Child Actor Ethics

Many plays with adult themes involve a child character in order to help present controversial issues. Little is written, however, concerning the ethics surrounding the involvement of children in adult-themed plays, and there is no formal code or guide for theatre companies to follow when choosing to work with a young actor on one of these complicated scripts. There is little dispute that children have a strong effect on an audience when they appear onstage, but the argument as to how a child actor might be adversely affected by their participation has not been fully explored. The focus of this study is on four different case studies of children involved in regional theatre productions of plays with different adult themes, such as war, death, sex, and violence. From these observations, I propose an effective guide for theatre companies to use when involving a child actor in an adult-themed play.