Kentucky School District Cancels Ragtime then Reneges

Students at the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) in Louisville, KY, were told on August 24 that their upcoming production of Ragtime was being cancelled due to community concerns about the musical’s subject matter and language. They quickly produced a video appeal on a new Instagram account, Save Ragtime 502, asking that the school district reconsider.

In less than 24 hours, the video received over one million views on Instagram and TikTok, garnering support from Broadway luminaries such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Chenoweth as well as Ben Levi Ross and Tony winner Joshua Henry, both of whom had starred in the recent revival of the musical about Black, immigrant, and wealthy white families pursuing the American dream at the dawn of the 20^th century.

"We know we needed to do something..."

Three days later, on Aug. 27, district officials  for the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) announced that performances of Ragtime would proceed as scheduled after all. It was all a result of “miscommunication… [while] due diligence was still being done” JCPS board member Taylor Everett wrote on a Facebook post.

Due to “the realities of its historical setting, some of the language and subject matter include terms and references that may be sensitive or difficult for some audience members,” Everett told Playbill. “The goal was not to prevent students from participating…. Once that due diligence was done, the district would have told them to move forward.”

The subject matter of Ragtime could be provocative in Louisville, where racial tensions spiked in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of Breonna Taylor by police during a drug raid gone horribly wrong. “When we heard that the district felt like [Ragtime] would potentially upset members of our community,” Jeremiah Stephens, a YPAS senior who plays Coalhouse Walker, Jr., told Playbill, “we were confused…. We felt like that this would be a healing and a teaching experience for people in our community." Students had been working on the show for over a year.

It appears that for one important constituency, that  “miscommunication” that led to the initial kerfuffle is ongoing. “No one from the district or JCPS has come to us or spoken to us directly," Stephens reports. “We just want the community to know that… we had clear instructions to shut down the production…. And with receiving that information, we knew we needed to do something."

Meanwhile, the students at YPAS have received heartening messages from Ragtime's creators Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, as well as Tom Kirdahy, producer of the recent revival. “We hope… that you will make this Ragtime entirely your own,” the trio wrote. “We are enormously proud of you, we are cheering you on, and we cannot wait to see what you create together."

On Friday, the students of Ragtime posted a new video celebrating the news that their production was continuing. They concluded with a message: "Let this be proof that no matter how small you think you are, speaking up for what you love can take you far and create a lasting change in your community!"

Playbill