Nancy Vogel, la meva amiga i companya de feina a Wasson High School (Colorado Springs) ha esta lluitant per aconseguir que li deixessin fer a Wasson (l'institut de secundària a on treballem)una obra de teatre: The Laramie Project. És una obra basada en fets reals, l’assasinat cruel al 1998 de Matthew Shepard, estudiant universitari resident a Laramie (Wyoming), pel fet de ser homosexual.
Encara i així la censura està present. Nancy ha tingut que demanar permís a l’escriptor de l’obra per poder omitir del guió totes les paraulotes del texte original.
De totes formes, felicitats en la teva fita assolida Nancy.
Més avall podeu trobar penjat en aquest blog l'article publicat al principal diari de Colorado Springs: The Gazette.
Encara i així la censura està present. Nancy ha tingut que demanar permís a l’escriptor de l’obra per poder omitir del guió totes les paraulotes del texte original.
De totes formes, felicitats en la teva fita assolida Nancy.
Més avall podeu trobar penjat en aquest blog l'article publicat al principal diari de Colorado Springs: The Gazette.
(KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE)
Principal hesitates to OK play about aftermath og gay man’s murder
Plans to put on a high school play that examines the aftermath of the murder of a gay man have set off debate over what should be allowed in school art programs. For Wasson High School drama teacher Nancy Vogel and her students, producing "The Laramie Project" is a chance to spark conversation about how people face tragedy and what it means to accept differences among people, including gays. Some administrators, though, raised concerns over the play's "controversial" subject matter. The situation illustrates challenges that come up routinely in school arts programs. The latest edition of the student newspaper features a front-page commentary on the administration's practice of reviewing articles before they're printed. In a high-profile 2005 episode, administrators banned a female Palmer High School student from showing her paintings of another female student in the nude. "The Laramie Project" is based on documents and interviews with Laramie, Wyo., residents and others after the Oct. 7, 1998, attack on 21-year-old Matthew Shepard. Shepard died five days later in a Fort Collins hospital. The murder prompted demonstrations nationwide condemning violence motivated by a victim's sexual orientation. It also inspired "The Laramie Project," which has been performed at more than 1,000 high schools nationwide. Adults have put on the play in the Pikes Peak region, but no high school has, Vogel said. "This play is not only challenging academically, it asks important questions about tolerance," Vogel wrote in a March 14 letter to Wasson Principal Sean Dorsey and Colorado Springs School District 11 administrators. "This play is just about human beings who have lived through a tragedy in a community. Anyone who reads the play will understand that." Wasson and D-11 administrators didn't reply to calls seeking comment for this story, but their positions are documented in letters that Vogel and two other supporters of putting on the play provided to The Gazette. In a Feb. 26 letter to Vogel, Dorsey denied permission to produce "The Laramie Project." That denial delayed the production planned for this month until at least the fall semester. "‘The Laramie Project' is a play which raises controversial and sensitive issues for the Wasson High School community," Dorsey wrote. "It is important that at this time, when Wasson is focused on improving its instructional practices, rigor of the curriculum, student achievement and community perceptions, that we carefully consider the issues we bring forward to the Wasson community, but more importantly, to the Wasson staff and student." The letter went on to say that "The Laramie Project" message about prejudice might be valuable, but "there is a right time to raise awareness and a time when it just distracts from our purposes." Vogel pressed him to change his mind, and early this month, she said, Dorsey gave permission to produce the play. Vogel and Marta McKay, president of the Wasson Arts Magnet Booster Parent Organization, said they hoped to get permission in writing Thursday, but a meeting to discuss the plan was canceled. As of Friday, it was unclear whether "The Laramie Project" would be allowed to be performed. During 23 years teaching drama in D-11, Vogel said, she's never had to seek permission to produce a play. If administrators approve performing the play in the fall, some students who are seniors will have graduated, but they'll still be allowed to participate, Vogel said. That includes Cody McKay, 18, Marta McKay's daughter and a student in Wasson's drama program. Cody McKay said she understands that the principal's decision is difficult. But she and other students said only people who haven't read the play would consider it controversial. Vogel got permission from the play's publisher to remove profanity and one scene that includes graphic language. Organizers had also planned on holding a "public reading for concerned community members," labeling the production PG-13 and getting permission from the parents of students who were involved in the play. "If they read the play they would realize that the only controversy would be if they were for murdering gay people, if they were for hate crimes," Cody McKay said. Several students said they favor limits on the material a high school drama class can perform, but said drawing a line between what's acceptable and what goes too far isn't easy. Some students emphasized that "The Laramie Project" isn't about gay relationships - but what if the drama class did put on a play that included such material? Cody Odden, 16, said that would be OK, but Cody McKay wasn't so sure - she felt the scenario might be too in-your-face for the audience. But a play dealing with the death of a gay man shouldn't be categorically banned, some students said. "Just because something's controversial doesn't mean it shouldn't be allowed in a high school," said Elise Yenne, 16. An underlying issue with Wasson's discussion about "The Laramie Project" is Colorado Springs' reputation for hostility to gays, said Guy McPherson, president of Out Loud, a Colorado Springs gay men's choir. Out Loud was scheduled to sing after the students performed the play. Part of "The Laramie Project" includes characters discussing the media blitz on Laramie and how it was viewed, some said unfairly, as a hotbed of bigotry. "For us in Colorado Springs, there's some parallels because we live in a town that has been branded in the same way," McPherson said. "We all know this is a wonderful place to live. It's been kind of unfair that the same kind of labels get stripped across our community."
CONTACT THE WRITER: (719) 636-0187 or perry.swanson@gazette.com
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