Ever since a man named George Floyd died in the custody of a multiracial group of Minneapolis police officers, America has been in a panic about something called “whiteness.” As it has been explained to me, “whiteness” is something separate from white people or even skin color itself. “Whiteness” seems to be a sort of free-floating evil that can infect pretty much anything and make it bad. The worst thing you can do in 2021 America is perpetuate “whiteness.”
And what’s whiter than dinner theater? If you answered “Nothing,” you’re wrong as of about five minutes ago. Ross Raihala, Pioneer Press:
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres has scrapped plans to stage Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” and will instead make its next production “Footloose…”
In an interview, artistic director Michael Brindisi said the decision had nothing to do with the show’s content and that he’s not ruling out staging “Cinderella” at some point in the future.
The show came into question after Brindisi looked at the cast.
“It was 98 percent white,” he said. “That doesn’t work with what we’re saying we’re going to do…”
After the killing of George Floyd last summer, Brindisi said he realized it was time to “change our culture and make us more diverse and more equitable as a company. We’ve really dug in on diversity, equity and inclusion, the commitment to social justice and getting more diversity into our business across the board.”
So… staging a production of Cinderella is a violation of “social justice”? It’s probably racist to note that this idea is incredibly stupid, so I won’t.
read more here: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/jim-treacher/2021/03/26/minnesota-theater-company-cancels-cinderella-for-being-too-white-n1435216
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