From The Nashville Examiner we get what appears to be a lovely bit of HIV-related discrimation.
Byron Rice has just been dismissed from the Nashville Dinner Theatre production of RENT, allegedly over the discovery that Byron is HIV+.
I need to be up front here, I know the principles here (Byron Rice and Kaine Riggan), if not well. I haven't spoken to either in a couple years. Before that I had seen and spoken to Byron a lot more than Kaine, though to be honest I had already started this story before I visited their facebook pages and realize that I knew these guys personally.
So there are allegations that the actor playing Roger was removed from the show the day after he disclosed his HIV status. The Co-director, Kaine Riggan, says that Rice was simply a bad fit:
Riggan alleges that Rice was simply not right for the show because he was significantly older than most of the cast and was not the right “body type” for the role.
Does this small-town drama get better? Of course it does:
It should be noted that Rice, 35, is several years younger than Director Patrick Kramer who also portrays the character Mark in the show. In addition, the actor who will be taking over the role of Roger in the May cast is a larger body type than Rice and ten years his senior.
The acrtress playing Roger's love interest "Mimi", (Joanne Coleman) expressed concern that she hadn't been told of Rice's HIV status. There are several sources who basically say the same thing:
Joanne [Colman] threw a hissy fit,” claimed one source. “The next day [Rice] wasn’t at rehearsal. Everyone was upset and they knew why.”
The “hissy fit” in question revolved around Rice showing up to the theatre wearing his One Voice T-shirt to rehearsal. One Voice clearly spells out their mission on it's website: "Our mission is to educate members of diverse communities on the importance of respecting and valuing themselves; to empower them to make responsible choices concerning their well-being and ultimately to encourage them to lead by example in their respective communities despite adversity." Rice is also pictured prominantly on the One Voice Nashville website.
After Rice explained that it was an HIV education organization and started talking about being HIV+, a fact Rice and other sources claim was he up front and honest with everyone about from the beginning, rehearsal went on as normal until Coleman reportedly stated in front of Rice and several other cast members, “I can’t hold your hands. I have too many cuts on my fingers.”
For the irony inclined, the plot of RENT revolves around living and dying with HIV/AIDS in the late 1980s. In the play both Roger and Mimi HIV+. Gay life, including life in drag, are beautifully and powerfully portrayed. The irony of the person playing Mimi being HIV-phobic is mind-boggling.
Riggan notes that directing for dinner theater in Nashville is an issue:
“It’s a different audience than your usual dinner theatre crowd. We knew (putting on the production) was taking a chance… Not doing Hello Dolly or something like that the dinner theatre crowd will come to see.”
"Now, against my better judgment, you will see the two gay male characters kiss and the 'fuck' word is there. We have still cut a number... from the show but I have put up content advisory signs warning people about the other content.”
One source said in response, “I just don’t understand how someone can try to put on a production of Rent and cut all that out. He [Riggan] should have just done this from the beginning. He was missing the opportunity of using the show to educate his audience. Removing everything just enables the ignorance about the issue.”
Personally I agree with the anonymous source: RENT explores love between, well everyone. Cutting the "gay icky bits" from this show in particular seems more than removing a small item; of the three romances in the play, two of them are gay or lesbian.
I have been unable to discover much about community reaction to these tidings, except that in reaction the Nashville Dinner Theater has been removed from the"Dining out for Life" list of participating restaurants. This isn't a small thing. In Nashville the "Dining out for Life" event is a massive fundraiser (probably the 2nd biggest HIV/AIDS fundraiser of the year). Being kicked off the list publically isn't just going to result in noone in the LGBT community going to the Dinner theater that night, but it will mess with attendance by the LGBT community overall.
I think the possible HIV-phobia here is terribly sad, especially since it comes from withing the LGBT community. You expect such phobia from blue-collar crowds, not from actors.
I also encourage you to read the full article. It presents the theatre's defence in more detail. I also know that Riggan has directed HIV actors in the past. But the details in the story sure seem to point to removing an actor because of his HIV status (probably because the actress refused to work with him).