Schools weigh "community values" in choice of shows [View All]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/education/story/3D6B00E68037E38B8625712D001E4B01?OpenDocument

American playwright Terrence McNally titled one of his recent works "It's Only a Play." But for most high school theater directors, plays are rarely just plays, and the path to curtain call is fraught with weighty decisions.

Late last year, the superintendent of Fulton High School in Fulton, Mo., about 90 miles west of St. Louis, decided to cancel a spring production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" after receiving complaints from three local church members about racy scenes in last fall's musical, "Grease." The move, which got national media attention last month, sent shudders through drama departments across the country, where some educators viewed it as the latest example of growing attempts to censor high school plays.

"My reaction was immediate disgust and shock, and a very large concern for the precedent being set there," said Stacey McMackin, theater arts instructor at Lafayette High School.

Fulton decided to replace "The Crucible," a dark criticism of censorship based on the Salem witch trials, with Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a comedy about confused lovers pairing up with others. It was a change many in the theater education community found ironic