Friday, September 23, 2011
Pa. school pulls 'Kismet' after 9/11 complaints
CBS News: A Pennsylvania school district has decided not to stage a Tony Award-winning musical about a Muslim street poet after community members complained about the timing so soon after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Richland School District in Johnstown had planned to stage "Kismet" in February, but Superintendent Thomas Fleming said Tuesday that it was scrapped to avoid controversy.
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6 comments:
It is really sad that this school district chose not to stage Kismet for fear of inciting controversy. Staging this show would have been a great chance to promote cultural understanding and acceptance. Theatre allows audience members to closely associate with the characters in a show. For this reason, staging Kismet would have given audience members a greater respect and understanding of Islamic culture, perhaps helping to dispel the prevailing myth that Islam is a foreign, violent religion. By choosing not to stage this show, the Pennsylvania school district in question is choosing to perpetuate dangerous cultural myths through ignorance instead of dispelling them with knowledge.
This seems ridiculous to me. The hatred that has ensued in our post-9/11 world is not making this situation any better. Islam does not promote terrorism, and this school district not producing "Kismet" could make it seem like they are placing blame on all of Islam. There are probably Muslims in this community that feel extremely hurt by the choice that this school district has made.
I think this decision is outrageous. Although there was a great fear that the tenth anniversary of the devastating crash of the twin towers would have major repercussions, I feel that by avoiding such a musical with such absurd reasoning, we are inciting even more unreasonable fear. My school's opera workshop actually put on the play Kismet: it was a beautiful show with wonderful music, entertaining, enthralling and something that truly accentuated the beauty of the Islamic culture. Tickets were sold out! I agree with Margaret that it was actually a mistake for the district to pull the show: not just because it would have actually instilled within the audience a new perspective on a culture that is so unfairly and unjustly condemned, but also in truth that the show is a marvelous piece of theater and would have been a great success.
Stupid. Theatre is supposed to reflect social and cultural issues... thats what our industry is built on. If it was my way I would put on a show ABOUT 9/11 from the muslim perspective because i feel like that is what were supposed to do. Theatre for ages has been criticizing society and its flaws rather than going along with its ignorance. Ignoring cultural and social issues in the theatre sounds like a giant paradox. It is a shame the students at the school will not gain the cultural experience they could have from putting on such a show at such a perfect time.
It's so sad when schools back down from creating controversy. While I understand that it is often better for the students and school district to not creating too much controversy, it is also great for the students to learn about the material that is of a different perspective.
I don't think that schools should censor their productions because they think they might upset people. If they wanna do a show they should. Theatre should incite discussion, it's not supposed to be fluff. It should get people to think.
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