Hello denglish4, very true!  Shakespeare also had to employ young boys/men to play the female roles in his plays.  He certainly understood the political whims of his day in order to avoid rotting food being tossed at himself or the actors, incarceration or worse.  The issue that occurred in Edmonton was a blacklash...so to speak...of choosing a female, white skinned actress to play Othello...or perhaps it was a backlash for her time warp adjustment to the futuristic location of the Play.  Either way, it does seem to have been a simple Tempest in a Teapot.