In a high school play depicting the ills of racism, Allison Zionts passionately portrayed an angry anti-Semitic woman. This despite the fact she's Jewish.

	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette
	Sarah Ewal-Wice, Stephanie Cryor and Mallory Milsak practice "My Strongest Suit" during rehearsal for "Aida" at CAPA High School, Downtown.

"I knew I had a great responsibility to play the role with emotion even though [the character] Mrs. Phagan's feelings were not my own," said Allison, of Point Breeze, a senior at Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

Some black parents had complained about the negative portrayal of black students working on prison chain gangs in last spring's performance of "Parade." But Allison's role in the same play was applauded by members of the Jewish community.

Their mixed reactions highlight the sensitivity of race and ethnicity in some school productions and the delicate balance theater directors must sometimes weigh, especially when a show has strong racial themes and the actors are playing nontraditional roles.

Those roles, while more challenging to perform, are far more common in high school theaters today.

This "nontraditional casting" that high schools are using allows actors to take on roles in which actors are given roles regardless of their race, ethnicity or even gender.

It offers a rainbow jumble where, say, parents of one race may be portrayed as having children of several other races.

While it's been an ongoing debate on Broadway for at least two decades, nontraditional casting has been a hotly debated topic in high school theaters, too.

Supporters of nontraditional casting argue that actors can play any role. Critics say it is important to keep the color or cultural background of the actor the same as the character was originally written to avoid violating the playwright's vision.

Unlike professional theater, public school productions have a limited pool of performers and a responsibility to provide a learning opportunity for talented students who want to participate in a play.

"This was not just a play," said Allison's mother, Nancy Zionts, referring to "Parade." "It was an educational experience, and that is what we should expect from a high school."

The support for nontraditional casting always has far outweighed the disapproval, said Mindy Rossi-Stabler, theater department coordinator at CAPA.

"In the past, I've always color-blinded my shows. I did "The Apple Tree" and cast Adam as a black man and Eve as a white woman. Now we're doing "Aida" with white Nubians and black Egyptians. It's a colorblind cast, a checkerboard of characters."

Also called open casting, minority casting, or colorblind casting, nontraditional casting usually refers to nonwhite actors playing traditionally white roles. Not too many theaters will try to cast white actors in some black roles because of the possible association with blackface minstrels, a painful reminder of racism in the history of American theater.

"We're open to colorblind casting. The emphasis is on finding talented students," said Michael Peitz, executive director of the Educational Theater Association in Cincinnati, a national organization for theater teachers.

He acknowledged, however, that some plays work easily with colorblind casts, but it might not be as effective to put a white actor in "A Raisin in the Sun" or cast a black Iago in "Othello."

Jillian Woodruff made local headlines in 1995 while she was a student at North Allegheny High School and complained about being denied a role in the school play "Little Women" because she is black and the director wanted an entirely white cast.

"I still remember the awful things that were said about me 10 years ago," said Dr. Woodruff, now at the Cornell University Weill Medical College. "I remember riding in the car on the way to school listening to a radio call-in show. One caller remarked that they shouldn't let black kids even try out for plays. Another caller remarked that I must be a spoiled rich kid and I didn't deserve to be in a play.

But, she said, that episode didn't ruin her entire high school experience.

"To this day, I have a group of friends that are still my best friends. We have celebrated college graduations, weddings and births together."

Walter Sieminski, assistant principal at North Allegheny Senior High School, said the "Little Women" controversy spurred a number of changes within the district, which created a diversity committee, staff development and greater awareness of diversity issues in the district.

"There's a greater sensitivity to nontraditional casting since then, but that's not to say it wasn't there before," Mr. Sieminski said. "There's definitely a conscious effort to be extremely sensitive to all students when they audition for anything: theater, sports or cheerleading."

Local examples of nontraditional casting in high school plays include an upcoming production of "The Wiz" at Allderdice High School that has the roles of Dorothy and Uncle Henry being played by African-American students. Aunt Em is played by a white student.

Too often, though, in high school plays the challenge is to find enough minority students to participate.

That's the predicament Allderdice High School play director Bernadine Srocki recently faced while casting "The Wiz," the African-American version of the Wizard of Oz.

"I had actually hoped to draw in more African-American students by doing 'The Wiz' and I was a bit disappointed it wasn't as well-taken as I'd hoped," said Ms. Srocki.

About 60 percent of the cast of 50 is white.

"I think so many students are involved in so many activities and the concern for several was the time commitment," Ms. Srocki said.

"We never cut anybody out. Anybody who wants to be a part of it, I find a place for them. I try to be all-inclusive.

"I look for students who'd benefit from something like this, who wouldn't ordinarily be involved in activities like this to draw them out."