OnStage: Today it was reported that a California High School has decided to shut down a student directed production of Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit". The students had already performed the show once but the rest of the performances were cancelled just hours before their second show.
11 comments:
This report began relatively formal and then turned into a post with a personal, colloquial tone, which threw me off a lot. I didn’t realize it was going to be an opinion piece. Regardless, the content of the piece is disturbing, especially from a state as liberal as California. I have admittedly grown up in a pretty liberal bubble, so I am naturally inclined to be angry about the fact that the parents put a stop to the performances because of a lesbian character (and only because of the lesbian character – not even the explicit content that the article mentioned the play contains). I also agree with Peterson about how it is odd that the school district has no issues with the class reading “No Exit”, but is suddenly not ok once the play is being performed. Situations like these are unfortunately beginning to become the norm, though – I almost don’t feel as angry as I used to because I’m more concerned about the fact that there are still so many instances of homophobia despite the recent successes that the LGBTQ community has achieved, including marriage equality. I wish we could live in a more perfect world, but we need to stop assuming that just because the Supreme Court sided with love, love has won across the nation. The result of the 2016 presidential election shows that there are still a large number of people out in the United States with more conservative views, and we liberals really need to stop blaming them or hating them – rather, we need to figure out the causes of our differences and try to settle them, one school district at a time.
This article speaks especially to me as I came from a high school that censored a performance mid-production due to homosexual content. The idea that this has happened to other school’s besides my own hurts me more than the news that all my hard work was for nothing just two years ago. A portion of this article enraged me the most and that is the reason given for cancelling the show: “That our audience doesn't approve of homosexuality, and we should be playing to our audience.” The idea that in theatre we should only provide content that is familiar to our audience is both wrong and ridiculous. Theatre is about presenting new ideas and new point of views on new topics. What word is in common in that statement? NEW. If new work does not challenge the thoughts and morals of our audience then we are not promoting the purpose of theatre which is to incite change and thought on the whats and whys of life. For that reason I think it is ridiculous that these Californian high schoolers’ show was taken away from them.
When the author says that "This is exactly the time when cowardly decisions like this, cannot happen." He is obviously talking not just about this being the 21st century, but specifically during our current presidency. Donald Trump has promised to sign a law that will effectively legalize discrimination against LGBTQ+ people by businesses, landlords, employers, and more, if (when) that law passes congress. He is doing this in the name of "religious freedom.” This is a moment in history when honestly the safest course of action might be for LGBTQ+ to hide, to retreat back into the closet. But if the government wants to erase this community and push them to the margins where they can ignore them, then we must teach young LGBTQ+ people must to be loud and proud of who they are and impossible to ignore. We can't do that by cancelling a play because it has gay themes. That is telling these young people exactly what the Trump administration wants them to believe: that if part of who you are is not something the people in power (the government, the school supervisors, the audience) want to see then you must hide it in fear.
This is enraging, and goes along well with an article I read recently about a high school censoring parts of "Ragtime" because of offensive language that was part of the original script. While these both may be offensive to some audiences, it does an immense disservice to the audience (or in the case of this production of "No Exit", the potential audience). By censoring offensive language in "Ragtime," all that company is doing is preventing the audience, and in many ways the cast and production team from fully understanding the history behind the show.
What bothers me in the case of "No Exit," the theatre group said they censored it because it would be difficult for parents to explain to young children the lesbian relationship in the show. First of all, of all the content in "No Exit," lesbianism has to be the least inflammatory. If I'm recalling from 11th grade french class correctly, the characters are all in hell, and they all describe the horrible deeds that got them there. While it may be hard to explain to your young child the lesbianism in the play, I don't understand why in the first place a young child who doesn't understand that gay people exist would be at an incredibly dark existentialist play. And second of all, there shouldn't be a bad connotation with explaining homosexuality to children--it should be treated like any other type of love. Censorship helps nobody, and it is upsetting to see young people's theatre opportunities limited because of one or two people who are offended. Theatre should provoke a reaction--if not what's the point?
I saw this article come up on my Facebook feed recently, and re reading it again is just as saddening. So many things were wrong that lead it in the end to be shut down, which is terrible in itself. No Exit is really a typical high school show, and its so sad that it was this show, this piece of text that went through and had this happen, it's not very explicit and it really doesn't push many boundaries in comparison to other works. I could go on and on like my peers did above me about how this is limiting students opportunities, censorship, destroying the point of art (which I totally agree with!) But honestly, I'm done having to say that, administrations will stop what they don't like. Parents will complain and end what they don't think is appropriate. It has happened, and it sure will continue to happen - on a variety of subjects and about many different things. Students and almost adults need to start taking this as an opportunity, if the school board doesn't let you put on the show, find somewhere else to do it. Maybe there is a community theater nearby that they could have talked to and found another place to put on the show. Or, do it outside, record it and put that on the internet. So many articles are about how people get shut down and we all feel angry/sad about it, but now that is just one of a million. So if it is something you believe in and someone says no, then find someone who will say yes, or you say yes.
This situation reminds me a lot of something that happened at my high school. During student body elections a student decided to run as a fascist dictator character. I think it was mostly as a joke, though he may have been trying to make a statement of some kind. The administration read his speech, saw him read/perform it in the rehearsal, and then let him give the speech during the assembly. Of course, people complained, obviously what he did was going to be controversial, and as a response admin removed him as a candidate from the election and required him to apologize on the announcements the next morning.
Now, the situation regarding “No Exit” obviously isn’t the same. Quite frankly, it sounds like the school administration has a lot less ground to stand on when it comes to forcing the students to cancel “No Exit” than they did in the situation at my school. However, what both situations have in common is that the administration made a decision and then went back on it as soon as they faced any complaints. I don’t see this as an acceptable decision. Anyone can complain about anything, that doesn’t mean the school should just give in. If they’ve made the decision that this play is okay to produce (and I see no reason why they shouldn’t) they should stand by that decision. Otherwise they are sending an even worse message to their students than if they’d rejected the play in the first place. Not only are they now telling their students that they don’t think it is important to stand up for LGBTQ+ people by allowing them to be represented onstage, they are setting an example of caving in the face of dissent.
Not only is it just purely disappointing and saddening to see a play stopped mid-production, but the reasons behind this decision is what makes the contents of this article so frankly irritating. Especially when the main claim in the argument for shutting down the production was the fact that parent's would have to explain the concept of a couple of the same sex along with the supporting fact of disagreeing with the sexuality for religious reasons despite the fact that the entire plot line of this play revolves around the fact that the main characters have committed great sin and are currently coming to terms with the fact that they are now residing in hell. What I find interesting in this article is the word choice of how the parents are concerned for their "children." The article constantly uses the term "children" yet the play was supposed to be performed at a high school. How could you argue the need to censor this from your child when that child is about to be living on their own in the "real world" in probably less than 3 years? This argument of stopping the production for this reason is especially puzzling when considering the fact that while "No Exit" wasn't allowed to be performed for the sake of the children, it is, however, approved for reading in English class. The point of theatre is to educate and expose new thought through story, and it's gravely disheartening to see that process stopped by a weak argument for the sake of not wanting to break a comfort zone.
This is completely unacceptable on so many levels. First of all, saying that a play contains "mature content" for simply just having a lesbian character is absolutely ridiculous. This sends the message to both the audience and the students that it's inappropriate to discuss being LGBTQ+ in school, which can be extremely harmful to students both straight and in this community. Chances are that at least one person in the show or that saw the show is gay. They were probably very happy about the inclusion of an LGBTQ+ character, only to have the school district strip it away. The administration made an openly homophobic decision, and have showed their students that being homophobic is okay with them. I feel so bad for the students who worked so hard on this show only to have it shut down, and for the LGBTQ+ students who will have to go to school tomorrow knowing that their district promotes hate.
These past few weeks have been very surreal in terms of LGBT+ rights. I remember a couple of years ago when gay marriage was legalized and we pretended that everything would be great as a result. So we focused on adoption rights and eliminating bi-phobia and trans-phobia from the community (still a struggle for some reason) and promoting trans rights. We have had a few really good years. Representation in media is still lacking, and, when it is present, it is either very sexual or used as the butt of a joke. In the last decade, good gay films have been coming out (seriously, everyone should watch "Jenny's Wedding"). We have been arguing for equality and representation. However, in the last two weeks I have seen arguement shift from "we deserve rights" to "we exist". It is incredible how far back everything is slipping and how fast. An maybe a high school play isn't that important in the grand scheme of life, but it certainly reflects what is happening in this country as history is being erased from government websites and hate crimes are on the rise and pride looks more and more like it will be a protest again. This isn't okay and we need to remember that.
It makes me so sad to hear that this happened, and especially to hear about a lesbian character being described as being “mature content”. While I’ve never seen the play performed, we read it in French class in high school, and nothing about the play ever felt raunchy or inappropriate to me. The dynamic between the woman who is admired, the lesbian, and the straight man is a plot point that advances the ideas presented in the story about morality and judgement, but it never was presented as a way to make the reader feel uncomfortable or like they were seeing something they shouldn’t. It is so divisive to be portraying any gay characters/ relationships as “inappropriate”, and this mindset is harmful not just for people who immediately connect homosexuality along the same lines of pedophilia and bestiality, but for all of the young children figuring out their sexuality who sit in the closet and feel ashamed of themselves because their crushes and feelings are portrayed as being dirty and inappropriate in a way in which straight people’s fantasies are never. Part of me is surprised to see that this happened but another part of me is getting used to the viewpoints of those in power influencing the world on this level. If you see things like this happening and don’t think that it’s influenced by Trump and his anti-gay presidency, you are completely blocked off from politics and the way the world works. This shouldn't be normalized.
An another high school censoring yet again. These groups of articles have been real eye opening since I never realized just how much high schools around the country will be willing to censor their productions based on political correctness. Another weird thing I didn't expect, taken from my loose stereotypes sorry, was that the high school was in California which I see as a liberal haven just like NYC. This one is a little ridiculous, especially when looking at the statement released by the school: the parents might have to go and explain to their children that a woman can love another woman? OK, and....the problem is!? This are conversations you are supposed to have with your children instead of sheltering them from a culture so prominent in today's day and age. The fact that a homosexual relationship can be labeled as "mature content" but a heterosexual relationship is totally OK is seriously illogical and wrong. On the trend of fallacious reasoning, how is it possible that the play is an approved reading for the school's literature classes but not OK at all in the medium the story is supposed to be told in? Schools that continue to follow this trend of censoring their shows based on political correctness need serious reevaluation by the community they're in.
Post a Comment