The Community Theatre Casting Problem Facing ‘Come From Away’

by Chris Peterson

Before Pull-Tight Players’ production of Come From Away opens in Franklin, Tennessee, on August 7, the theatre has already released a statement addressing the lack of diversity in their cast. While I haven’t seen pictures of the cast themselves, I can only assume this means the show features an all-white ensemble.

Pull-Tight said its auditions were open to everyone, but acknowledged that relying on its existing outreach was not enough to build the diverse and inclusive cast it had hoped to assemble. The organization reiterated its commitment to welcoming people of all backgrounds and invited members of the Nashville theatre community to suggest ways it could engage a more diverse group of performers in the future. 

I want to give the theatre some credit for saying this publicly.

It would have been much easier to ignore the issue, delete uncomfortable comments, and proceed as though nobody had noticed. Pull-Tight appears to understand that the cast it assembled does not fully reflect the diversity at the heart of this particular musical.

But its explanation also reveals one of community theatre’s most persistent problems. Because Come From Away is a musical that should never be presented with an entirely white cast.

The story is about international passengers who were stranded in Gander, Newfoundland, after the September 11 attacks. Its characters represent different races, nationalities, religions, and cultures. The diversity of the cast is essential to what the musical is trying to say.

Music Theatre International(MTI) promotes Come From Away as having a flexible cast. The show was originally written for twelve actors playing numerous roles, but licensed productions may expand the company, separate characters, and add more passengers, townspeople, and air traffic controllers as desired. 

That flexibility makes sense. It gives more actors an opportunity to participate and allows theatres to adapt the original doubling structure to their available talent. 

The trouble begins, however, with what else is considered flexible.

MTI distributes a document titled “Alternate Casting Approved Libretto Changes.” It explicitly gives theatres permission to cast Bob and Hannah with actors who are not Black and provides alternate script pages to accommodate those decisions. The approved materials say that all other casting choices should reflect the libretto as written. 

But the published character breakdown creates more questions.

The actor playing Bob traditionally also plays Muhumuza, an African passenger traveling with his family. No one tells them where their bus is going, and when they arrive at a Salvation Army camp, they mistake the volunteers in uniform for soldiers. Meanwhile, the actor playing Kevin J. also portrays Ali, an Egyptian passenger who is detained and later experiences Islamophobia. MTI’s public casting breakdown does not expressly state that the performer playing Ali must be Middle Eastern, North African or Muslim, although its alternate-casting guidance says that all other casting decisions should reflect the libretto as written.

Taken together, these options appear to leave the door open for a licensed production with an entirely white cast.

That should not be possible. You cannot celebrate the international community depicted in Come From Away while presenting it as though everyone who landed in Gander was white.

And Come From Away is not the only musical that permits this.

The licensed Teen Edition of A Chorus Line provides alternate dialogue allowing Connie, Richie, and Judy to be played by actors of any race or height. In Connie’s case, that means Connie Wong can become Connie MacKenzie when an Asian performer is not cast. 

The alternative does not simply cast another actress as Connie Wong. It changes the character until her Asian American identity is no longer required. 

That tells us something uncomfortable about how the industry often treats representation.

When a theatre cannot find the appropriate performer, the character from the marginalized community is expected to change. 

There are certainly communities where casting a diverse production will be more difficult. Some schools and local theatres operate in areas with limited demographic diversity. Others may lack longstanding relationships with performers outside their usual circles. But no theatre is entitled to produce every musical.

Choosing a season requires more than deciding which titles will sell tickets or excite the artistic team. It also means asking whether the organization can responsibly cast the people whose stories are being told.

That conversation must happen before the rights are secured, not after the cast announcement.

There were other possible approaches available with Come From Away. Because expanded casting is permitted, a theatre could separate Ali from Kevin J. and Muhumuza from Bob. Those characters could become meaningful opportunities for performers who bring greater cultural understanding to them rather than remaining secondary assignments attached to another actor’s track.

That is what casting flexibility should accomplish.

It should help more people enter the story. It should not provide a convenient way to remove them from it.