Maine town theater to cancel highly-anticipated musical due to lack of diversity in cast

A small-town theater in Maine may be forced to cancel the production of one of its plays next week because the cast is too white.

A plea has been made by The Grand Theater in Ellsworth, Maine, for minority actors to join the cast of their production of Big River, which is based on Mark Twain’s famous novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

In a town where 93 percent of the population is white, the play has encountered difficulties in casting roles, particularly struggling to find actors for the characters of Alice and her daughter, who are portrayed as slaves in the production.

Nick Turner, the executive director of The Grand Theater, expressed the urgent need for black actors to fill these remaining roles because, currently, only the role of Jim, a runaway slave, has been successfully cast.

Turner had originally planned to get around casting quotas by adapting the script so Alice and her daughter wouldn’t appear on stage and are only referred to in the third person by other characters. 

But this plan was thwarted when a local do-gooder reported his plan to the play’s licensing agency.

Bosses there told The Grand that altering the script would violate the contract it signed to put on the play, per Bangor Daily News. 

Turner said this means the theater must have Alice and her daughter appear on stage, and he already pushed opening night back a week to April 11 in hopes of finding new actors. 

The Grand Theater in Ellsworth, Maine has made a last-minute appeal for minority actors to save its production of Big River after being unable to find enough black actors 

The theater is preparing to put on a production of Big River, an adaption of Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but has been unable to fill two black character roles 

Turner broke the news to the community that the much-anticipated play could be cancelled in an email to supporters on Wednesday, as he pleaded for anyone who fits the bill to step up and save the show. 

He wrote in the email: ‘We are specifically seeking additional talented African American actors to bring this story to life in a way that reflects its true spirit. 

‘This is not just a show — it’s an opportunity to celebrate voices that have long been underrepresented.’ 

Turner added that he would accept anyone who wanted to volunteer, and a lack of past acting experience would not be an issue. 

The director said he has been putting on small-town productions in Colorado and Maine for 25 years, but this is the first time he has faced cancelling a show over licensing disagreements. 

‘I’ve never bumped into this before,’ he told Bangor News Daily. 

He insisted that racism had nothing to do with the play’s predicament, and lamented how ‘in our efforts, we were perceived as being exclusive.’ 

Turner said only one black actor auditioned for the play as he insisted racism had nothing to do with the theatre’s predicament, but ‘in our efforts, we were perceived as being exclusive’ 

Turner said the theater decided to stage Big River over a year ago, but when they held casting calls in January, only one black actor auditioned, and they were subsequently cast as Jim. 

‘We really tried,’ he added. 

Turner said The Grand had a dicey history with Big River, as it had previously put on the play 25 years ago. 

That production didn’t hit the same issues, he said, because white actors filled black character roles by wearing blackface, which he said would never happen today. 

Turner added that he is hopeful he will not be forced to cancel the play, and has ‘had people reach out’ to play the vacant roles that ‘look promising.’