Senate Bill 12 — Texas’ “anti-drag” bill that has twice been declared unconstitutional — has struck again, costing a high school senior a starring role in her school play.
Ana Mota this week told Dallas Morning News that she won the role of Seymour, the male lead, in South Grand Prairie High School’s planned production of Little Shop of Horrors after “four days of tough auditions and multiple call-backs.”
Then just a week into rehearsals, after Ana had spent hours learning her lines and practicing the songs, Grand Prairie Independent School District officials pulled the plug.
Ana, 17, told DMN that district officials told her that a female student could not play the male character because SB 12 bans some drag performances.
According to a statement from GPISD officials, the district is trying to comply with its own policies and federal and state laws, the Morning News reports.
“In the musical, a romantic relationship develops between the two main characters. When district leadership learned of this issue and in consideration of themes in the musical involving an abusive relationship, a decision was made to pull that production and find something more appropriate.”
(For those who are somehow unfamiliar with the story behind Little Shop of Horrors, the abusive relationship they mention is between female lead Audrey and her asshole boyfriend, Orin the dentist, who ends up being fed to the carnivorous alien plant that flower shop employee Seymour found.)
Ana was initially told the role of Seymour would be reassigned to a male student and that she would be given a different role. She said no thanks, and that prompted the district to just cancel the show altogether.
Interesting to note, by the way, that Ana has previously played male roles in GPISD school productions.
Sherman ISD & Max Hightower
This isn’t the first time that North Texas public school officials have cancelled a high school musical over homophobia and transphobia. Back in October of 2023, Tyson Bennett — then-superintendent of Sherman ISD — announced a new district policy allowing only male students to play male roles and only female to students to play female roles in school plays AFTER Max Hightower, a transgender student at Sherman High School, was cast as Aly Hakim in the school’s production of Oklahoma!
Bennett “delayed” that production until the role could be recast. But after a headline-grabbing uproar from Max’s family and a large segment of the local community and LGBTQ+ advocates from around the country, that decision was reversed; the play went on (just a bit later than planned) with Max as Aly Hakim, and Bennett was first suspended and before the end of the school year had left the district under a “voluntary separation agreement.”
Keller ISD & The Laramie Project
Just a few months later, in February 2024, Keller ISD officials cancelled Timber Creek High School’s planned production of The Laramie Project, Moises Kaufman’s award-winning play about the aftermath of the 1998 hate-motivated murder of gay student Matthew Shepard.
Kaufman himself called out the school district at the end of February, and shortly afterwards, by March 6, that production was back on, too.
— Tammye Nash