Forgive me for beating this news item to death, since bloggers all over are going to jump all over it. I can’t resist.
Here’s the short version. A Christian church on Fulton, Mo., objected to one drama production put on by Fulton High School students. As a result, the school administration pressured Wendy DeVore, a well respected drama teacher, to replace her spring production with something more “family friendly.”
The replacement was apparently no better. Rather than be caught on this endless treadmill of censorship, DeVore has resigned. It seems she was in danger of losing her job because she cannot seem to find a play that offends no one. Criticizing the school superintendent on the web did not help, either.
Here are the objectionable productions.
Last fall, one member of the Callaway Christian Church was distressed when she saw student thespians portraying teenagers smoking, drinking and kissing. Shocking. Was this some sort of radical left, experimental theater type play? Nope. It was “Grease,” an immensely popular Broadway musical and movie that portrays the teens of the 1950s. Like then, as now, teenagers smoked, drank, and kissed (among other activities). Unless, I suppose, they are members of that church.
For the spring, De Vore’s students were originally going to produce Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” a play ostensibly about the Salem witch trials but really about the McCarthy Red Scare of the 1950s. Fearing a repeat of the fall, her superiors told her to find something more “family friendly.” I suppose they feared church members would object to the witches and dark subject matter.
So, De Vore replaced Miller with that old standby of high school English classes, William Shakespeare. Apparently, the production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” made it to stage, as the students performed it on March 14.
Then she learned that her contract might not be renewed for the following year. According to The New York Times, her comments about the superintendent of schools pulling “The Crucible” from production on a weblog amounted to “insubordination.” At this point, my patience would have been at its limit, too. DeVore tendered her resignation, telling the Associated Press, “Maybe I need to find a school that’s a better match.”
Now there’s an understatement.
Fulton’s own newspaper provides other details. DeVore is leaving because she’s caught between her students who want answers and her administration which is not provided them. They can read Miller, but not perform him. Makes no sense.
The school’s principal and district superintendent, meanwhile, are hiding behind a confidentiality wall and have refused to comment to the press about the flap.
Who’s to blame here? For one, the prudes who objected to “Grease,” which while not exactly Bambi is hardly X-rated material. These are high school students, for Pete’s sake. They know something about smoking, drinking and kissing. If you don’t like seeing that kind of the stuff on the stage or screen, DON’T LOOK!
The school administration, meanwhile, was basically being chickenshit. No one had apparently complained about “The Crucible.” It was a pre-emptive strike, to avoid controversy. Good move there, huh? Now everyone knows Fulton, Mo., as a community of bluenosed censors. Great for tourism, I think.
A March 14 article in the Fulton newspaper about the “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” production is here. Judging from the photos and audience comments, the students did a great job. They rehearsed, built the set, and designed the costumes in just six weeks, after the Miller play was pulled out from under them.
DeVore’s resignation, effective at the end of this school year, has to be approved by the Fulton school board. Now that should be an interesting meeting. The superintendent of schools may end up with egg all over his face.
Or perhaps with an ass’s head.
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