What place do racial slurs have in authentic theater, art? The answer is complicated.

Editor’s note: This story includes references to offensive racist language.

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The cancellation of a theater production at Texas Wesleyan University last month over the play’s use of racist language has localized a question that many Black artists have had to reckon with: How do you depict acts of racism in your work, if at all?

Texas Wesleyan’s theater department was set to perform “Down in Mississippi” from Sept. 29 through Oct. 9, but students rallied against the play because it depicted a white character saying a racial slur more than 10 times toward a Black character in its opening scene.

The university’s Black Student Association shared an Instagram post the day of the premier, saying many students of color were disturbed that the scene would be shown on campus.

After a campus listening session, the university decided to cancel the performance.

Playwright Carlyle Brown, who is Black, said the students seemed to be concerned with overall racial relations on campus.

Brown said he was nonetheless disappointed with the cancellation, saying the discomfort caused by the show can be related to discomfort around contemporary issues and experiences, and that a constructive conversation could flow from that.

A larger conversation

Ayvaunn Penn, theater professor at Texas Christian University, said the question of how to appropriately portray hateful and racist language, if at all, has been a continuous conversation within the theater community. Penn, who is Black, spoke to the Star-Telegram in the context of that broader conversation, not specifically about what happened at Texas Wesleyan.

“You’ll hear some prominent Black theater artists say, ‘We’re tired of performing our woes on stage. We’re tired of performing the tragedies that have happened to African Americans,’” she said.

Penn said she tries to abstain from racial slurs in her work, but she understands that sometimes if you are writing a piece inspired by historical events or personal experience, and you want to be authentic, such language may be appropriate.

“If we don’t tell the story, who will?” she said. “Art is an important tool in preserving history.”

Penn said artists also consider their audiences and have to prioritize between conveying a story that needs to be told and making it palpable for an audience.

She pointed out that professional artists have a choice in whether they want to work with a piece that explores racist language and racist acts.

In an educational setting, the choice to engage with such material should be an intentional conversation involving the department and students, Penn said.

“It’s a dangerous game to not ever want to do anything that makes anyone uncomfortable,” she said. “... So it’s a matter of deciding which discomforts should be used for growth and learning – not only academically, not only in terms of craft but as a human being – and which discomforts are truly damaging.”

In a time when some theaters have committed to bringing works to the stage that are by and about persons from historically marginalized groups, the censorship of Black artists can be a dangerous precedent, Penn said. It can keep important artists and art from being seen and heard, she said.

“It’s all very complicated because no one can help how they feel about something,” she said.

Authenticity vs. harm

Racial policy scholar Lessie Branch, who is based in Yonkers, New York, said that even as some Black Americans have begun to use it as a word of endearment, the use of the N-word originates from malicious intention and is still harmful.

But authentic arts and culture also serve as important ways for groups to pass down their history, Branch said. And a play is an appropriate way to explore and disseminate American history and how Black people were harmed by racial slurs, she said.

Branch said the situation at Texas Wesleyan could be a teachable moment.

Black students felt uncomfortable about the play but racist people are probably referring to them with racial slurs all the time, she noted.

“And so, shutting down a school play is not going to shield you from being called the N-word,” she said.

Branch said the play, and the discussion around it — if managed properly — could be an opportunity for more intentional and deep dialogue.

Penn said institutions — particularly educational institutions — are still navigating how to bring more Black voices and related subject matter to the arts and theater and there are no clear-cut answers.