Clarion play cancellation generates national discussion on diversity, casting decisions; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/18/15

Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Clarion play cancellation generates national discussion on diversity, casting decisions:

"Just over a week before the performance was to open tonight, playwright Lloyd Suh demanded that Clarion recast the parts in his play or halt the production. The university opted for the latter.

In the days since the Post-Gazette first reported the cancellation, an emotion-charged debate has ricocheted through social media. At the core of the dispute: should theater productions be 'color blind' in casting, an increasingly common practice over the last few decades? Or is that approach sometimes an excuse for inequity because, as Mr. Suh put it, "The practice of using white actors to portray non-white characters has deep roots in ugly racist traditions?" And just how should theater departments in out-of-the-way places such as Clarion, a small state-owned university whose enrollment is overwhelmingly white, be expected to make choices on picking plays, balancing diversity and challenging a homogenous community against adhering to the intent of the playwright?