Grand Prairie ISD canceled an upcoming high school play over fears that a girl playing the lead role — which is a male character — would violate Texas law.
But which Texas law it violates has become a matter of dispute.
In an audio recording obtained by KERA News, someone identified as a district representative tells the student the play would be scrapped because of concerns about public backlash.
Ana Mota, a 17-year-old senior, was set to play Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors” at South Grand Prairie High School after four days of auditioning.
But last week on Oct. 6, her teacher told her the district was concerned about the casting due to Texas Senate Bill 12.
She was told she would instead have to share a female role with another student while a male student would play Seymour, Mota told KERA.
“I earned this role, and I went through the same process as everyone else did. And, ultimately, I was decided to be the best fit for the role,” Mota said. “And then the district took that away from me.”
Two days later on Oct. 8, Mota and her mother were told during a meeting with the district’s executive director of fine arts and the high school’s area chief the play would be scrapped and replaced.
A spokesperson for the district told KERA in a statement Tuesday the play was pulled to comply with state law.
“Recently, a casting decision was made to place a female student in the role of a male character in the school musical,” the statement read. “In the musical, a romantic relationship develops between the two main characters. When District leadership learned of this issue and in consideration of themes in the musical involving an abusive relationship, a decision was made to pull that production and find something more appropriate. This decision was made in light of the District’s ongoing effort to ensure its programs remain consistent with Senate Bill 12 and all applicable law.”
Mota, who’s played male characters before, said she wants to play the role she worked hard to get.
“I don’t think that was a compromise at all,” Mota said. “It felt more like a punishment.”
Mota and her mother, Nancy Jimenez, both said they feel what happened was a violation of Title IX – a federal law that protects students from being discriminated against for their sex.
“Our freedoms are being trampled by a few people that are scared about anything inspiring feelings of LGBTQ or anything to that matter,” Jimenez said. “And the freedoms of my daughter are not going to be curtailed because of fear. We have constitutional freedoms that are granted to us.”
Two laws, one name
The district says it’s just complying with Texas Senate Bill 12. Here’s where things get complicated: There are two laws known as Senate Bill 12 that address schools.
Mota and her mother believe the play was being removed for the 2023 version of SB 12, which bans sexually oriented performances on public property or in a space where minors are expected to be. It’s commonly been interpreted as a ban on drag performances.
A federal judge ruled in August that law is unconstitutional and violates the first amendment for being overly broad. Attorney General Ken Paxton was permanently barred from enforcing the law, although he has appealed that order.
But a spokesperson for the district told KERA it was actually complying with the 2025 version of SB 12 — a separate bill that limits LGBTQ+ student clubs and diversity hiring.
That contradicts what Mota and her mother were originally told.
An audio recording of the Oct. 8 meeting Mota shared with KERA News shows she and the district representatives — Suszy Meyer, area chief for the high school, and Lance Morse, executive director of fine arts — talked about the 2023 bill.
“Dr. Meyer misspoke,” the district spokesperson told KERA News in an email. “It’s SB 12 (2025).”
It’s unclear why the 2025 bill would prevent Mota from acting as a male character. The district did not reply to several emails from KERA News asking which specific part of that law it was complying with.
And while school plays in Texas have caused controversy before, KERA News could not find an instance of a school district removing a play due to the 2025 version of SB 12.
Chloe Kempf, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, told KERA News neither law should apply in Mota’s case.
“No matter what state law is on the table that we’re talking about, federal law and the Constitution strongly prohibit gender discrimination like it appears that we are seeing in this case,” Kempf said. “And they would trump any applicable state law.”
The 2025 SB 12 has been temporarily blocked in three school districts — Houston, Plano and Katy — but is still enforceable in all other districts.
Kempf said the ACLU has seen districts walk back decisions similar to Mota’s case.
“That wasn’t necessarily due to lawsuits, it was due to the public, students, and parents and community members speaking up,” she said. “So I think that’s one thing that I would hope to see in this case as well.”
Avoiding backlash
Meyer, the high school’s area chief, said during the meeting they removed the play to “err on the side of caution.”
“It’s not the environment we created, it’s the environment in which we have to work,” Meyer said. “We talked about I think for a minute changing the whole play, but then the timeline came in.”
She also said there’s been little guidance on how to navigate the law.
“I don’t think any school district has been given any direction about disregarding Senate Bill 12,” Meyer said during the meeting. “And if we had been, we would not have made this decision.”
The recording shows the two were worried about backlash from the public and the state despite feeling sympathetic for Mota.
“We’re picturing at the same time certain political factions, I mean, protesting the show and picketing,” Morse, the district’s fine arts director, said. “It could become a huge deal.”
The meeting ran for over 40 minutes, with Mota directly expressing that she didn’t want a new play.
“I would love to see the concept of a female Seymour on a professional stage,” Morse said.
“But not in a public school,” Meyer added. “Yeah, we can’t do that, unfortunately.”
Dylan Duke is KERA’s breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan at dduke@kera.org.
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