A Texas public school district has cancelled a student theater production of the musical Little Shop of Horrors after a female senior student was cast in the male lead role of “Seymour.”
Grand Prairie ISD cancels ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ after girl lands lead male role https://t.co/jnHR8kiZRy https://t.co/TGggs7bP4M
— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) October 14, 2026
A week into rehearsals, 17-year-old Ana Mota was pulled into a meeting with her theater director and told the school district was taking away her part. District officials said a female student could not play the musical’s male lead, citing a 2023 Texas law (Senate Bill 12) that banned some drag performances.
“I was upset,” Ana told The Dallas Morning News. “This isn’t drag at all.”
Grand Prairie Independent School District said the decision was made “in light of the District’s ongoing effort to ensure its programs remain consistent with Senate Bill 12 and all applicable law.”
Senate Bill 12 (aka SB 12) prohibits sexually-oriented performances on public property in the presence of anyone under 18, which refers to drag performances.
But on August 25, 2026, Judge David Hittner blocked the state of Texas from enforcing SB 12, ruling it unconstitutional and a violation of First Amendment rights. So the law isn’t even being enforced at this time.
Ana told the Dallas Morning News she’s been cast in male roles before- including the roles of “Pinocchio” and “Jack” in Into the Woods – with no problems.
Ana Mota as “Jack” in INTO THE WOODS (via WFAA)Shiwali Patel of the National Women’s Law Center said keeping a student out of a role because of her sex could violate Title IX. “You cannot simply deny a student an opportunity because she is a girl,” Patel said.
This isn’t the first time theater controversies have come up in Texas school districts.
In 2023, Sherman ISD walked back a casting decision before ultimately reinstating a production of the musical Oklahoma! at Sherman High School that featured a transgender senior in the cast.
In 2024, Keller ISD experienced controversy over Timber Creek High School’s performance of The Laramie Project, which chronicles a Wyoming town’s struggle with the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay 21-year-old. The production was initially canceled but then eventually allowed to proceed.
Anyone who did theater in high school (as I did) knows there are often many more girls than boys participating, so girls get cast in male roles all the time.
And can we just remember….this is all “pretend” anyway?
Here are reports from the local news stations:
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