Dispute Over LGBT Characters ... GAH!

The Show Won’t Go On: Community Theater Production Canceled After Dispute Over LGBT Characters GREENFIELD (KDKA) — The show won’t go on at a Greenfield community theater after the director and the producers got into a dispute over adding LGBT characters to the show. “The decision to cancel ‘Big Fish’ comes on the heels of a dispute between the director and co-founding producers over how to proactively insert representation of an LGBT+ family despite the fact that the script did not include any reference to the LGBT+ community,” the Playhouse’s statement said. In a statement sent to theatre news website BroadwayWorld, John August and Andrew Lippa, the creators of the musical, expressed their support for the director’s decision: “That’s correct; nowhere in the script does it say that any character is gay or lesbian or trans. But nor does it say they aren’t. A director’s decision to signal that two silent characters are same-sex parents isn’t changing the text. It’s providing context and framing. It’s directing.” The Playhouse’s statement on the show’s cancellation received nearly hundreds of responses on their Facebook page. SPIT !