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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Life Imitates Art in Hampshire High’s Contested Staging of ‘The Prom’
AMERICAN THEATRE: Normally, at Hampshire High School, the students in the annual spring musical gear up for their performance with spirit wear, posters at businesses around town, and announcements of the show at school and on social media.
3 comments:
Delaney Price
said...
Wow, this article highlighted how a small high school musical blew up into a county-wide issue, and more importantly, how overly acting in fear causes unnecessary chaos. I see the different viewpoints taken on in this article, however, the element of scale has been ignored. Wanting to protect student safety given the circumstances of anti-LGBTQ hate in the neighborhood has validity, however, not to the scale it was taken to. Additional security measures could have been taken, however, not allowing students to wear a t-shirt for their school musical to school when everyone at the school knows about the musical just feels silly. I’m also intrigued by the last line of the article which states that both the superintendent, principal of the school, and theatre director of the school are resigning at the end of the year. It seems like there might be more complications to this that we’re not seeing.
This was an issue last year and it breaks my heart that this is still an issue. I love the irony Behind these schools retaliating against The Prom being able to be performed by banning it as if they have not read the book and do not know the plot of the play. As someone from the Midwest, though I grew up in a relatively large town, I have friends from small towns who did live the life described in The Prom. To me it is really important that the story is told at a high school level and very publicly which is obviously not happening in some states. There isn't really an easy solution to this other than stop being homophobic which is not something that is finite and can be done easily however I really wish people would see the importance of this story being told and not try to silence it for the supposed safety of its company.
The Prom is such a wonderful show. I would say it is definitely one of the best contemporary musicals out there. It touches on such hard topics and it is an important story to tell. I am so glad I am going to be a part of a production of The Prom this coming summer as the Stage Manager. I’ve always wanted to work on this specific production and I'm glad I now have the chance to do so. It also absolutely fucking sucks that the plot of the actual story is coming to life at this small high school. A quote in the article that read: “guided by the district’s commitment to maintain a secure environment for our students, staff, and community members,” really struck a chord with me. While I somewhat get the school wanting to “protect” the students and the adults who work in the school, I feel as though telling this story is so important.
3 comments:
Wow, this article highlighted how a small high school musical blew up into a county-wide issue, and more importantly, how overly acting in fear causes unnecessary chaos. I see the different viewpoints taken on in this article, however, the element of scale has been ignored. Wanting to protect student safety given the circumstances of anti-LGBTQ hate in the neighborhood has validity, however, not to the scale it was taken to. Additional security measures could have been taken, however, not allowing students to wear a t-shirt for their school musical to school when everyone at the school knows about the musical just feels silly. I’m also intrigued by the last line of the article which states that both the superintendent, principal of the school, and theatre director of the school are resigning at the end of the year. It seems like there might be more complications to this that we’re not seeing.
This was an issue last year and it breaks my heart that this is still an issue. I love the irony Behind these schools retaliating against The Prom being able to be performed by banning it as if they have not read the book and do not know the plot of the play. As someone from the Midwest, though I grew up in a relatively large town, I have friends from small towns who did live the life described in The Prom. To me it is really important that the story is told at a high school level and very publicly which is obviously not happening in some states. There isn't really an easy solution to this other than stop being homophobic which is not something that is finite and can be done easily however I really wish people would see the importance of this story being told and not try to silence it for the supposed safety of its company.
The Prom is such a wonderful show. I would say it is definitely one of the best contemporary musicals out there. It touches on such hard topics and it is an important story to tell. I am so glad I am going to be a part of a production of The Prom this coming summer as the Stage Manager. I’ve always wanted to work on this specific production and I'm glad I now have the chance to do so. It also absolutely fucking sucks that the plot of the actual story is coming to life at this small high school. A quote in the article that read: “guided by the district’s commitment to maintain a secure environment for our students, staff, and community members,” really struck a chord with me. While I somewhat get the school wanting to “protect” the students and the adults who work in the school, I feel as though telling this story is so important.
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