The crew had built most of the set. Choreographers had blocked out almost all the dances. The students were halfway through rehearsals.
Then in late January, musical director Vanessa Allen called an emergency meeting. She told the cast and crew of 21 teens that their show — the musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” — was off. Board members in Ohio’s Cardinal Local Schools disliked some features of “Spelling Bee,” Allen explained, including a song about erections, the appearance of Jesus Christ and the fact that one character has two fathers.
Sobs broke out across the room, said Riley Matchinga, 18, who was slated to play one of the leads: Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, the character whose fathers are gay. “Everyone’s faces just fell,” she said. “I could see everyone’s hearts melting, because we had worked so hard.”
Following a record-setting surge in efforts to change curriculums and ban books at schools nationwide, the education culture war has now reached the stage. The controversy in Cardinal is one of a number of recent instances in which school administrators have intervened to nix or alter school theatrical productions deemed objectionable — often because they feature LGBTQ characters or deal with issues of race and racism.
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In Florida’s Duval County Public Schools this January, administrators stopped a production of the play “Indecent,” which details a love affair between two women, due to its “mature content.” In February, Indiana’s Northwest Allen County Schools pulled the plug on a production of the play “Marian” after adults raised the alarm over its depiction of a same-sex couple and a nonbinary character. And in March, Iowa’s South Tama County Community School District halted a performance of the play “August: Osage County” over fears that its treatment of suicide, addiction and racism was inappropriate for school-aged children.
Censorship of K-12 student productions has been happening for years, said Howard Sherman, managing director of the performing arts center at New York’s Baruch College. Since 2011, Sherman has tracked and fought efforts to end or edit school theater, assisting with roughly four dozen such cases, many of which never became public.
Still, this most recent wave of opposition seems more intense and organized than in past years, Sherman said, and more tightly focused on plays and musicals with LGBTQ content.
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“Something that was being dealt with community by community has now, for some people, become a cause, ” he said. “You see politicians and officials enacting rules and laws which are incredibly onerous and designed to enforce a very narrow view of what students can see, read, learn or act on stage.”
The cancellations come amid fierce political fights over what children should be allowed to learn and do at school. State legislatures are proposing and passing a historic wave of laws and policies restricting LGBTQ student rights and representation at school; in Florida last month, for example, the Board of Education banned education about gender identity and sexuality at all grade levels. Some legislation may directly affect school theater productions: Bills advanced in at least 15 states forbidding drag shows could be interpreted as outlawing cross-dressing in school plays, said Jennifer Katona, executive director of the Educational Theatre Association.
“That’s a hallmark of theater because the majority of theater programs have more female-identifying than male-identifying students, yet plays are written with majority male-identifying casts,” Katona said. “It’s a tough time for school theater.”
Some argue it is school officials’ job to ensure that productions are age-appropriate and aligned with families’ preferences. Contemporary musicals are often quite sophisticated and entangled with social issues, said Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
“You have to be mindful of local values,” Pondiscio said. “School has always existed to signal to children what is worth knowing and valuable, what we praise and condemn, and you have to apply that to musicals as well.”
In Pennsylvania’s Northern Lebanon School District this March, the school board voted down a proposed 2024 performance of the musical “The Addams Family,” 7-to-2, after some board members said they found the script too gloomy.
The theme of “The Addams Family” is “darkness, grief and unspeakable sorrow,” board member Michael Marlowe said at a meeting before the vote. Marlowe, who did not respond to a request for comment, noted the musical has songs about killing, scenes of children smoking and references to torture and self-harm.
“These are the things that today’s students are fighting and we’re making light of it a little bit, or promoting it,” he said in a public video of the meeting. “These are not themes that we as a school would permit … so I don’t think we should put it out there.”
Northern Lebanon district spokeswoman Lauren Bruce wrote in a statement that “the practice of the School Board approving our annual musical has been in place for many years,” although it is not formalized in policy. Bruce wrote that another musical has been put forward for next spring and “we look forward to seeing it.” Per board documents, that musical is “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka.”
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Board member Michelle Bucks, one of the two votes in favor of the musical, said she thinks the board acted against the recommendations of faculty and the desires of students who wanted to stage “The Addams Family.” In 2019, the musical was the most popular high school production in America, per the Educational Theatre Association.
Student performers, denied their turn before the spotlights, are dismayed.
Then in late January, musical director Vanessa Allen called an emergency meeting. She told the cast and crew of 21 teens that their show — the musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” — was off. Board members in Ohio’s Cardinal Local Schools disliked some features of “Spelling Bee,” Allen explained, including a song about erections, the appearance of Jesus Christ and the fact that one character has two fathers.
Sobs broke out across the room, said Riley Matchinga, 18, who was slated to play one of the leads: Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, the character whose fathers are gay. “Everyone’s faces just fell,” she said. “I could see everyone’s hearts melting, because we had worked so hard.”
Following a record-setting surge in efforts to change curriculums and ban books at schools nationwide, the education culture war has now reached the stage. The controversy in Cardinal is one of a number of recent instances in which school administrators have intervened to nix or alter school theatrical productions deemed objectionable — often because they feature LGBTQ characters or deal with issues of race and racism.
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
In Florida’s Duval County Public Schools this January, administrators stopped a production of the play “Indecent,” which details a love affair between two women, due to its “mature content.” In February, Indiana’s Northwest Allen County Schools pulled the plug on a production of the play “Marian” after adults raised the alarm over its depiction of a same-sex couple and a nonbinary character. And in March, Iowa’s South Tama County Community School District halted a performance of the play “August: Osage County” over fears that its treatment of suicide, addiction and racism was inappropriate for school-aged children.
Censorship of K-12 student productions has been happening for years, said Howard Sherman, managing director of the performing arts center at New York’s Baruch College. Since 2011, Sherman has tracked and fought efforts to end or edit school theater, assisting with roughly four dozen such cases, many of which never became public.
Still, this most recent wave of opposition seems more intense and organized than in past years, Sherman said, and more tightly focused on plays and musicals with LGBTQ content.
Skip to end of carousel
“Something that was being dealt with community by community has now, for some people, become a cause, ” he said. “You see politicians and officials enacting rules and laws which are incredibly onerous and designed to enforce a very narrow view of what students can see, read, learn or act on stage.”
The cancellations come amid fierce political fights over what children should be allowed to learn and do at school. State legislatures are proposing and passing a historic wave of laws and policies restricting LGBTQ student rights and representation at school; in Florida last month, for example, the Board of Education banned education about gender identity and sexuality at all grade levels. Some legislation may directly affect school theater productions: Bills advanced in at least 15 states forbidding drag shows could be interpreted as outlawing cross-dressing in school plays, said Jennifer Katona, executive director of the Educational Theatre Association.
“That’s a hallmark of theater because the majority of theater programs have more female-identifying than male-identifying students, yet plays are written with majority male-identifying casts,” Katona said. “It’s a tough time for school theater.”
Some argue it is school officials’ job to ensure that productions are age-appropriate and aligned with families’ preferences. Contemporary musicals are often quite sophisticated and entangled with social issues, said Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
“You have to be mindful of local values,” Pondiscio said. “School has always existed to signal to children what is worth knowing and valuable, what we praise and condemn, and you have to apply that to musicals as well.”
In Pennsylvania’s Northern Lebanon School District this March, the school board voted down a proposed 2024 performance of the musical “The Addams Family,” 7-to-2, after some board members said they found the script too gloomy.
The theme of “The Addams Family” is “darkness, grief and unspeakable sorrow,” board member Michael Marlowe said at a meeting before the vote. Marlowe, who did not respond to a request for comment, noted the musical has songs about killing, scenes of children smoking and references to torture and self-harm.
“These are the things that today’s students are fighting and we’re making light of it a little bit, or promoting it,” he said in a public video of the meeting. “These are not themes that we as a school would permit … so I don’t think we should put it out there.”
Northern Lebanon district spokeswoman Lauren Bruce wrote in a statement that “the practice of the School Board approving our annual musical has been in place for many years,” although it is not formalized in policy. Bruce wrote that another musical has been put forward for next spring and “we look forward to seeing it.” Per board documents, that musical is “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka.”
ADVERTISING
Board member Michelle Bucks, one of the two votes in favor of the musical, said she thinks the board acted against the recommendations of faculty and the desires of students who wanted to stage “The Addams Family.” In 2019, the musical was the most popular high school production in America, per the Educational Theatre Association.
Student performers, denied their turn before the spotlights, are dismayed.
