CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Central Bucks students say district killed production of musical ‘Rent’

www.inquirer.com: As books with sexual content and LGBTQ themes come under new fire from some parents, students in the Central Bucks School District say that school administrators killed a plan for the high school to put on the musical Rent.

3 comments:

Gaby F said...

My heart breaks for these kids. Especially since generally, we had been moving towards the right direction in terms of representation and allowing it to happen in more spaces so it could open up discussions and more people could feel included in conversations that often left them behind. To go there and then turn right back around makes has left me angry. I had to go through the *redacted* of going to a Catholic school where you could be put on probation for existing outside of their own little boxes. There is no reason why the needs and/or wants of the student body and general school community should be ignored because a couple of people are upset they are not doing Oklahoma again. It is a big issue that conversations about gender and sexuality continue to have defaulted to something “mature” and inherently inappropriate to anyone below the age of seventeen when the reality is that most of these conversations begin to happen way before that mark. I’m just generally pissed off, and I really do hope wish them the best of luck.

Lilian Nara Kim said...

I think that its a misconception to say that Things are now completely OK and perfect. And while in some cases it may be true that LGBTQ issues and such related social justice issues have become better than they were in the past I think it is not fair to just say and dismiss that there’s still problems going on today and we see this in this article. And it’s just so sad to see how while we have been moving towards a better place there’s still so much homophobia and issues going on in not only our world but even like in our school districts. And I find it completely ridiculous how these parents thought that it was such a big issue because it was inappropriate and while I agree rent isn’t the most appropriate show for a high school to put on the reasons that they listed are completely discriminatory and so unfair. And what of all the romance, particularly straight romance plays are productions and schools got to do every single year without hesitation but when there are slight LGBTQ seems in it it’s suddenly other fire.

Kyle Musgrove said...

I really just don't understand why people feel the need to censor media that contains LGBTQ+ topics. With this most recent wave of outrage and reconsideration of what topics are deemed "appropriate" for schools has come a completely new wave of censorship and dismissal, this time in the name of parents' rights and other BS excuses meant to disguise a clear, vocal, and inherently homophobic and bigoted parent base. All the while, the needs and wants of the students, those who are actually being affected by these changes, are completely and utterly ignored. Don't get me wrong, as someone who is just now coming out of that age and environment, I can say for sure that I should not have been coming up with policies or deciding things. However, that doesn't mean that you just ignore these students outright, and it certainly doesn't mean that you start to censor books and other media to prevent them from even learning about all of these valuable stories and experiences.