Small-town censorship?

[derekleffew]

Should a high school be prohibited from doing Rent: School Edition?

From JANE ANN MORRISON: Opponents of 'Rent' production shouldn't restrict all students - News - ReviewJournal.com :

...Principal Jeff Horn has heard from six or seven parents who object to the choice of "Rent," even though the school production eliminates vulgar language and a sexual number called "Contact." Horn refuses to stop the show, so parents are going over his head to see if he can be forced to stop it. The parents' objections, primarily to the homosexuality, hasn't reached the level of the School Board yet, according to board President Terri Janison. ...

On a larger note, what do we think of "School Editions" in general?

[dvsDave]

If a show needs a watered-down version so it can be shown in school.... say no. Just don't do it in the first place.

For instance... My brother, many years ago was in a middle school version of The Music Man. I was a bit miffed they cut out "Sadder But Wiser Girl For Me"

That's the best number of the whole show!! If you've got to cut that out, then just don't do it! I am also against abridged audiobooks, and most movie adaptations as well.

[Footer]

There are two types of school editions. One is edited so High School kids can sing it and it can be put on without a regional theatre budget. I am in favor of those because those shows are what get kids into theatre in the first place. If doing a school/jr version of a popular broadway shows gets 50 more kids to show up at auditions, great. If it gets more people to come see the show then would have if they were doing Charlie's Big Day Out, the Musical!, great.

Do I think Rent, The Producers, Spring Awakening, or Avenue Q should ever be put on a HS stage... No. The shows lose so much with the cutting. I won't even touch into the life experience thing....

When I was in High School the big show to do was The Laramie Project. High schools accross the country were fighting their students to keep this show from going up. We made the push as well and failed. Our district cut us off. It sucked, but looking back after I did the show in college I don't think I would have wanted to do it in a HS setting. The show is to powerful for a 17 year old to do right.

[cprted]

I have no issue with School/Junior editions of shows. Its basically over-the-counter/off-the-shelf dramaturgy. It give schools an opportunity to have their students put on the costumes and sing the big famous numbers. Parents love that stuff. Besides, school plays/musicals are rarely about Art anyway. As Footer says, if it gets bums in seats, kids out to auditions, and hooks a few people on theatre, mission accomplished.

To those who don't like junior versions of classic shows, I trust you're equally appalled by professional theatre companies and festivals that perform Hamlet in an abridged form?

[dvsDave]

Actually I love "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)". It's all 37 plays in 97 minutes.

It's being performed locally next April by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Tix are already sold out

[Footer]

Originally Posted by cprted

To those who don't like junior versions of classic shows, I trust you're equally appalled by professional theatre companies and festivals that perform Hamlet in an abridged form?

Anything that gets my out of the theatre faster when Shakespeare is onstage I am all for. Cut it down to 30 seconds for all I care.

[misterm]

some insight from a theatre teacher whose shows have been censored:

first of all, i take some offense with cprted's comment, "school plays/musicals are rarely about Art anyway". i agree with you that they help out schools though!
there are many high school programs that can do these shows without a hitch. these programs usually are very large, very good, and generally have a large chunk of cash. they often have kids who walk out of their programs and right into very good college programs or even the professional world. if their school system has no problem doing Rent, then ok. after all, it puts the school's name out there and pulls in more money for the school as a whole. SHOULD they do it? i don't know. if the kids are mature enough to handle the material, and if the parents are behind it. trust me, i've seen them in action and they're sometimes better than professionals.
we are not one of those schools. we barely make it by on our budget of $2400 a year and deteriorating auditorium (with dead dimmers, destroyed console, no wingspace, and no sound system). yes, we produce stuff to put buns in seats and bring in more kids to the program. but we still produce art. we may not be the flashiest or the most amazing show you've seen (though we did have the best show in town last spring!), but if one student finds joy in what he is doing and learns a bit more about this artform, art has been created. we have been censored. many times. we cannot use ANY curse words on stage. references to alcohol are limited. but thats not whats appropriate for our community (small town in the middle of the Bible belt) i don't care if the kids use those words everyday and their parents get drunk on the weekends, it reflects badly on the school for us to do those. quite frankly, we do very well for ourselves without doing those things. i've found that some schools do plays like that for "shock value" or to just push the edge for no real reason than to claim it. we love "Jr" versions because our kids don't have the discipline or voices to handle the full thing yet. we're prepping for "Honk, Jr" right now to be performed for the elementary students. we rehearse in class for the next 8 weeks, barely enough time to pull it off. I say yes to school versions of certain shows. they help us little programs to dream big and pull in wider audiences without killing ourselves. however, i agree with footer that certain shows lose their entire meaning with school versions though and should not be done. most of my students have never even heard of these shows anyways! what we consider standards and classics, they see with new eyes and wide open imaginations.
censorship is not an enemy to us. its merely a minor obstacle and guideline we work with because we have to. art will continue without cuss words and alcohol. art is in a student discovering more about himself and about life through this insane machination we call theatre.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by misterm

some insight from a theatre teacher whose shows have been censored:

first of all, i take some offense with cprted's comment, "school plays/musicals are rarely about Art anyway". i agree with you that they help out schools though!
there are many high school programs that can do these shows without a hitch. these programs usually are very large, very good, and generally have a large chunk of cash. they often have kids who walk out of their programs and right into very good college programs or even the professional world. if their school system has no problem doing Rent, then ok. after all, it puts the school's name out there and pulls in more money for the school as a whole. SHOULD they do it? i don't know. if the kids are mature enough to handle the material, and if the parents are behind it. trust me, i've seen them in action and they're sometimes better than professionals.
we are not one of those schools. we barely make it by on our budget of $2400 a year and deteriorating auditorium (with dead dimmers, destroyed console, no wingspace, and no sound system). yes, we produce stuff to put buns in seats and bring in more kids to the program. but we still produce art. we may not be the flashiest or the most amazing show you've seen (though we did have the best show in town last spring!), but if one student finds joy in what he is doing and learns a bit more about this artform, art has been created. we have been censored. many times. we cannot use ANY curse words on stage. references to alcohol are limited. but thats not whats appropriate for our community (small town in the middle of the Bible belt) i don't care if the kids use those words everyday and their parents get drunk on the weekends, it reflects badly on the school for us to do those. quite frankly, we do very well for ourselves without doing those things. i've found that some schools do plays like that for "shock value" or to just push the edge for no real reason than to claim it. we love "Jr" versions because our kids don't have the discipline or voices to handle the full thing yet. we're prepping for "Honk, Jr" right now to be performed for the elementary students. we rehearse in class for the next 8 weeks, barely enough time to pull it off. I say yes to school versions of certain shows. they help us little programs to dream big and pull in wider audiences without killing ourselves. however, i agree with footer that certain shows lose their entire meaning with school versions though and should not be done. most of my students have never even heard of these shows anyways! what we consider standards and classics, they see with new eyes and wide open imaginations.
censorship is not an enemy to us. its merely a minor obstacle and guideline we work with because we have to. art will continue without cuss words and alcohol. art is in a student discovering more about himself and about life through this insane machination we call theatre.

If it makes you feel any better. Even when I was teaching in Atlanta we got emails from people complaining about "****" and "hell" being said onstage. We had a character who was sleeping around.... but it was the language that got them. That to me is the most annoying thing.

[misterm]

we're in GA, as well, so you know how bad it can be.

[waynehoskins]

We did Laramie in college several years back, so when the high school I'm now LDing for did it a couple of years ago, I had to go see it. I was very impressed with both the cutting and the kiddos' talent. They did it well -- perhaps as well as we did in college, and I think with better direction too.

Earlier this month I lit A Few Good Men there as well. Pretty impressive.

As to Rent and Avenue Q, I agree that those probably aren't a good choice for most high school programs. In small conservative towns, you'll run into lots of community and parent opposition. Goodness, there's already enough opposition to Laramie.

I don't like the notion of censorship. If the students are able to handle the material and present it well, I think the school should be allowed to do it. It bothers me that directors in high schools have to cut "offensive" words -- I've seen it done well, but it bothers me that they have to at all. I think the piece should be performed as written, and if you the potential patron can't handle it, nobody's forcing you to go. Maybe we'll get to that level of common sense sometime soon.