The topic is yet another idiot public school administrator
shutting down a high school theatre production because he appears to have
neither the brains nor the spine of the average earthworm. This one involves the suppression of the
musical Between the Lines at Mississinewa High School in Gas City, Indiana, a fortnight before the scheduled opening.
Curmie got his first teaching gig at a small church-related
college in the Bible Belt. His
predecessor had been fired (or pressured to resign) in part, at least, for staging
a play that someone considered objectionable.
Curmie is reliably informed that the people presumed to have been so
horribly offended by the show enjoyed it immensely while actually in the
theatre, then put on their public faces and were utterly horrified that actresses were briefly seen in undergarments. Censors are often hypocrites.
All of Curmie’s choices for productions at that school were
reviewed by a committee prior to contracting for production rights. Those meetings were brief, and Curmie got the
distinct impression that they were intended to protect him rather than to limit
him: a couple of tenured faculty signed off on Curmie’s choices (they always
approved whatever Curmie proposed), and they appeared ready to take the heat
should anything arise. (It’s also true
that Curmie’s predecessor allegedly did some things that might have
legitimately merited dismissal, and this kerfuffle may have been a way for the
college to save face.)
Why mention this here? Because, if you’re even tempted to censor theatre productions, establishing such a committee or some other form of review before a season is finalized was what should have happened at Mississinewa High, and what Superintendent Jeremy Fewell has proclaimed will happen in the future. (Insert reference to shutting barn doors here.) Curmie has made this point repeatedly in the past: no high school theatre teacher is authorized to spend the hundreds or (more likely) thousands of dollars to pay for royalties and script rentals for a musical. Those checks are authorized by an administrator—a principal or superintendent. One might reasonably suggest that competent people would know what they’re buying. These folks, Fewell and Principal Rachel Roesch, don’t pass that test, and those who suffer for their sloth are the high school students involved in the production. Nothing to see here; move along.
The foregoing, of course, is based on the presumption that
there is something in the script, even as bowdlerized, that merits
censorship. This is, of course, a risky
proposition at best. The point here is
that even if there was something problematic about the script, the time
to make that point is before you’ve spent thousands of dollars on scripts,
royalties, costumes, sets, publicity, etc. (it’s possible the leasing agency
might refund the royalties, but not the script and score rentals), and before staff and
students have spent thousands of person-hours in rehearsals and the
tech shops. If you’re going to be a
censorial asshat, at least be timely about it.
Curmie doesn’t know the show, so it’s possible that Fewell
might have had a point had he raised concerns months ago. Curmie doubts it, but it’s possible. Still, what seems to be emerging in
commentary from the students’ parents is that references to sexuality and
alcohol use are being used as cover for the real problem: one of the characters
is (GASP!) non-binary. Curmie
can’t improve on the commentary of Jodi Picoult,
who wrote the book on which the musical is based:
Received this devastating news yesterday while I was literally in the West End at the premiere of another musical I wrote - The Book Thief - which is all about censorship and fascism. The irony was not lost on me. This Indiana school already was granted permission through licensing to make changes to the script, but a single parent still complained about the existence of a non-binary character (whose gender orientation is not even explicitly mentioned) and the superintendent cancelled the show after kids had put in hundreds of hours of rehearsals. Censorship in America has spilled from books into theater. When one person decides for others what is appropriate, we have lost freedom of expression. Worst - this show is NOT explicit. It’s been performed by hundreds of school groups. The message it offers: Live the story you want if it’s not the story you’re in. Perhaps this objecting parent can explain to me what, exactly, is so wrong about that?
One trusts that Ms. Picoult is not really waiting for an
answer to that question, as the parent in question will almost assuredly remain
cravenly anonymous. That’s how the
system works, after all. One loud-mouthed
parent (or in some cases not even a parent) and a spineless administrator is
all it takes. Curmie has written about
this phenomenon several times. Here’s most
of one paragraph from one of those instances.
As a class, these people [school administrators] are far more fond of rules than of thinking, and their one unifying characteristic is risk aversion on steroids: a single dissenting voice (from anyone other than a student or teacher, of course) sends them scurrying for cover like cockroaches when the lights come on. They’re also, of course, the very people who at least de facto approved that show when scripts and royalties were ordered, and in many cases insisted on being consulted on the choice of show… then, they are shocked!, to an extent that hitherto only Claude Rains in “Casablanca” had ever been shocked, that a character is wearing a short skirt or drinking a fake martini or says he has two dads.
...or doesn’t conform to someone’s idea of what gender identity
ought to look like. It’s fine to have Nazis in The Sound of Music or gang members in West Side Story. It’s even acceptable to have an actress play
the title role in Peter Pan or for Luther Billis to cross-dress in South
Pacific. That’s because there’s no
attempt to suggest that what is being presented on stage is in any way
reflective of reality: Peter is a magical character; Billis isn’t trying to
convince anyone he’s really female. But
suggest that a young character, especially (OMG!) one who is treated
sympathetically, might be… you know… <whispers> non-binary, and the
pearls will never have been clutched quite so hard.
Adults who object to a particular play have an easy
recourse: not buying a ticket. Parents can pull their own children from the show.
It’s not fair to the kids, who have put in dozens if not hundreds of
hours of work, but parents are entitled to act like parents. They can even try to convince their friends
not to attend. Preventing other people from seeing the show, or other kids from participating in it, is a different matter, and the problems had damned well better be objectively egregious. Curmie
There is a special kind of narcissism that accompanies these
censorial outbursts. Curmie has mentioned several times that sometimes he
just isn’t the target audience: not for Dog
Sees God, not for Taylor
Swift, for example. And you know what? That’s just fine.
Not a lot of people are big fans of Václav Havel or Warren Zevon, but
Curmie is. You do you, Gentle Reader, and let me do me. Different
strokes for different folks, and all that. But to the censorial
mindset, one’s personal tastes, interests, and value systems ought to be
imposed on everyone, and those who disagree are attempting to infect America’s
youth with their poisonous ideologies. Curmie calls bullshit on that, and
suspects that you wouldn’t be here, Gentle Reader, if you didn’t agree with
him.
The censorship here isn’t about protecting kids from growing
up too fast. Curmie isn’t telling you
anything you don’t already know in suggesting that high
schoolers have already been exposed to sex and alcohol and both the allures and
the dangers of both. Curmie knew some
non-binary schoolmates when he was in high school fifty-something years ago,
but he didn’t “knowingly know” them; that is, today’s kids can be more open
about their identities now. Curmie
thinks that’s a good thing. What he
knows (as opposed to merely thinks) is that non-binary people exist. Denying that basic fact is not merely
bigoted; it is an attack on reality itself.
We can hope that the students involved in the production of Between
the Lines will be able to mount their show independently of the school, as
those kids at Santa Rosa High did with Dog Sees God. But sometimes
those arrangements can’t be made, and Curmie isn’t blaming the students or
their directors a bit if the show just doesn’t happen now. Idiots like Jeremy Fewell have a lot to
answer for, either way.
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