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Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Joe Iconis Speaks Out on High School Production of BE MORE CHILL That Was Cancelled for 'Mature Content'
www.broadwayworld.com: According to an article by the Modesto Bee, Turlock High School was set to perform the hit musical from Joe Iconis, Be More Chill, from this Thursday, April 7th through today, Sunday, April 10th. Outcry from the site administration caused the school district to cancel the production after the opening night performance.
It’s so interesting what high schools allow in theatre and what they don’t. Firstly like Iconis said, it makes no sense that after months of learning all of the content they decided to stop the show so soon to its performance dates. It just makes no sense the students were already exposed to all of the content that the school deemed unacceptable. Also one of the biggest fans and audience of Be More Chill are high schoolers because it is about them. My friends and I used to listen the show all the time, mostly in middle school actually. I think that the decisions for high school musicals is so strange. Like many schools preform things like Pippin, which have literal sex scenes and that is normally alright because it is an older more established show and people know it. It has always fascinated me what high schools are strict on especially growing up in a conservative rural high school.
“Mature content in plays” is a difficult issue, especially in a high school setting. From my perspective it can be difficult for high schoolers to adequately play characters they do not have the maturity level to represent. For example, a play like Chicago is probably not appropriate. However, something like Be More Chill or Dear Evan Hansen involves topics of drugs, alchohl, depression, and suicide, but these are all topics high schoolers face, and are plays where the actors are playing highschoolers. If anything these types of plays are perfect for them. The reason they aren't received well is because parents feel like this is a situation where the “media” is making it cool. But again I feel like it's similar to banning books. To remove something is much like censorship. If anything I think removing the play will make it more in demand, obviously it has drawn media attention.
2 comments:
It’s so interesting what high schools allow in theatre and what they don’t. Firstly like Iconis said, it makes no sense that after months of learning all of the content they decided to stop the show so soon to its performance dates. It just makes no sense the students were already exposed to all of the content that the school deemed unacceptable. Also one of the biggest fans and audience of Be More Chill are high schoolers because it is about them. My friends and I used to listen the show all the time, mostly in middle school actually. I think that the decisions for high school musicals is so strange. Like many schools preform things like Pippin, which have literal sex scenes and that is normally alright because it is an older more established show and people know it. It has always fascinated me what high schools are strict on especially growing up in a conservative rural high school.
“Mature content in plays” is a difficult issue, especially in a high school setting. From my perspective it can be difficult for high schoolers to adequately play characters they do not have the maturity level to represent. For example, a play like Chicago is probably not appropriate. However, something like Be More Chill or Dear Evan Hansen involves topics of drugs, alchohl, depression, and suicide, but these are all topics high schoolers face, and are plays where the actors are playing highschoolers. If anything these types of plays are perfect for them. The reason they aren't received well is because parents feel like this is a situation where the “media” is making it cool. But again I feel like it's similar to banning books. To remove something is much like censorship. If anything I think removing the play will make it more in demand, obviously it has drawn media attention.
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