I am totally against it.

I'm always against rewriting the playwright's words.

I feel that if you are unable to present a play as written, you should choose a different play that is appropriate for your company/audience. There are thousands and thousands of plays to choose from. Choose one that will work for your group.

... not that I have strong feelings about this or anything 

Well, I believe that the actor should have the reason the word is used to him.  Deriding them as “a nigger an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheep,” she viciously but accurately lays bare the perceptions by which they are ostracized by society. By not using the offensive word, they make her and her prejudices less offensive. I would imagine that he would understand that bigotry and ignorant prejudice is not something we should white wash and make more acceptable for polite company.

It's interesting that is the word that was an issue. Just last night I saw a production of The Meeting, which is a fictional historical meeting between Malcom X and Martin Luther King ... the n-word is thrown and it's like a bomb. There are few words in the English language which have the immediate impact as that word.

In answer to your question, I can only repeat what I wrote in my previous post: I'm always against rewriting the playwright's words. Sometimes that means making tough decisions.

I'm sure your production was wonderful - but imagine the electricity that might have happened when an all-white audience saw a pretty white woman toss that word like a molotov cocktail at a black man on stage.

I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't have done. I can only offer my opinion on the subject presented. I don't mean to offend!

No offense taken, Tristan. I understand your pov and thanks for your post.   It's just that it came down to either take out that word or don't do the show. I had no choice whatsoever from that actor, and I could hardly blame him.

It is also wrong and illegal to speed or to copy a cd, yet these things are done commonly. The world is not black and white. I would rather present a show as tremendous as OF MICE AND MEN with 99.9% of its language intact than to not present it at all. My bet is that Steinbeck would concur.

The high school that I help is in an amazingly conservative town where half the people don't speak English and nearly everyone else is over 60. Though I don't condone the practice-- I try to discourage it--the director often edits language at the request of the Board of Education.

They don't want to choose other productions, either, because to them, most shows in which the language is wholly appropriate draws images of sugar plums and Wizards of Oz.

We decided not to do a production of "Deadwood Dick" because of offensive (racist) language and/or stereotypes.  I'm considering writing a play in which one of the characters uses offensive (politically incorrect e.g. "Oriental" for "Asian" and swearing) language.  I'm planning to write a few different versions of her lines, with different levels of offensive language.

The ethics aside from "is it legal" would depend some on whether the offensive language is "just" characterization (Person A is a bigot, or whatever and talks that way) and one instance of many, or whether a specific word or instance is being used for maximum impact (You know the Sunday School teacher is MAD when she starts cussing).  Of course it's wrong to change the playwright's words without permission.  With some plays, the publisher and playwright are totally willing to give permission to change a specific word or phrase if you ASK.