However the drama club at Danville Area High School was set to perform the "School Edition" of the show. It's an adaptation that "maintains the dramatic intention and integrity of the piece, while editing it to make it more appropriate for high school audiences and performers", according to Music Theatre International's(MTI) website.
8 comments:
Know your audience and school before you tell the students! This article is so saddening as well as familiar. Last spring, my high school, HSPVA, began rehearsals for Clybourne Park. Not the UIL "abbreviated" version and none of the adult content cut, seeing as Bruce Norris's publishers do not allow alterations. The show had been announced the previous fall after approval by all 7 theatre faculty and principal oversight. When news came of the announcement, we were all so excited. Year previous we had taken on similar content productions: Avenue Q (school edition), Rent, Raisin in the Sun, Red. This was different though, this was finally content that we thought would really effect our audience and have an impact on our community. 3 weeks into rehearsal we found out that upon further review, the show could not be performed. It was extremely disheartening, especially because we had already finished the set and costumes. If it had been addressed the year before, why hadn't it been more closely looked at it then. In the rush to produce a season list, I would urge high schools to really make sure you are committed to it.
First off, if you censor Avenue Q to the point of political correctness, you are left with Sesame Street. At that point, you’ve altered the script so much it doesn’t retain the integrity or purpose of the original script. So this raises two questions, should the show remain uncensored to maintain the original playwright’s intent, or should the show never have been produced by the high school in the first place?
If they performed this show as it was originally written, they would, obviously, have a lot of backlash from the community regarding the content and, specifically the age and maturity of the performers presenting this content. However, they would be following in the Avenue Q tradition of purposely putting on a show that elicits strong reactions.
If they hadn’t picked this show to perform in the first place, they would’ve avoided quite a lot of backlash but at the same time, letting the community dictate what is appropriate to perform on stage. As we all know, good theater is not about following rules or playing it safe.
I'm very surprised, first off, that MTI even produces a "censored" version of the show--part of its appeal, as well as the point of the show is that it's depressed puppets saying vulgar stuff onstage. If you remove that, the piece if not only far less enjoyable, it also completely ruins the point of the piece to begin with. I agree with Cosette, once you do that, it's basically sesame street onstage. But regardless, the school should have known the content of the show to begin with. I'm sure they read the script before they bought the rights, so why is it only in the middle of the process that someone actually thought it through and ran it by the principal? It just seems lame and would also be upsetting for the students involved to have it all of a sudden cancelled because the people in charge didn't realize or consider the content of the show.
When a school approves a show it should be understood what the material that is going to be performed. If the school approves of a show they should not back down on their word. Obviously if your school is doing Avenue Q you have to understand that this show is not going to be at all family-friendly. If the school was so worried about the material they should not have approved it to begin with. Another horrible statement was that it wasn't the material they were worried about, they just want the money for there big renvovation and were worried that the back lash would be bad. If they were so worried they should have never chosen this show. It was quoted that the principal would eventually do this show. If they do not have a problem with this, they should just perform it now. Also it said that the theater director resigned because of this. Sadly a working theater director is no longer working because of this issue. In the future I hope the school looks at the material ahead of time and decide if it is of the school and community standards before rehearsals being.
I would agree and understand either highschools choice to cancel the show if it was the original uncensored version of the show because I agree while I love the original it's mostly likely not appropriate for younger audiences. That being said they were going to put on a censored version of the show that is approved by MTI that as stated above makes the show resemble Semame Street more so than the original Avenue Q. Also the statement that the school would be open to doing the show in the future but just not now due to their concerns that it would affect their financial streams that would go towards school facility improvements, just strikes me as insulting. First you are saying that you can't preform a play that is basically a semi- risqué Sesame Street, but to also add salt to that wound you say it's fine we may let others in the future do the show. And while I can rationalize the school's to an extent it is still a choice that I can find myself surpporting.
I think the Administrator of the School here is being shamed unnecessarily. Mind you, I absolutely feel he should of never approved a production of Avenue Q to begin with if he thought the material was a bit too crass, however, I think his ultimate goal is to protect the school's grant for the better auditorium and other funding. People can just complain to complain and people can complain about the stupidest shit (I would know) so I certainly understand him wanting to safeguard the betterment of his school overall instead of just protect the Drama Club. (Seriously, stop being so dramatic, Drama Club) Isn't the Principal ultimately protecting the arts even more by keeping the grant up so they have better spaces to learn and practice the arts instead? He isn't trying to censor anything. He is just eliminating a potential production (lol pick another there are plenty) that could cause a shit storm on him and the arts. -- YES, the themes explored in Avenue Q are outside and inside of the High School anyways, but why risk it? I stand behind the Principal on this one entirely.
Okay well literally who would ever thing Avenue Q is an appropriate musical to put on at a school? The show has a song entitled "The Internet is for Porn." Do you really want a dozen high schoolers singing that to their friends and family? I'm all here for the exploration of where the line is for what is appropriate or not for high school theatre but this is so far beyond. I appreciate the show as a whole - I think it has a strong message and the songs are damn catchy - but I really do not think this should be perfomed at a high school. I feel like there was an article similar to this one last year about Spring Awakening or something like that being considered for a high school and then being shut down. I also agreed with that one because, again, I love the show, but I am not sure if a bunch of parents want to watch their kids simulate sex onstage and sing about jerking off. I know in this case, the show was censored and edited to make it appropriate, but at that point why bother? It's not the show anymore.
I'm not going to argue whether or whether not Avenue Q is an appropriate musical to put on in a High School (even though I'd say sure why not) but the community, audience, and feasibility of putting on this show should all be considered during the early production and conceptualization phases to avoid canceling the show halfway through its run. I don't know what took so long to make the principal realize that the show might not be too cool for a HS production--maybe they had to see it to really see the scope. But, what I think is even worse and produces a tremendous amount of cringe, is when these schools will edit the show in order to lessen the mature content and practically completely rewrite the show. Avenue Q isn't Avenue Q if you take away the adult humor because that's the way it was written in order to have that certain effect. As the wonderful Cosette wrote, "if you censor Avenue Q...you are left with Sesame Street." I agree with the article because this type of censorship does limit creative freedom for the future productions and generations of students going to that school. Many ideas can't be realized now because of restrictions by administration that PROBABLY consists of people who don't understand the art.
Post a Comment