Ana Mota performs in another school play.
Seymore won’t be feeding anyone at Grande Prairie high school, as administrators cancelled their production of Little Shop of Horrors after a female landed the starring role of Seymore, a male character.
Senate Bill 12 went into effect last September, prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion in Texas public and charter schools.
17-year old Ana Mota, through her parents, filed suit October 26 against the Grand Prairie Independent School District and Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
In her suit, Mota says she is not a transgender and has participated in theater throughout her middle-school and high-school years, portraying both female and male roles. On Oct. 1, she landed the role of Seymour.
A week after rehearsals began, she was told she couldn’t play Seymour because she is female and later learned school administrators raised concerns over the casting because of SB 12.
“GPISD offered Ana (Mota) a shared role as Audrey, a female character in the play,” the suit states. “Ana declined that reassignment because she had not auditioned for or been selected to play Audrey, she did not wish to displace another student, and she wished to preserve the casting decision reached through the audition process.
“GPISD then canceled the entire production of Little Shop of Horrors.”
According to the suit, GPISD removed Mota from the role because she was a female student portraying a male character who develops a romantic relationship with a female character, which may not comply with SB 12.
Mota maintains none of the substantive provisions of SB 12 contains an express prohibition on cross-sex casting in theatrical productions, and that the law contains no text that can reasonably be read to require an actor’s biological sex to match the sex of a fictional scripted character.
“Ana was denied participation in and the benefits of GPISD’s educational theater program… because she is female,” the suit states, adding that the district’s decision to replace the play with Frozen did not cure the sex-based exclusion.
Mota is seeking a declaration that GPISD violated Title IX by excluding her because of her sex and is seeking an award of compensatory damages.
Winocour Law in Dallas represents her.
Case No. 3:26-cv-3752
