You are not alone with this problem. One CT I worked with a few years back decided to do "To Kill A Mockingbird"  Though predomintly White there is a fair sized africand american population in the town.  There were none. however, active with the theater.  They tried all sorts of recruitments ideas, (all too late to "develop" a mixed membership) so it truley seemed like, "Hey, how about coming over to do a show, we need some black people"   The major concern for them was finding some one to play Tom Robinson, the accused.  Several people were recruited in, (Some who a member just met a Wendy's that day) given a script, sat through a rehearsal, heard the word, and never were seen again.. They had to order more scripts as they lost SEVEN this way. As great as the show is (as is Mice and Men) you could not get it through peoples head (and that included many of the white cast members) that it was a period peice and the word was necessary to show the hate, bigotry, meaness and racism of the time..  I did enjoy getting to work on such a great classic (I was Atticus) but it just didn't play well when, in the end, ALL of the blacks were played by whites... I wish it had gone differently, because I think it, and peices like it, still have a lot to say to us...  Good luck.

I directed both MOCKINGBIRD and OF MICE AND MEN. For MOCKINGBIRD, the use of the term "nigger" was crucial to the story. We kept it. For OF MICE AND MEN, it was, at best, part of the sub-plot, and not crucial to the story.

We changed the term to "darkie" largely because, like you, our CT is in a lilly white area with few black men willing to participate in community theater and even less willing to be assailed by that term.

The artistic types and purists who follow these threads will, of course, object on the grounds of artistic integrity and legality and playwright intent and all of that. Their pov is well understood ad infinitum.

My guess were Steinbeck to be standing here with the choice of either his work not being presented at all or being presented in it's entirety sans the term "nigger", imho, I believe he would choose the latter.