a ton of control over their work while they are alive. Everyone who works in theater at all knows you have to ask for permission to change anything. The guy who wrote Grease is famous for suing High schools who include songs from the movie in their stage show, and he wins. The author’s well within his rights. Especially when they didn’t properly license the play or get permission to adapt it to a musical. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/58 "2015-11-22T01:49:18Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > What part of “Clarion University, with about 4,900 students, has a student body that is 0.6 percent Asian and that no Asians auditioned for the play.” did you not comprehend? > > The issue in this particular case is not “not giving opportunities to actors of color” … there was not a single actor of color who tried out. > > If at a school students of color do not want to be in plays taking the parts of color, should the school drama department restrict itself to plays with no minority characters? Yes. You don’t do Once on this Island in blackface no matter how much you love it. You only have white boys, sorry you can’t put on For Colored Girls. Tough luck. I’ll never get to play Othello. Too bad. 99% of theatre would have been appropriate. Pick a play you can do Just because they didn’t have a choice in casting doesn’t mean it wasn’t wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/59 "2015-11-22T02:08:42Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Sigh. > > Obviously anyone who wants to organize a boycott of a play, solely because they dislike the skin color of an actor, can legally do so. The point I was making is that it’s a stupid thing to do. I believe that no one should be hated or rejected due to skin tone or ethnicity. But even if one must hate certain plays because of an actor’s race, why not adapt a live-and-let-live approach? You see the plays you want and I will see the plays I want, without trying to stop you. That’s what I meant. So what you’re saying is that the market can act irrationally and against all common sense. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/60 "2015-11-22T02:19:30Z")
Ok, let me see if I have this right: Racist playwright says college can’t stage his play because he doesn’t approve of the ‘race’ of the actors. College never had the right to produce this play in the first place so playwright is entitled to put the kibosh on it. Everybody gets in an uproar just like when Miss Saigon and Thor opened because Gasp! actors did not look the way people expected them to. Is that right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138.md?page=4)