{"id":1782824,"date":"2022-12-21T12:33:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1782824"},"modified":"2022-12-21T12:33:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:33:41","slug":"one-of-americas-longest-running-childrens-theatres-casts-drag-obsessed-man-as-wicked-witch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/one-of-americas-longest-running-childrens-theatres-casts-drag-obsessed-man-as-wicked-witch\/","title":{"rendered":"One Of America\u2019s Longest-Running Children\u2019s Theatres Casts Drag-Obsessed Man As Wicked Witch"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fone-of-americas-longest-running-childrens-theatres-casts-drag-obsessed-man-as-wicked-witch%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1782824&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 Kids and parents filled one of America\u2019s oldest continuously operating children\u2019s theatre last weekend for a professional performance of the classic \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d \u2014 only this showing of L. Frank Baum\u2019s 1900 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/how-im-saving-the-childrens-book-genre\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">children\u2019s fantasy<\/a> contained a spin: a man in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/drag-queen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drag<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As play-goers waited patiently for the performance to start, young children voiced their excitement, especially about seeing the Wicked Witch of the West on stage.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cI heard she flies on a broom,\u201d one girl excitedly told her mother moments before the play began.<\/p>\n<p>To the audience\u2019s delight, the Wicked Witch soon appeared on stage, dressed in green with a broom in hand, but this Wicked Witch wasn\u2019t the conventional character seen in the beloved children\u2019s story. At the Nashville Children\u2019s Theatre (NCT), the Wicked Witch was played by a drag-obsessed male actor in a dress, and some parents were not entertained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never once ever thought, \u2018You know what, maybe I should prescreen this play before I take my children to a children\u2019s theatre,\u2019\u201d Kelley Judd, a Nashville-area homeschool mom, told The Daily Wire after she attended a previous showing of NCT\u2019s \u201cThe Wizard of Oz.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judd explained that the children around her in the audience, including her daughter, reacted immediately after actor James Rudolph appeared on stage for the first time. \u201cThat\u2019s a man! That\u2019s a man!\u201d they shouted.<\/p>\n<p>Executive Artistic Director Ernie Nolan \u2014 an award-winning playwright, director, and choreographer \u2014 cast James Rudolph as the Wicked Witch for the play geared toward elementary school audiences, telling The Daily Wire that Rudolph was the best fit for the role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cast what we felt was the best actor in a role for our play. We had someone who we thought could do a fantastic job, he\u2019s a fantastic actor, and we cast an actor in a role,\u201d Nolan said.<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph wore a form-fitting green dress, stilettos, and matching lipstick throughout the play, and some parents were appalled at what they saw as a push to normalize drag at a children\u2019s theatre.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan pushed back on any suspicions that NCT had a political agenda in its \u201cWizard of Oz\u201d performance. He referenced British pantomime, ballet, and opera that \u201care presented to young people that use gender-blind casting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe made our decision based on theatrical tradition and theatricality for the world that we had. That\u2019s really what we were focused on at the time we were creating our play,\u201d Nolan added.<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph has been a professional performer for 15 years, according to his bio on the NCT <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillechildrenstheatre.org\/teaching-artists-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a> complete with \u201che\/him\u201d pronouns next to his name. The actor is also a teaching artist at NCT, helping young children explore acting at the theatre\u2019s drama school that offers in-person day-long camps throughout the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But what\u2019s not advertised under Rudolph\u2019s bio on NCT\u2019s website is that he also hosts a profanity-laced podcast called \u201cGettin\u2019 2 The Drag,\u201d a \u201cdrag queen read-view show\u201d that Rudolph and two other hosts dedicate to analyzing \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race.\u201d The <a href=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/gt2drag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">description<\/a> for the show\u2019s latest episode reads, \u201c60\u2019s girl group challenge got us feeling supreme. Join the gang as they review RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race, Season 14, Episode 8!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The play\u2019s director informed The Daily Wire that Rudolph hosting a drag queen podcast \u201cdidn\u2019t have any influence\u201d over his decision to cast Rudolph as the Wicked Witch. But casting a man in a dress isn\u2019t the only way NCT has pushed boundaries on gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n<p>A quick read through NCT\u2019s drama school <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillechildrenstheatre.org\/nct-drama-school\">web page<\/a> reveals that the children\u2019s theatre has fully bought into radical gender theory. NCT dedicates over 600 words on its website to \u201cLGBTQ+ Support,\u201d which states that \u201cStudents are allowed to use the bathroom that best matches their gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NCT also says students may change their preferred pronouns or name during class sessions, and the theatre promises not to inform parents if their child uses a different gender identity if the parents don\u2019t know or approve of their child making that decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[I]f a student confides in us that they are not \u2018out\u2019 at home, we will protect a student\u2019s confidentiality and use the names and pronouns that were listed on the student\u2019s registration when communicating to grown-ups, but use the preferred names and pronouns during class\/camp,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillechildrenstheatre.org\/nct-drama-school\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a> states.<\/p>\n<p>The performance was one of many showings of Dorothy and her fun-loving dog Toto running from November 17 through December 23 at the downtown Nashville theatre that has been in operation since 1931. Judd, who attended the play with a group called the Nashville Homeschool Calendar, praised the theatre for its past showings of classic plays for children that the homeschool group always looked forward to.<\/p>\n<p>Nashville Homeschool Calendar leader Jennifer Chavez organizes the group\u2019s field trips, and she also had high praise for the theatre\u2019s past plays, but after hearing from parents like Judd who attended the performance, Chavez had other thoughts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 Kids and parents filled one of America\u2019s oldest continuously operating children\u2019s theatre last weekend for a professional performance of the classic \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d \u2014 only this showing of L. Frank Baum\u2019s 1900 children\u2019s fantasy contained a spin: a man in drag. As play-goers waited patiently for the performance to start, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":1782827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[8499,6962,8538,7378,10917,5560,6202,10916,10914,5537,10918,10915,6195],"class_list":["post-1782824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-man","tag-the","tag-witch","tag-americas","tag-casts","tag-childrens","tag-daily","tag-drag-obsessed","tag-longest-running","tag-one","tag-theatres","tag-wicked","tag-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1782827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}