hesherman1.substack.com: After more than a month of turmoil following the announcement that Copley High School in Ohio’s fall show, Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters, would be canceled, despite rehearsals already being underway, it’s now likely that show will be seen on the high school’s stage – although the high school won’t take responsibility for it.
3 comments:
I'm not sure how to feel about this article. I mean, I definitely feel satisfied with the outcome of the whole event, with the production still being able to be produced at the high school and able to cover its costs. I am definitely happy that the school board extended an olive branch, although I hope that this event leads to permanent change, particularly change that doesn't have to come from the school board and be forced down upon the administration (I've dealt with stubborn or disagreeable administrators and it's not fun). On a wider note though, I assume this really shouldn't be a controversial show, and some parent simply got all worked up, but I do wonder whether schools should do more controversial (actually controversial, not just slightly controversial) shows? Certainly not without the agreement of the students, although some shows that are likely to teach students the most come with controversial or difficult material.
This is such a strange situation. I just feel like of all the plays, She Kills Monsters is a pretty soft ball play when it comes to LGBTQ themes. I might just be desensitized, but I feel like there's like maybe two gay characters who get bullied for being gay, and the show is mostly about getting to build a bunch of fun puppets, and watching some truly terribly choreographed fight scenes between 2 to 5 uncoordinated highschoolers. I appreciate that the school is still letting the student do the play, even though they're trying their absolute best to appease everyone by both letting the students do the show, but claiming they have no involvement. It feels like the sort of compromise that just kinda makes everyone a little mad about the situation, but whatever. It's just a little annoying that one parent complaint is enough to possibly derail months of work for these aspiring thespians.
I have not yet seen a week with this many articles about schools cancelling or postponing their productions which leads me to wonder “what the f**k is happening?!”. Is this a common thing that has been happening for a while? Are the popular plays just getting raunchy? Are they scared to death of the current administration (most likely). I wonder how this will affect the show selection in the future. In an effort to be less controversial, will the school begin to choose shows that challenge these highschoolers less intellectually?
When I was in high school we did a production of Rent which got the community buzzing. Although I don’t like this show and I didn’t think it was our story to tell (in a primarily white and middle class rural area), I remember my friend who had just transferred from a Christian private school learned a lot about queer culture and sexual safety because of the organization we partnered with in this show.
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