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Another high school musical has been canceled because 1) Texas and 2) Conservatives.
This time, it happened at South Grand Prairie High School, located between Dallas and Fort Worth. The plan was to stage a production of Little Shop of Horrors, the classic musical about a nerdy florist, Seymour, who encounters a blood-thirsty plant, all while trying to win the heart of his beloved co-worker Audrey. The show is famous enough that it’s practically a staple of high school theater.
The thing about high school musicals, though, is that you usually have more girls participating than boys, and some male parts have notes that may be tough for maturing boys to reach. For that reason, it’s not unusual to see a male part played by a girl. (When I was in high school, a girl played the lead role in our production of Oliver!)
That’s what happened at South Grand Prairie.
The role of Seymour went to 17-year-old senior Ana Mota, who had previously played other male roles like Pinocchio and Jack in Into the Woods without a problem.
A week into rehearsals, though, she was told she could no longer play the part. Not because she had done anything wrong, but because this was Texas, and the casting was going to get the school in trouble.
Howard Sherman, a longtime theater writer, explained on his site Downstage Center that Ana would be re-cast as Audrey (sharing the role with another student) while the male understudy for Seymour would now play that part in all performances. And there was a clear reason this was happening:
The reasoning given to the students for the change was that it was necessary to comply with the regulations of Texas law Senate Bill 12, best known for its anti-drag provisions. The district was concerned that a male role being played by a female student would run afoul of the law’s strictures.
As Sherman noted, that law has already been struck down twice at the federal level. It’s not in effect. A girl playing the lead male role in a musical is arguably not “drag” either. It’s just a girl playing a male role. As many argued when the law was being considered, Texas Republicans would have criminalized Shakespeare, whose plays are performed with plenty of “gender-bending,” as well as Peter Pan (where the lead is routinely played by a woman). But the fear that lawmakers will go after a school district for something as petty as this is apparently scary enough that district officials didn’t want to test them.
Ana and her mother rightly objected to this re-casting—not because she was upset to lose the lead, but because the district was forcing it to satisfy a law that wasn’t even in effect. So they met with district officials last week. Ana was then given an ultimatum: Accept the new role or the entire show would be canceled.
The district was specifically concerned that “the show placed Seymour and Audrey in a romantic relationship, and that ran afoul of the struck-down law’s language,” because that was somehow sexual—and, in this case, it would involve two female students. But for what it’s worth, even though the two characters kiss in the musical, high school productions often work around that, and that was the plan here regardless of who played the leads.
Ana and her mother didn’t accept the re-casting for those reasons… and so the district canceled the show entirely. The school announced it would start searching for a different musical to produce.
All of this really gained attention after Ana posted an open letter on Instagram highlighting how the district’s decision to double down on the (struck down!) anti-drag SB 12 law meant they were punishing her for being a girl, which violated the (still in effect!) Title IX law, which prohibits sex discrimination in public schools.
… I spoke to the school district on October 8th and was told that the Texas Education Administration did not give the district instructions to disregard the initial ruling of Senate Bill 12. In the end, their compromise was to change the musical all together. I do not feel like this was a compromise. Title 9 states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” The district was afraid they were teetering the line of the laws stated in SB12 and decided to take extreme caution, removing me from the role. In turn, they violated Title 9, I was excluded from participation in an education program receiving Federal financial assistance because I am a female.
Grand Prairie ISD has failed me as a student, they have failed my school, they have failed every student casted in this musical, but most of all, they have failed this district. I do not want a new musical, I want the part I auditioned for, in the musical I expected to do my senior year. I do not believe it is a fair compromise to take everyone’s parts away instead of just giving what is rightfully mine back. To GPISD, what I want is this musical and the original casting reinstated.
Daaaaamn. She has more courage that everyone in district leadership combined.
It didn’t help when the district issued a statement defending its decision by highlighting something else entirely:
In the musical, a romantic relationship develops between the two main characters. When District leadership learned of this issue and in consideration of themes in the musical involving an abusive relationship, a decision was made to pull that production and find something more appropriate. This decision was made in light of the District’s ongoing effort to ensure its programs remain consistent with Senate Bill 12 and all applicable law.
The musical does involve an abusive relationship between Audrey and a different character, but somehow that wasn’t an issue when they thought Seymour would be played by a boy. It only became an issue when they found out Ana would play the male lead.
Nor was it an issue the last time the school performed this musical… four years ago.
Nor was it an issue that the Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy—in the same district—is performing the exact same show this year.
The district can’t seem to decide why it doesn’t like this show. They just know they don’t.
Nancy Jimenez-Mota, Ana’s mother, told Sherman they are considering a possible lawsuit. If the district doesn’t change its mind, she said, “we’re going to move forward legally and it’s not going to be a pretty battle.”
She also delivered her own incredible statement:
In her interview, Jimenez-Mota made clear that she sees the situation as representative of larger issues, saying, “Part of me, I say, OK, this is just a high school musical, right? But when I look at this in the greater picture of things, in which our rights are being curtailed by ridiculous, unconstitutional laws, that’s when the fire burns inside of me. I am not a person that is seeking confrontation – I let little things go. But there comes a point where you have to stand up and say enough of this madness. Enough of this intimidation and nonsense. We need to take our freedoms back and I just don’t understand how this is happening. I don’t know at what point we became this.”
Jimenez-Mota went on to say, “I’ve lived here 33 years in Texas. I have never been bothered by any drag shows, any drag queens. They have not been a problem. But you know what I have been bothered with? People not having medical insurance. People not having housing. People not having food. So many other things. Guns, kids getting killed at schools with guns. My kids being extremely anxious about getting shot at school. That has been a concern. So I don’t understand why we are so focused and intent on meddling with the arts when there are bigger issues happening, and you go and waste all of this legislature time on a bill that affects no one. I’m baffled.”
That’s Texas under Republican leadership. No regard for the actual struggles people face, but non-stop culture war bullshit that makes everyone’s lives worse.
The Dallas Morning News points out that this is not a new phenomenon by any means:
In Texas, Sherman ISD in 2023 called off its production of Oklahoma! after a transgender teenage boy was cast in a leading role. The district later reversed its decision after a public outcry. In 2024, Keller ISD canceled a performance of the The Laramie Project, about the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student in Wyoming. The district later backtracked and allowed the production.
You may also recall that a performance of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” was canceled at a Georgia high school last year because district officials didn’t like that it opened with young women supposedly summoning spirits in the opening of a show… about the Salem Witch Trials.
High school musicals are just the latest battleground in the censorship wars. Right-wing morons want to get them canceled because they don’t like the idea that a theater production might challenge anyone’s preconceived notions.
But even if district officials are trying to play it safe rather than play politics, this is still censorship. Ana earned this role and rehearsals were well underway before adults panicked over a struck-down law, invented ever-shifting excuses, and told her the musical could go on if she just accepted a different role. Their decision was essentially a way to blame her for their own actions.
District officials aren’t protecting students from harm. They’re teaching kids that baseless political threats made by thoughtless Republicans are effective even when those laws aren’t in effect. And that the kids can’t count on the adults in their district to fight on their behalf.
All the more reason for students, parents, teachers, and allies to push back. That starts by sharing this story and calling out everyone involved in canceling the show. That continues by making sure decent people aren’t voting for Republicans in the midterms. Because when incidents like this happen without backlash, the next threat just gets easier to make, meaning more students will pay the price.
Ana was right to say this was never just about one role in one musical. It was about whether students can be excluded from educational opportunities simply because government officials don’t like it.
Grand Prairie ISD’s capitulation is embarrassing. It’s even worse because they can’t settle on a consistent explanation for why they canceled the show. The students deserve so much better.
It isn't limited to Texas. Conservatives will clutch their pearls over things like this, while claiming flooding our society with guns is somehow keeping us safe. By and large, vocal conservatives tend to see individual rights as a threat to their sense of entitlement and privilege.
Did no Texas kkkonservative see "Peter Pan" with Mary Martin when they were growing up? It was a classic that re-aired for decades.