Casting a girl as a rasha in a school play- ok or not?

amother

Gardenia

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 12:25 pm

amother OP wrote:

Is it ok for a school to cast a girl as a rasha in a school play, like Achashveirosh, Antiochus or any other and then after the girl says something like bow down to the idols, the chorus sings, the rasha said. At any age but this happens to be 7 year olds. Would it bother you?

In other schools do they do this? did they do this when you were a kid?

OP, you are right to be concerened. I was cast as a child in a play. I resented being treated childish.
The pain is still with me.

amother

Apple

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 1:00 pm

amother Gardenia wrote:

OP, you are right to be concerened. I was cast as a child in a play. I resented being treated childish.
The pain is still with me.

Is this real? You still hold resentment for being treated as the character you were playing in a play during the show? I'm not Mrs. Pro Therapy, but really, I'd look into this.

amother

Hosta

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 1:04 pm

amother Gardenia wrote:

OP, you are right to be concerened. I was cast as a child in a play. I resented being treated childish.
The pain is still with me.

What!?

amother

Holly

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 1:08 pm

Many times it’s the mothers who have a problem with it and not the kid. Saying this as a preschool teacher. We had a kid who was dying to be vashti but her mom had a French fit and absolutely refused. I felt so sorry for her.

challah58

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 2:02 pm

Personally, I don't love the idea of it for little kids. Idk if there's anything inherently wrong with it, but the idea of making acting like a rasha something exciting and coveted bothers me. Kids are so so impressionable and it's so easy to just become - wow Haman is the coolest and funnest in the whole play, I wish I got to be him! And something is lost in how evil and gross Haman actually is.
Also, what's the script like? I would never want my preschooler to say something like "yuck those Jews and their weird mitzvos!" even just for a play.

Ema of 5

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 2:07 pm

Highstrung wrote:

I was Achashveirosh and felt very proud of my role. But we did not have a Haman.

How do you make a Purim play without haman?

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 2:14 pm

amother Azalea wrote:

I think there is a difference between a 'bad guy' and someone going OTD. Our school once had a girl act out falling for the haskala/going OTD and a few years later, she did actually go OTD. Freaks me out a little.

The girl from my class who played that part is now very well known in kiruv and parenting.

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 2:16 pm

amother Steelblue wrote:

When I was a kid (not that long ago!) people used to dress up as vashti on Purim. People don't do that nowadays...

Now they dress up as TV and movie characters :-(

seven-up

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 6:26 pm

I was cast as an evil rasha type in a play, tried to destroy "those dirty Jews". Had so much fun that year and found the part challenging and rewarding in that I really put my talents to full force and worked harder than ever and truly enjoyed it. I am a normal Mother and grandmother and did not suffer any ill effects (some may disagree:) The girl who played the lead of the sweet Jew who was one of my "victims" recently lost custody of her kids. So no, how your life turns out is coincidental to the parts you played as a kid and playing the regular normal parts doesn't always give you the same high you get when you play a part that is so different from your real personality.

Highstrung

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 6:33 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

How do you make a Purim play without haman?

We had a rocking horse that Mordechai sat atop of , and she just sang “Kacha Yeaseh”…
This was 33 yrs ago. They didn’t have Vashti either . The play started with the opening of Achashveirosh being sad that he got rid of Vashti and the search for a new Queen began.
It was a wonderful play that the kindergarten put up every year for the school and again one separately for the mothers . I still perform the songs I sang as Achashveirosh , which were my teacher’s originals, to my kids . Such good memories .

Ema of 5

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 7:10 pm

Highstrung wrote:

So if there was no haman, who plotted against the Jews? Who came to the party with Esther and achashveirosh?

amother

Holly

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:01 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

So if there was no haman, who plotted against the Jews? Who came to the party with Esther and achashveirosh?

That part gets narrated

Highstrung

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:05 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

So if there was no haman, who plotted against the Jews? Who came to the party with Esther and achashveirosh?

They didn’t do all those scenes . You had Mordechai narrating that he wouldnt bow down to Haman. You had Esther coming before Achashveirosh where she reached to touch the kings sceptor etc.
The focus was on the Jews celebrating the miracle. Lots of singing . I’d say it was more of a musical than a play.

amother

Apple

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:10 pm

amother Bisque wrote:

As a convert, when my kids were in school, I was super-sensitive to my children being cast as anything menial or a rasha. I thought there was some subliminal message that my child didn't deserve to be cast as a real Jew.

I'm pretty surprised by this. As a daughter of a convert, this has never crossed my mind until reading your post... I'm thankful we didn't grow up with these ideas.

Ema of 5

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:12 pm

amother Holly wrote:

That part gets narrated

Interesting. I can’t even picture a Purim story without haman, but I guess it worked!

amother

Blonde

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:13 pm

I think there is a difference between being haman or being a mean girl in a big play and at the end of the play she is still mean and she gets punished with some weird thing. That happened to dd and she was in high school. Only at the end of the rehearsal the head told her she will stay mean till the end. Dd is a very sweet girl and was exited to get one of the main parts. It was really bad for her for the long run and I was very angry and still am at the head of the play. She wouldn’t have done it to a girl from an important family.

amother

Apple

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:15 pm

amother Blonde wrote:

I do not even begin to understand where you are coming from. Like at all. I've been in half a dozen plays in my lifetime and the cast is chosen based on best actors for the role not based family background. I really think this is a twisted way of thinking.

amother

Holly

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:18 pm

amother Blonde wrote:

Acting the part of a mean character doesn’t make her a mean person. I don’t get why you’re still upset.