[Lunatic Fringe]

Ridiculous... I feel sorry for the kids for having to endure this silliness.

[Conservative4Ever]

'The Crucible'...is an unacceptable play????!!! What??!! I hope this drama teacher finds herself a better school to teach in.

[meyer]

"The resignation must still be approved by the school board."

This struck me as odd. What if the board doesn't approve the resignation? Does she have to stay?

[freedumb2003]

I did MND when I was in HS -- what's the problem here?

[Swiss]

I wonder how far away is Blaine Missouri

I saw "Waiting for Guffman" again last night

If I recall an episode of the Andy Griffin show had Helen putting on a play or musical and some of the town folks objecting.

[Just mythoughts]

The local paper doesn't exactly describe it the way AP does.


http://www.fultonsun.com/articles/2006/03/16/news/291news12.txt

[ozzymandus]

"Grease"? "The Crucible"? Sheesh! We did "The Crucible" in high school 35 years ago.

[Senator Bedfellow]

Trouble with a capital "T" that rhymes with "G" that stands for "Grease"...

[razorback-bert]

Didn't they make a movie about this...Porky's II?

[lawnguy]

Sure beats that "All My Sons" POS that my son was in last year;

As for being a laughing stock at the New York Times, I suggest they wear that as a badge of honor.

[pop-gun]

DeVore chose Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a classic romantic comedy ....

This woman is better off leaving that "school"......deep sixing Shakespeare? Looney tunes at work.

[x]

Plays in performance aren't always the same as the written text. It wouldn't have been hard to "clean up" Grease or Shakespeare if that's what people want, and it sounds like the teacher was doing just that.

Rush in saying "this play is about rape" or some other evil, and you may be quite wrong. First because the director may have changed the text, and second because rape and violence never really stood out in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Was it really so important a part of the story even as Shakespeare wrote it?

There are some real problems with The Crucible. It doesn't tell the truth about either the 1690s or the 1950s, and I wouldn't perform it for that reason. But a play is a play and may divulge from historical truth. I can't see banning it for its politics or because it looks at things in life that people would like to ignore.

[paul51]

But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing,

I'm sure they are going to need psychotherapy following that trauma. Those church members sound more like the taliban

[MarkL]

Exactly! This is an example of a teacher trying to make a "statement" at the expense of the kids...

There are plenty of excellent plays available that are appropriate for every possible age group.

Mark

[fr_freak]

So, the situation sounds like there were complaints from local people about the play "Grease", which was not cancelled, after which the teacher then decided to do "The Crucible", a play which was a thinly veiled metaphor for the McCarthy era, where evil conservatives supposedly wrongly persecuted innocent communists. Is this a coincidence? Most likely not. I'm sure the teacher was trying to make a subtle statement there.

Then, rather than have the situation antagonized, the principal says "do another play" instead of The Crucible, presumedly so that a war doesn't develop between the teacher and the original objectors, which, in my opinion was not an unreasonable position, since the play "The Crucible" is not very flattering to Christians whatsoever. In the context of the actual witch trials themselves, the play is probably not particularly out of line, since such things did happen, but the play, considering its original intent, is easily used to bash Christians in this modern day, where witches are no longer burned. The principal surely felt that this particular play at this particular time would cause more trouble than it was worth.

Whenever someone feels that their ability to put out whatever junk they want is threatened, they pull out the witchhunt, McCarthyism, Inquisition charges and start playing the martyr. It sounds like that's what this teacher did, simply because some people complained about "Grease". They didn't get it cancelled, they simply complained about it. So this supposedly innocent teacher picks a play that would be a political statement. The prinicipal was wise enough to see the game she was playing and attempted to squash it. The principal specifically asked for a play that wouldn't cause any controversy, until the flap blew over. She picked "A MidSummer Night's Dream".

Now, all the people on this thread who are bashing the townsfolk as being intolerant, drooling rednecks for not liking "Grease", "The Crucible" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream", I want you to notice that "The Crucible" was the ONLY one of these three that was cancelled. You'll notice that "Grease" only received complaints - it wasn't cancelled, and nowhere does the article state that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was cancelled. The writer of the article simply put that crap in there about "A Midsummer Night's Dream" having "suicide, rape and losing one's virginity" as a means to try to portray the school and the locals as dumb hypocrites, in the manner of "Look - they banned Grease and the Crucible but hey're too ignorant to know that there is even worse stuff in A midsummer Night's Dream!"

If there is any number one rule here at FR, it should be that if you find yourself agreeing with the sentiments of a New York Times article, you should question yourself immediately. Are you getting all of the facts? Is the story you are getting slanted to produce a desired result? In this case, the media that have taken this incident and blown it way out of proportion are doing so to make smalltown America and Christians look like illiterate idiots, and many here are buying right into it.

[popdonnelly]

Grease? That's an offensive play? Some Christians should lighten up.

[Zeroisanumber]

"Maybe I need to find a school that's a better match," she said.

A town that can't handle Shakespeare isn't a good match for anyone.