Cross-gender acting has been practiced since the sixth century. It originally began in Ancient Greece when Athenian women were no longer allowed to participate in public life, and as such, men had to play both male and female roles during performances.
It became even more common in popular culture thanks to William Shakespeare, who incorporated a host of cross dressing characters into his works. Much like the days of Ancient Greece, all female roles during the Elizabethan Era (aka when Shakespeare’s plays were first being performed) were played entirely by men.
For one Grand Prairie high school, though, this normal aspect of theatrical life was recently deemed unacceptable. It was announced on October 6 that 17-year-old Ana Mota would no longer be allowed to play a male character, Seymour, in South Grand Prairie High School’s upcoming production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Two days later, Grand Prairie ISD decided to scrap the play altogether and replace it with “Frozen” instead.
According to the school district, Mota being cast as Seymour was a violation of Texas Senate Bill 12, which effectively bans public properties from holding “sexually oriented performances” where minors are likely to be. Most recently, the law was enacted to place restrictions on drag performances in the state before it was deemed unconstitutional to do so.
Lance Morse, who serves as the executive director of fine arts for Grand Prairie ISD, was quoted as saying during a meeting about the desire to remove Mota from the role, “We’re picturing at the same time certain political factions, I mean, protesting the show and picketing. It could become a huge deal.”
The ISD’s decision has been deeply frustrating for Mota, who auditioned several times to secure the role of Seymour. During a public school board meeting, she spoke about how the decision violated her Title IX civil rights. For those unfamiliar, Title IX is a federal statute that essentially protects students from being discriminated against, for any reason, because of their sex.
Mota said, “I was excluded from participation in an education program receiving federal financial assistance because I am a female. Maybe it wasn’t the intent of the district, but it is what happened.” Emily Liles, who serves as the district board president, responded with a statement in support of Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo’s decision regarding the change.
The statement said, in part, read: “Our superintendent and his staff are highly sensitive to the legislation of our state, especially as it relates to the operations of our school district. We as a board support the decision made by our superintendent.”
It’s unclear how exactly it would be a violation of Senate Bill 12 to have Mota play a male character given that the performance itself is not sexual in nature.
Previous plays have gone on without issue
Another student at the school board meeting, Stella Burks, spoke with KERA News about the hypocrisy behind Grand Prairie ISD’s decision to remove Ana Mota from her role as Seymour before scrapping “Little Shop of Horrors” completely. As Burks explained to the outlet, Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy, where she attends school, has often put on plays that include sexual jokes and LGBTQIA+ characters without issue.
She said, “Earlier this fall, we performed ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. There is sexual innuendos, there is intimacy on stage. And this was all allowed to be performed at our high school black-box theater, while they are not allowed to perform ‘Little Shop of Horrors.” If anything, that production seems like it would be more in violation of Texas Senate Bill 12 than “Little Shop of Horrors.”
Beyond that, Mota said she’s previously played male roles in other Grand Prairie High School productions without issue. Speaking with NBCDFW, Mota said, “Last year we did ‘Into the Woods,’ and in ‘Into the Woods’ I played Jack, who is a male role. In high school theater there’s sometimes a lack of males; you know, you only have so many people joining theater, and most of those people happen to be female.”
Emily Liles noted during the school board meeting that Grand Prairie ISD’s “intent was to ensure its programs remained consistent with the requirements of Senate Bill 12 enacted in 2025, not the Senate Bill 12 enacted in 2023 as has been widely reported,” which may explain why this hasn’t been an issue before now.
However, Liles was unable to pinpoint exactly how Senate Bill 12 was being cited in Mota’s case.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
