A school district in Texas has canceled a planned field trip to see a theater production of James and the Giant Peach after parents complained about the play’s cross-gender casting.
Last week, Spring Branch independent school district announced it was halting all field trips to see James and the Giant Peach at Houston’s Main Street Theater due to “concerns raised about the age-appropriateness of the performance”.
The play is a theatrical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1961 book, which chronicles the adventures of a seven-year-old orphan boy who befriends magical creatures that live inside a giant peach. The theater said seven actors play 19 roles in the play and thus can play different genders. It is unclear whether those include non-human roles like insects or animals that appear in the play.
Spring Branch independent school district’s decision comes amid a growing wave of anti-trans rhetoric and bills being perpetuated by conservative communities and lawmakers across the country.
A series of Instagram posts by @htxkidsfirst, an account that regularly posts content condemning LGBTQ+ communities, revealed a handful of angry responses from parents who complained about the play.
One screenshot read: “We (along with many) are keeping our son home tomorrow but a lot of parents are asking me about the drag queen[’]s role in the show. I understand he is in every show and is a main character but do you know [if] he [is] playing a guy or a girl? Like is he in drag for the performance?!”
The caption accompanying the screenshot praised parents’ decision to prohibit their children from attending the play. “This is how we make change! YOU are in control of your child. Many schools and teachers were unaware and are NOT happy about this. Do you see how they are coming after our kids? They sneak it in!!” it said.
The account went on to accuse the theater group of grooming children. In a post featuring a picture of one of the actors, the anonymous account user wrote, “The theatre can’t define what a drag is and says he’s not in drag at the show. Then why is he dressing as a woman? That’s drag to me.
“It’s all grooming no matter how you dissect it. We have to call this out and continue to. Our children don’t deserve this!! Dress as you want in front of adults but LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE,” it continued.
Main Street Theater has defended the theater production, saying: “At Main Street Theater, we have produced plays for adults for 48 years and plays for children, families and school groups based on children’s literature for over 43 years. James and the Giant Peach (which we have performed several times over the years) is no different from any other production we’ve done over the years. We are true to the script which is true to the book on which it is based.
“In our productions, as in theater across the world (and especially in plays based on books), there are sometimes so many characters that we regularly have actors playing multiple roles … So actors play all kinds of roles on a regular basis: male, female, insects, animals, and more. Again, this has been done since the creation of the art form of theater, and this is how theater remains to this day,” it added in a statement to the Guardian.
The theater added that it is still doing 17 performances a week of James and the Giant Peach, 15 of which are for school groups.
