Maine theater threatens to stop production of Mark Twain classic unless inexperienced Black people are in it

A casting crisis threatened a theater’s production of a Mark Twain classic after a diversity workaround proved problematic.

Despite the inherent pretend nature of theater and similar performative arts, woke zealotry had imposed selectively enforced inclusivity demands that limited certain roles to actors with like backgrounds. As such, The Grand Theater in Ellsworth, Maine was forced to delay and potentially cancel their production of the musical “Big River” when only one black actor had volunteered.

The adaptation of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” had announced its casting call in January, but in a town with a 93% white population, according to the Bangor Daily News, the only black actor who’d auditioned had been cast in the role of Jim.

That still left the roles of the slave Alice and her daughter vacant, forcing the production to cancel its first weekend of shows when a solution was deemed prohibited due to a licensing agreement.

In an appeal to supporters for black volunteers, The Grand detailed, “Big River is a powerful production that deserves to be staged with authenticity and respect for its legacy. The Grand has been asked to postpone opening or to cancel this community-driven musical unless additional African-American representation can be added to the cast.”

“The truly honor the heart of the story, we need your immediate support to open this show on April 11th. This is not just a show it’s an opportunity to celebrate voices that have long been underrepresented,” continued the plea. “We are specifically seeking additional talented African American actors to bring this story to life in a way that reflects its true spirit.”

Insanity: A theater in Ellsworth, ME is canceling a production of Big River unless they can add more black people.

“No experience is necessary.”

They just want to throw more black ppl on the stage to pacify leftists.

All bc they’ve “been asked,” aka threatened by commies. pic.twitter.com/RGDTLsy6hN

— Steve Robinson (@BigSteve207) April 2, 2025

The message emphasized that “No experience is necessary” after it was reported that an effort to rework the script to merely reference Alice and her daughter as characters offstage was deemed a violation of the contract the theater had signed with the licensing agency for the copyrighted musical.

“We have had people reach out. It looks promising,” executive director of The Grand Nick Turner had told the Bangor Daily News. “I’ve never bumped into this before. In our efforts [to stage a production about part of America’s racial history], we were perceived as being exclusive.”

“We really tried,” he noted of the auditions that had failed to draw the desired performers to fill the roles. Turner had revealed to the outlet that during a previous production of “Big River” 25 years earlier, the performance had included some white actors in blackface, a move they would not dare repeat in the present.

While the social media account of The Grand suggested the show would go on as ticket sales had begun Monday, the “Big River” struggles had the potential to repeat as the theater looked ahead to a possible production of “The King and I” about a British schoolteacher hired to tutor the children of the king of Thailand, then known as Siam.

“We will follow contracts in exact detail,” said Turner. “We believe strongly in what we’re doing and we’re going to do it right.”

There was no word from the theater on whether they would be hiring actual fairy tale creatures ahead of their June production of “Shrek the Musical.”

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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