After having casting problems, trying to amend the script and then finding out they might have to cancel the show, officials at an Ellsworth theater say a musical is moving forward with additional actors.
Four Black actors have been added to the cast of “Big River,” which will allow The Grand to stage the musical as originally written, according to Nick Turner, the theater’s executive director. The musical, based on Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” will open Friday, April 11 and close with a 3 p.m. matinee on Easter Sunday, April 20. There will be eight performances in total.
The production got off to a bumpy start in January when only one Black actor auditioned for the musical, which focuses on a relationship between Finn and a runaway slave named Jim, but which calls for several Black characters to appear onstage. Grand officials were getting a first-hand reminder that finding actors of different races to volunteer for small-town community theater productions in Maine, which is 93 percent white, is not an easy task.
To avoid casting white actors as Black characters, including the roles of slaves Alice and her daughter, production officials made changes to the script that kept the broader story intact but eliminated some Black roles by instead referring to those characters in third person. One scene that called for Black characters onstage was changed so that they were backlit behind a screen and shown only in silhouette, allowing ensemble members to represent them during the brief scene.
But the situation became acute last week, after someone contacted the licensing agency that had a written agreement with The Grand to stage “Big River.” The complainant told the agency that some Black roles were being eliminated from the production.
The agency then contacted Grand officials and told them that making any changes to the script, which is copyrighted material, was a violation of the theater’s contract. Actors had to be assigned to play the Black characters as written in the original script, or the production had to be canceled, theater officials were told.
So last week the theater sent out an email blast, explaining the situation to its supporters and asking for Black actors to volunteer for the production, no experience needed. Opening night of the musical was delayed from April 4 to April 11 to give them time to find and prepare actors for the roles.
The appeal worked, Turner said. Four Black actors, one of whom has never appeared onstage before, stepped forward. Two have been cast as Alice and her daughter, and two others will appear as ensemble members along with other actors onstage, he said.
“We have met the requirements of the script,” Turner said Tuesday, adding that it is the theater’s supporters — new and old — who saved the production.
“It is a testimony to the community, for sure,” he said.
Turner stressed that the theater, under his leadership and before he started, has always had a policy of inclusion and never turned away anyone who wanted to volunteer to be in a production. The initial decision to eliminate unfilled Black roles was aimed at keeping the production and its broader theme of racial tolerance alive, he said.
He admitted it has been a learning experience for him and others involved in the musical. He said both that lesson and the way the community has responded has enhanced the production.
“It’s a phenomenal show,” Turner said. “It adds to the power of the show. I am glad it is happening.”
