Theater Controversy Answer

11/07/2022

B. The company had planned to produce a version of Romeo and Juliet where the Montagues were Nazis, with Romeo being a member of the Hitler Youth Movement, while Juliet and the Capulets were part of the Jewish community. After much criticism the company apologized and canceled the production while noting that, unlike in the original production where the Montagues and the Capulets were “Two households, both alike in dignity,” their production would have shown the “Nazi” Montagues as the bad guys.

and

C. The company had planned to produce a version of Romeo and Juliet where Romeo would be portrayed as a member of the Hitler Youth Movement and Juliet was part of the Jewish community. The company was criticized because the casting notice did not specify that they were looking for a Jewish actress to play the Juliet part. The theater management canceled the production and issued an apology noting that the casting announcement was supposed to specify a preference for a Jewish actress, but that “Our casting director removed key information and we failed to notice.”

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