A school district in Texas has canceled a planned field trip to see a theater production of James and the Giant Peach after parents complained about the play’s cross-gender casting.
Last week, Spring Branch ISD announced it was halting all field trips to see James and the Giant Peach at Houston’s Main Street Theater due to “concerns raised about the age-appropriateness of the performance”.
The play is a theatrical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1961 book, which chronicles the adventures of a seven-year-old orphan boy who befriends magical creatures that live inside a giant peach. The theater said seven actors play 19 roles in the play and thus can play different genders. It is unclear whether those include non-human roles like insects or animals that appear in the play.
