"I don't feel as though I've really done anything wrong and I'm just trying to be myself and do the things that makes me happy," Max Hightower tells Inside Edition Digital.
A 17-year-old says he was kicked out of his high school musical production of “Oklahoma!” after being cast as one of the male leads.
Max Hightower, a senior at Sherman High School in Sherman, Texas, says he was cast as Ali Hakim, and excited to have the song "It's a Scandal! It's an Ourtrage" to sing. Auditions were held in September. The director offered him the role on Oct. 24. On Nov. 3, Max, who is transgender, says the part was taken away from him.
“[I was] really disappointed because it's my senior year and I haven't even had a talking role yet, and I had my whole song for this play. So, I was really sad because I wanted to show my family I could do something big and I had just barely gotten the opportunity and it felt like as soon as I succeeded, it was ripped away from me,” Max tells Inside Edition Digital.
Max, who was assigned female at birth, started transitioning in the 8th grade. He developed a love for musical theater after singing in choir. “When I found out you could sing in a play, it was over from there. I had to be involved. So, freshman year I joined the theater program for my high school, so I've been involved for four years,” he said.
Last year, Max played an urchin in “Little Shop of Horrors,” a role traditionally played by a woman, which didn’t seem to pose any issues.
“I think no trans person in our school had gotten a big part before,” Max says, as to why he thinks this happened. “Pretty much every trans kid that was in ‘Oklahoma!’ was cut, a large portion of the cast, mostly ensemble. I was the only one who really had a big part that was transgender, but we lost almost our entire ensemble.”
Max’s dad received a phone call from the school with the news Max could no longer be in the show: "Unfortunately as of today, we are enacting a new policy here at Sherman High that only males can play males and only females can play females,’” he recalls of the conversation. “That is verbatim, word for word what he said. Believe me, you don't forget when someone says something like that to you.”
“My choir teacher lets me wear the men's attire when we do concerts and everybody respects the name that I go by, so that's why this is such a big shock to me because I didn't had issues prior to this at all,” Max adds.
Max’s parents said they reached out to the school board, who told them “they were not involved. It was an admin decision,” his mom, Amy Hightower, said.
In a statement posted to the school’s website, the district said:
“The public performance of a high school musical requires the consideration and balance of a variety of factors given the fact that it is a production by students, the majority of whom are underage. It was brought to the District’s attention that the current production contained mature adult themes, profane language, and sexual content. Unfortunately, all aspects of the production need to be reviewed, including content, stage production/props, and casting to ensure that the production is appropriate for the high school stage.
There is no policy on how students are assigned to roles. As it relates to this particular production, the sex of the role as identified in the script will be used when casting. Because the nature and subject matter of productions vary, the District is not inclined to apply this criteria to all future productions.
The District will postpone the performances from December 8-10, 2023, to a later date. The District anticipates the public performances will be scheduled for some time after January 15, 2024. Between now and then, we will be working diligently to produce Oklahoma! as a musical that is appropriate for the high school stage.”
“Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 'Oklahoma!' first premiered on Broadway in 1943 and has been performed in its entirety “thousands of times across the U.S. since it debuted 80 years ago, including in High Schools,” a spokesperson for Concord Theatricals, the licensing company, said in a statement to Inside Edition Digital.
Concord additionally offers a popular Youth Edition designed especially for young performers. “Equity, diversity, inclusion and freedom of speech are key tenets for Concord Theatricals as champions of authors and artists. We encourage all producing organizations to consider diversity and inclusion in their casting choices."
Max and his parents hope that he will be able to return to the musical and perform it as was planned.
"I just hope some change comes from this, and I know I've been kind of made the poster child of this situation, which feels a little weird, but there was many, many kids affected and I want those kids to also be heard. I don't feel as though I've really done anything wrong and I'm just trying to be myself and do the things that makes me happy. I'm still trying not to lose hope because I love theater. I want to stay in theater, and I want this decision to not affect the way that I think of theater from now on,” Max said.
