Increasing Censorship of LGBTQ School Theater Productions

For many members of the LGBTQ community, musical theater is seen as an accepting, welcoming, and overall inclusive place to express yourself authentically. For queer youth, it holds even more importance, as it is often seen as a safe haven from the outside world during the duration of their high school experience. Despite this, musicals and plays have been canceled left and right all around the country since the beginning of the year for having depictions of LGBTQ characters and/or themes.

In January of this year, the Cardinal School District in Ohio put a halt to their musical of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a Tony Award-nominated comedy including a character with two dads. Elaborating on the cause of the cancellation, school district superintendent Jack Cunningham says that it’s not “suitable for our pre-teen and teenage students in an educational setting.”

By restricting representation of the queer community, school districts are contributing to homophobic rhetoric spreading across the nation resulting in increased local and state anti-LGTBQ legislation. Original cast member of the Broadway production Jesse Tyler Ferguson recently spoke out about the cancellation, expressing his complaints in an Instagram video.

“I guarantee there’s someone at this school who’s maybe being raised by gay parents, but definitely more than one person at this school is gay or lesbian or bisexual,” he says. “The message that this sends to them, that that is not ‘family appropriate,’ or ‘family-friendly,’ rather, is toxic and harmful and kind of abusive.”

Hearing the news, original scriptwriters William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin reached out to the high school offering to make revisions that would keep the musical up and running.“What we changed were individual words overwhelmingly, and we mostly changed variations on the word ‘goddamnit’ or ‘damn it,’” Sheinkin shares in an interview.

“We of course didn’t change anything to do with the gay dads… We didn’t change anything that affected the story or the characters.” In addition to the 23 revisions made, the new April policy by the district notes that from now on, any production must be submitted to the school board receiving full approval before starting rehearsals. Despite the challenges faced, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee went on without a hitch. However, many other schools and musical theater students haven’t been so fortunate, needing to find other ways to put on their productions. 

Another suppressed school production, ‘Marian, Or the True Tale of Robin Hood’ comes from Indiana’s Carroll High School where objection comes from the inclusion of a same-sex couple and nonbinary character. After starting this year’s theater production, Northwest Allen County Schools administration received phone calls of detestment, complaining about the topics being discussed and portrayed. Ultimately, with raised concerns for students’ safety, the public presentation was canceled as the school feared the worst.

Nevertheless, students heartbroken about the verdict, took action into their own hands and found a way to make their Robin Hood dreams a reality.“We’ve decided to fight back, staging our own independent production of the play,” Organizers wrote in the GoFundMe description.

“We want to show other communities around the country how to stand up to various parent groups bullying schools into canceling plays and musicals with LGBTQ+ content.” Students first orchestrated a petition in an effort to save their show, however after the administration informed them the decision would remain unchanged, they took matters into their own hands. Within 11 days, students raised over 80 thousand dollars with the help of Fort Wayne Pride and were able to secure a safe space to showcase ‘Marian’ at the Foellinger Outdoor Theatre where tickets sold out for the one-time performance that took place earlier this month.

“You have all shown that love truly conquers hate and discrimination.” Fort Wayne Pride comments, “Our hope is that these students will inspire other students to stand up for what is right at their schools and in their communities. We are incredibly grateful to each one of you… THE SHOW WILL GO ON!”

Conversely, some argue that school administration is doing the best they can, looking out for students’ safety and dismissing productions that mention LGBTQ topics or characters as a precautionary measure amid the over 220 implemented anti-LGBTQ laws that are specifically targeting queer youth. While some schools are being careful with their inclusion of LGBTQ characters and themes, others are canceling all-time high school favorites. The Northern Lebanon School District, in Pennsylvania, recently canceled next year’s musical production of The Addams Family, claiming it is too gloomy for school-aged audiences; however in 2019, it was the most performed school musical of that year.

The growing nationwide censorship is not only prohibiting LGBTQ youth from seeing themselves represented on stage but is also depressing and discouraging those interested in theater, an interest that usually starts developing in school. In addition to this, many musical theater students have put in weeks, even months of hard continuous work, just to have their efforts discarded when they find out their show is being scratched. For example, Iowas South Tama County High School pulled the plug on its production of August: Osage County, a tragi-comedy that has been perpetually performed since 2007, a favorite of many. Similarly, Indecent, a classic originating from 1906, is being blocked in Duval County Public Schools in Florida simply for its inclusion of a same-sex love interest.

“Indecent is a story about how detrimental censorship is, about how its damaging effects can ruin a nation and a community. I don’t need to point out the irony,” Scotti, a 17-year-old student enrolled in the district, says in an Instagram video, expressing feelings concerning their canceled play.

“They are trying to tell us this play is dirty, immoral, obscene, and of course, indecent. And by that nature, they’re trying to tell me that I myself and my community is dirty, immoral, obscene, and indecent. And I don’t have a reason.” The cancellation of Indecent by Paula Vogel, was announced on the day rehearsals were supposed to start. While school administration notes that adult sexual dialogue included in the play was a contributing factor to the censorship, signs point to a new Florida Board of Education approved ban which outlaws education of gender identity and sexuality at all grade levels.

“It’s baffling that a show written about the detrimental effects of censorship is being censored,” Scotti says. “What about love should be censored? How is this impure?” Many school productions touch upon topics that might be heavy or intense for some students, a perfect opportunity for teachers to foster an open and inclusive environment, facilitating conversations on such topics in a safe space rather than censoring them.

“I send my support to you and all the artists. Hate and intolerance are indecent, never love,” playwright of Indecent Paula Vogel says in a comment on Scotti’s Instagram. “Thanks for your courage. This will not end here.” 

Photo courtesy of Twitter