A theater in Minnesota has canceled the production of Cinderella after its producers claimed the cast was too white.
The incident takes place in Chanhassen, Minnesota, where Chanhassen Dinner Theatres canceled the upcoming Roger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella play after its artistic director complained the cast was too white.
While 92.5 percent of people in Chanhassen are white, Michael Brindisi, the theater’s artistic director, called for Cinderella production to be canceled after realizing the cast was 98% white.
Following “careful consideration,” the theater decided to ditch the play and hire diversity consultants “to analyze the production with our creative teams through a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lens.”
“After careful consideration and with our ongoing commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we have made the decision to cancel our upcoming production,” the theater confirmed in a statement following Brindisi’s complaint about the cast.
“In addition to changing future programming, we are establishing new pre-production protocols.
We will be inviting (and paying) BIPOC artists to analyze the production with our creative teams through a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lens. This conversation will happen before the design and casting process has begun.”
In an interview with the Pioneer Press, Brindisi admitted the theater deliberated restarting the production of Cinderella with a brand-new cast. However, they eventually decided to ditch the show and start with a different production instead.
According to the reports, Cinderella was replaced by Footloose, whereas the play will reportedly be much more diverse thanks to a carefully chosen cast.
As Brindisi added, some members of the Cinderella cast were left upset by the decision to scrap the show but the majority “respected the very hard decision we had to make.”
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Replaced!