Posted on 10/03/2018 4:04:48 AM PDT by Altura Ct.
Kent State University has cancelled its fall musical production of “West Side Story” following complaints that too many white students landed lead roles.
Bridgett Martinez, a musical theatre major who is of Puerto Rican descent, tried out for her “dream role” of Maria, but she said “it all just got screwed up” when “it was given to a white female,” KentWired.com reported.
Martinez was instead cast as her understudy, and the other three leads that portrayed Latino characters were given to non-Latino students.
The outrage to the casting led to a September schoolwide town hall meeting, in which Eric van Baars, Kent State’s School of Theatre and Dance director, decided to cancel the show as a substitute for recasting, and replaced it with a production of “Children of Eden,” a musical which he believes will regroup the divided school.
“The cancellation of West Side Story was in response to our community members’ voices and the national dialogue regarding the desire for authenticity on our stages,” van Baars told Fox News. “To be current and culturally engaged, the School of Theatre and Dance supports the progression of conscious casting in the American theatre today.”
Van Baars announced the move in a schoolwide email, writing “while not all will agree with this choice, I hope most everyone in the school supports a fresh start on the process.” He added that all the actors cast in West Side Story will also be in Children of Eden.
Students pointed, not to talent, but rather diversity and inclusion as their main focus.
“Something we would like to continue to push for is have a person of color in that room all the time – auditions, callbacks, cast lists being made – because we should have someone on our side in that room,” Martinez told KentWired.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
White kids in performing arts, nearly all of whom are liberal, are now getting a reality check on what liberalism is becoming — and what it will do to them and their aspirations.
Was’t West Side Story a movie about Spanish kids?
I think kit;’s whites VS PRs who were also considered caucasian in the day
Omg it’s called acting.
Those dam* white supremacists! Toss them out of school and humiliate them...and their families. Deport them!
Remember “The Wiz”?
“The Wiz”?
If Idris Elba can play James Bond, then surely White people can play Puerto Ricans.
Oh wait, this trans-racial crap only goes one way, right?
Warner Oland?
Latinx is obviously a cross between an Hispanic and a lynx.
West Side Story is about an ill-fated love affair between a member of a White gang and a woman affiliated with a Puerto Rican gang.
ok, now you’ve done it...how about “White Chicks” - waiting for somebody to remake it as black chicks...
or “The karate” kid
or “Dr. Doolittle”
or “The Nutty Professor”
or “Blacula”
or “The Preacher’s Wife”
or “The Manchurian Candidate”
or “Cat on A Hot Time Roof”
or...oh nevermind, again
That mindset is rampant through our society. Think about that the next time you board a plane or go in for that surgery.
Baby faced Ansel Elgort to Star in Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ansel-elgort-nabs-male-lead-steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-1148420
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