GBDSS nixes musical after cast member allegedly hurls racial slur

Georgian Bay District Secondary School has cancelled its spring theatrical production following an alleged racist incident involving cast members.

And some of those who were looking forward to appearing in their final high production aren’t happy about it.

The incident, which occurred in the fall, involved a Black cast-mate who was allegedly called the N-word by another cast-mate after the play had been cast.

The pair were slated to play two closely linked characters in the school’s spring production of Beauty and the Beast.

In a podcast obtained by MidlandToday, a Grade 12 student confirms he was called the N-word and goes on to say he’s had past troubles with the student who allegedly made the remark.

“It’s a bad situation,” he tells his co-host during the Nov. 20 podcast called Authorized Staff Only.

“Me and him, we’re in close contact. He has done repeated acts of homophobia, transphobia … a lot of bad stuff.”

He goes on to say that students aren’t happy with “some of the teachers because they just don’t want to deal with it.”

As the student alludes to in the podcast, some students are upset by the school and board administrative staff’s arbitrary decision to outright cancel the production rather than just recast the other student's role.

One of those is Brennan Bielefeld, a fellow Grade 12 student, who enjoys performing and has been involved in past productions over the years.

“We’re all pretty discouraged about the cancellation. We all fought pretty hard to keep the show and are primarily disappointed in the administration of GBDSS and the Simcoe County District School Board.”

Bielefeld says that after casting took place, some students, including Theophilus, began to report discriminatory behaviour exhibited by one cast-mate.

“Anybody who was considered a witness to this behaviour was brought in for sessions with the vice-principal, where we were told to report everything we knew,” Bielefeld explains.

“After this, the administration began threatening to cancel the show with a sentiment of, ‘If we’re not able to go on working with this student, the show would be cancelled.’

“We were extremely upset about this and were further upset when we were told the play would be returning with this student still in the cast,” Bielefeld says, noting other cast members couldn’t understand why the part wasn’t just recast.

“I talked to my friends about staging a peaceful protest at rehearsal and the principal seized my personal texts and used them against my friend in one of his meetings with the principal.”

For graduating students like Bielefeld, the decision hurts a great deal.

“I think we were just looking forward to doing one more show with the people we’ve formed connections with over the years,” explains Bielefeld, who notes morale is also now pretty low.

“We were all rooting for the show to be Beauty and the Beast since Grade 9, and many of us were cast in our dream roles.

“The students here have also lost all faith in our drama department and the school’s ability to protect us as a whole. Every play or drama event since these incidents has honestly felt miserable. It stinks because it really did used to feel like home for all of us.”

GBDSS drama teacher Betony Main declined to comment and asked MidlandToday to contact school administration.

Principal Hailey McLean also declined to speak about the incident and the decision to cancel the play, but then suggested contacting a school board superintendent “for information regarding the play.”

From there, MidlandToday received an email from Susan Sidlofsky, the Simcoe County District School Board’s superintendent of education area A (parent and board services).

“Please note that we do not comment on issues that directly relate to our students as this would be a breech (sic) of privacy,” Sidlofsky explains. “Due to the complex nature of the production of the musical, it was no longer feasible that we proceed with the production.

“We recognize this was disappointing for our GBDSS families. However, we are committed to providing opportunities in the arts throughout the school year.”

But those words don’t alleviate the frustration for students like Bielefeld, who points out Main and another drama teacher were included in some of the earlier meetings.

And despite everything that’s gone on, including going to the superintendent, Bielefeld says students were told the cancellation had nothing to do with the original alleged discrimination or their threats to protest.

“It’s been an extremely confusing and discouraging time, especially for the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) and marginalized students at our school, and honestly, all we want at this point is real justice and accountability from our board and administration,” Bielefeld says.

“Every marginalized person here has had a comment made to them at some point by someone, and after this situation people are scared and feeling discouraged from reporting anything.”