Have Mercy: Was Crown’s New Ending a Political Statement?

Designing a show takes months of intense planning.

Program coordinators spend countless hours putting together show concepts that allow for proper storytelling. As a show is fielded, it starts to come to life. And like any living organism, it will go through numerous changes over the course of its life. Many times those changes may come as a reaction to scores, judges’ critiques, fan response, and/or performer injuries.

Carolina Crown has shown a unique ability to make late season changes. In the 2015 season, following a 3rd place finish at the San Antonio Regional, Crown made their move. They rewrote a significant portion of the drill and added a large fly-over of gold fabric to book-end their opening impact.

The change lead to an immediate jump in scores and placement. They won the Atlanta Regional a week later. At the World Championships, Crown won Prelims and Semifinals, but fell just short to the Blue Devils, finishing second overall for the season. 

But this isn’t just about the changes they made to their 2016 production, Relentless. Was it just a change for the competition? Or was it more? Was is a political statement? Maybe it was a reactionary move based on sentiments from the marching arts community.

Setting the stage in the first minutes of the show, Carolina Crown’s performers simulate the robbery and killing of a stagecoach driver in the old west. A member of Crown’s hornline dons a leather trench coat and weather-worn cowboy hat, steals a rifle from a colorguard member, and climbs on top of the stage-coach prop. After a brief exchange with another guard member dressed like an old man, the robber simulates shooting the driver who is begging for his life. 

To find resolution at the end of the show, the old man’s son is able to catch up with his father’s killer. After a brief fight, the son gains the upper hand on the robber and is able to secure a rifle, setting up the climactic moment in the show.

What happens next is where the biggest change comes into play.

At the show in the San Antonio, once the son gained the upper hand at the end of the show, he shot the robber.

But after that regional event, a change was made so that a female character steps between the end of the rifle and the kneeling robber. She expresses the idea that mercy should be given to the robber. The son agrees. Rather than killing the robber, he is arrested and thrown into the stage coach.

There are a few theories behind why the change was made. Was this planned all along from the show designers, knowing they would eventually spare the robber? Were the changes a reaction to the very real political landscape regarding gun violence? Or was it changed due to a negative reaction from fans and parents of the simulated killings?