Geauga County Maple Leaf: After weeks of rehearsing and set-building, the curtain came down on Cardinal Schools’ spring production before audience members could even get their hands on a playbill.
On Jan. 25, following a lengthy executive session, Cardinal Schools Board of Education told musical director Vanessa Allen the drama department’s show, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” would not go on.
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To be quite honest I also do agree that some material for Putnam Spelling Bee is not appropriate for a child audience. Having a whole song about an erection is not exactly what I would like my younger brother to see. However; according to the director the song was changed to be “My Unfortunate Distraction”. Which to me is a suitable and clever change. As it gets the point of the song across without the use of vulgar language. I then think about the jesus imagery and personally I do not see that scene as a capital offense. I understand how christians may believe that it isn’t nice to use the image of Jesus in such a way. However; I truly don’t think it is that deep. At least compared to the colonial atrocities committed by the christians themselves. And then, the gay dads. Quite honestly, they are not inappropriate at all. Other than a sex joke that would blow over the head of most children and is not overtly sexual, yeah. It’s not inappropriate either. Frankly, I do think that the reactions were overly dramatic. A sign of ignorance and over controlling from the part of the board.
I think the entire situation of them having to cancel their show is unfortunate. Sure, Putnam County isn’t the most appropriate show for middle schoolers, but that’s only because of the sexual jokes. To be completely fair, most 7th and 8th graders already know a handful of sexual jokes/meanings, or those types of jokes and comments fly right over their heads without a thought to them. The fact that Jesus comes in or that there are two dads isn’t “not family friendly” at all. As someone who grew up Christian, when Jesus comes into the show and says that he loves them no matter what happens literally follows what the religion believes. Having two dads is completely appropriate, but because of the world we are in, people will take offense to it. I hope that these middle schoolers can approach this with grace, and don’t get discouraged about doing theatre. If you see a show and it affected you somehow, then it did its job.
I think it’s really sad how spelling bee got canceled in this county. I am from Florida where a lot of things are happening in different counties around where I grew up that are very unfortunate. I think expression in art is really important and the fact that a lot of school counties are taking that away right now is really sad. The school might have to censor something to be able to put it on, but they shouldn’t have to cancel it all together. Especially with a show such a spelling bee, that has never been a show known for being crude or inappropriate. I know multiple families who have seen that show. Including my own. I think there is no reason why the show should’ve been canceled and this Director even though he has a chance of being fired I think it’s smart to be standing up for the students because it shows students what is important.
I understand wanting a show to be able to be seen by a wide range of audiences. And I understand that thinking of elementary school students seeing this show could alarm some parents, if there is a young child. However, canceling this show was not the correct move. Most shows have more appropriate alternatives to moments that may actually seem too mature for the audience. And it's made clear that the song “My Unfortunate Distraction” would be used in place of the Original. The other issue cited is the fact that a character has two dads. But here's the thing, like it or not, out in the world, there are children with two dads. And that's not going away. I’m not going to get into the politics of that censorship right now. Its fairly self explanatory. The biggest issue I see however is the fact that these kids put in so much effort for a show, only to get canceled. If the show wasn't going to be allowed, then it shouldn't have made it to that stage. As far as I’m aware, most school theatrical productions must go through administrative members at the school itself for approval. But I doubt School Boards often get a say in it unless called upon by a school for a second opinion during the initial approval process. The school board is hardly going to have time to read every script a drama teacher hands them. Nor should they. So whoever initially approved this, drama teacher, principal, or whoever else, needs to either stand up for their decision or seriously rethink the damage they have allowed to fall on these kids.
It is disappointing to hear this school district canceled the high school’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It is such a fun show to do, not only with fun songs and characters, but with great audience interaction. I believe by canceling the show, the school sent a message of intolerance and hostility. While I can understand that it may seem insensitive to have Jesus talk to one of the characters, the message behind it is positive, that even if this young girl fails, Jesus still loves her.
Also, the district should have read the script or looked at the song titles before approving the musical. The show quite literally has a song titled “My Unfortunate Erection”. How could they miss that? It was cruel that the students and teachers who put so many hours of work into this production were shut down because some administrator did not take ten minutes to research the show. The director even commented that they would be doing the alternate version of the song entitled “My Unfortunate Distraction”.
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