In a new New York production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, the role of stage manager is played by a ninth-grade girl. The director, Jack Cummings III, explained, "I do not believe that audiences would welcome—the way they did [before]—an older white man lecturing to them on the ways of the world with a nod and a wink. The New York Times critic, Anita Gates, added, "That may be true for some audiences, but an older black man or an older black woman could have made that point while maintaining the weight of hard-earned wisdom."

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