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Wednesday, April 05, 2023
Some school districts are canceling student musicals: 'Kids know they're being censored'
www.yahoo.com/lifestyle: As concerned parents sound the alarm on the growing number of bans targeting LGBTQ-themed books and (some rainbow-themed) songs on school campuses, some arts educators say high school theater may be the next battleground in the culture wars.
5 comments:
John Alexander Farrell
said...
The article raises important questions about artistic freedom and the role of educators in shaping young people's understanding of the world. While it's understandable that school administrators want to avoid controversial or offensive material, censoring student productions can have a chilling effect on creativity and limit students' exposure to diverse perspectives.
As someone who has participated in high school theater productions, I know firsthand how transformative and empowering these experiences can be. By giving students the opportunity to express themselves creatively and explore complex ideas, theater can help build confidence and empathy while fostering a love of the arts.
Ultimately, the decision to produce a particular play or musical should be left up to the students and their artistic mentors, with appropriate guidance and oversight from school administrators. By empowering young people to express themselves and engage with the world around them, we can help build a more vibrant and inclusive culture for all.
It’s so unfortunate that we’re now attacking what shows K-12 schools do now. We are at a point where art is being censored and it’s sad. Many of these shows that they’re censoring aren’t even shows I would consider having “inappropriate” messages or things incorporated. I think middle schoolers and high schoolers are mature enough to talk about being in the LGBTQ+ community, to talk about their family members who are in that community or look at history that is deep and dark but has shaped our country. We SHOULD be looking at those kinds of stories. But instead, our country wants to seemingly completely erase the LGBTQ+ community. I know this is especially hard for arts educators as well. As someone who wants to become an arts educator at some point, I want to be able to tell powerful and impactful stories with kids because they are NOT inappropriate.
This is disappointing and unfair, and the students know it as well. The article itself states that nearby schools had put on productions of these “banned” shows and had no related issues to the topic. It’s also disappointing in that these are not extreme topics, they are not illegal topics, these plays include topics such as queer identity and sexuality – topics relevant to students performing in these shows as they may have their own real-world identities and characteristics portrayed in these plays. They are being told that a play about their own identity is “too vulgar” to perform. I love hearing when students speak out against these bans, and seeing the students stand up for their own right to be able to tell and experience these shows, its inspiring and gives me hope that more schools may choose to retract their decision after actually speaking to the student body – there is much to be learned.
This is a huge common occurrence, but then the high school theatrical seen that really needs to be confronted. It is so sad to see the names of the shows listed in this article, because the show such as the Addams family is such a huge and common play for highschoolers to put on. But now all of a sudden because it has subtle references to LGBTQ+ themes it is deemed as needing to be censored. So not only are these individuals within the school districts are censoring and hindering the creative expression of its students. It is also disrespecting and contributing to the huge amount of homophobia that is already rampant within our society. The school systems version of protecting your students is just homophobia and personal ideology. I personally just don’t understand how censoring these topics are helping the youth. It is just another way of trying to erase the fact that LGBTQ+ people exist.
I had a very similar experience where the school district censored a show that my theater department had already bought the rights for due to content after the show had been announced. My theater company, much like other theater companies across the country, was not filled with people who did not know what was going on. Teens notice when shows change suddenly and especially when it means that a musical can't happen. Teens notice when they get sensors often over topics that do not deserve censoring in high school. I feel that this trend is something school districts are going to regret as students start to fight back. Between COVID and the censoring of shows many kids are not able to do much theater throughout their education. I am curious what this lack of theater will mean for the professional theatrical world in the coming years and decades as these kids grow up.
5 comments:
The article raises important questions about artistic freedom and the role of educators in shaping young people's understanding of the world. While it's understandable that school administrators want to avoid controversial or offensive material, censoring student productions can have a chilling effect on creativity and limit students' exposure to diverse perspectives.
As someone who has participated in high school theater productions, I know firsthand how transformative and empowering these experiences can be. By giving students the opportunity to express themselves creatively and explore complex ideas, theater can help build confidence and empathy while fostering a love of the arts.
Ultimately, the decision to produce a particular play or musical should be left up to the students and their artistic mentors, with appropriate guidance and oversight from school administrators. By empowering young people to express themselves and engage with the world around them, we can help build a more vibrant and inclusive culture for all.
It’s so unfortunate that we’re now attacking what shows K-12 schools do now. We are at a point where art is being censored and it’s sad. Many of these shows that they’re censoring aren’t even shows I would consider having “inappropriate” messages or things incorporated. I think middle schoolers and high schoolers are mature enough to talk about being in the LGBTQ+ community, to talk about their family members who are in that community or look at history that is deep and dark but has shaped our country. We SHOULD be looking at those kinds of stories. But instead, our country wants to seemingly completely erase the LGBTQ+ community. I know this is especially hard for arts educators as well. As someone who wants to become an arts educator at some point, I want to be able to tell powerful and impactful stories with kids because they are NOT inappropriate.
This is disappointing and unfair, and the students know it as well. The article itself states that nearby schools had put on productions of these “banned” shows and had no related issues to the topic. It’s also disappointing in that these are not extreme topics, they are not illegal topics, these plays include topics such as queer identity and sexuality – topics relevant to students performing in these shows as they may have their own real-world identities and characteristics portrayed in these plays. They are being told that a play about their own identity is “too vulgar” to perform. I love hearing when students speak out against these bans, and seeing the students stand up for their own right to be able to tell and experience these shows, its inspiring and gives me hope that more schools may choose to retract their decision after actually speaking to the student body – there is much to be learned.
This is a huge common occurrence, but then the high school theatrical seen that really needs to be confronted. It is so sad to see the names of the shows listed in this article, because the show such as the Addams family is such a huge and common play for highschoolers to put on. But now all of a sudden because it has subtle references to LGBTQ+ themes it is deemed as needing to be censored. So not only are these individuals within the school districts are censoring and hindering the creative expression of its students. It is also disrespecting and contributing to the huge amount of homophobia that is already rampant within our society. The school systems version of protecting your students is just homophobia and personal ideology. I personally just don’t understand how censoring these topics are helping the youth. It is just another way of trying to erase the fact that LGBTQ+ people exist.
I had a very similar experience where the school district censored a show that my theater department had already bought the rights for due to content after the show had been announced. My theater company, much like other theater companies across the country, was not filled with people who did not know what was going on. Teens notice when shows change suddenly and especially when it means that a musical can't happen. Teens notice when they get sensors often over topics that do not deserve censoring in high school. I feel that this trend is something school districts are going to regret as students start to fight back. Between COVID and the censoring of shows many kids are not able to do much theater throughout their education. I am curious what this lack of theater will mean for the professional theatrical world in the coming years and decades as these kids grow up.
Theo
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