Esmerelda's backrgound or ethnicity shoulidn't matter for the play. Shit you can be as progressive as you want and have a male play that role if you want to. It's theatre. Expression of the art is the entire point. Granted, it's high school theater and I'm sure there were politics at play because it's friggin' high school. I'm wishing the best like the rest of us and hoping the lead was selected based off of performance. Sounds like the girl crying racism is being a dumb teenager and unfortunately garnered an audience.
The HS made the exact move I would have. Shut it down to avoid a PR disaster/race war in the high school. Now nobody gets to enjoy a play, and all the students get to thank the girl who made a shitstorm about not getting her role. Now she won't be selected for anything else in high school because she's a ticking timebomb.
Oh, I agree. Theatre is all about dressing up and playing something you're not, so really shouldn't matter what race (or even gender tbh) an actor is for a role. But even if it were important, unless they got a french or roma person to play her role... then it seems even more stupid than it already is. ---
