Dear High School Theatre Programs, Please Stop
Dear High School Theatre Programs,
I love you. You have been the place I fit in at school, the common denominator between me and my best friends, and you helped me realize my passion for the performing arts. But from the bottom of my heart, please stop producing censored shows.
I understand the allure; I really do. If it weren’t for that one song, or sexual reference, or curse word… it would be the perfect show for your program. You love the story, it has great music, and you have the perfect student to provide the powerhouse belt for your star character. But please… resist the temptation and turn your eyes to other shows.
I have seen too many shows with lines, songs, and scenes altered, or even cut, in order to censor any “inappropriate” content that might affect ticket sales, actor comfortability, or administration sign-offs. I have seen actors sing awkwardly worded, crudely designed alternate lyrics to songs EVERYONE knows. Yes, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, despite being the lead in a Cole Porter golden-age musical, sings about strip clubs, beastiality, and sexually-active grandmothers in the title number, but that does not mean theatre teachers can devise their own sanitized lyrics about Hollywood parties. I have seen a production of Almost, Maine that nixed an entire vignette with a gay couple. I have seen a production of Oklahoma! where Jud’s house was decorated with knives instead of nude photos. And I have seen endless clips on YouTube of other high school productions that did everything from changing curse words to Disney-channel exclamations, to completely erasing Sally’s abortion from Cabaret. I’m sorry, but this is not okay and should no longer be permitted. And there are several reasons why.
First, it’s literally illegal. In any contract you receive from a licensing agency with permission to stage a production, there will be a clause that clearly states any changes to the material are strictly prohibited. In a Music Theatre International contract, it says that licensees may not “make changes of any kind, including changes of music, lyrics, dialogue, sequences of songs and/ or scenes, time period, setting, characters or characterizations or gender of characters in the Play, regardless of whether the authors have approved any similar changes for a prior production of the Play.” At the back of any script you receive from Dramatists Play Service, there is a page that reads, “This script cannot be changed without written permission from Dramatists Play Service. If a production intends to change the script in any way– including casting against the writer’s intentions for characters, removing or changing “bad” words, or making other cuts however small– without permission, they are breaking the law.”
Perhaps more importantly, you cannot change the work because you are altering a playwright or composer’s creative vision. As someone who thought this sounded over-dramatic and pretentious of theatre-makers until I started writing myself, I can attest to the fact that a playwright is intentional about every stroke you see on the page… down to whether they chose a comma or a semi-colon for that sentence. If the work is good quality art, there will be thought and a reason behind every curse word or sexual reference in the script. Please don’t try to superimpose your priorities over a playwright’s artistic decision.
Finally, it’s degrading for the actors. Especially in high school, students want a chance to sink their teeth into “adult” works. They want to be challenged with meatier parts and more mature themes. They want to feel like they have graduated from “kid” productions. And every time a director instructs an actor to cross out a “bad word” and replace it with a “better” one, or hands over a sheet of paper with their clunky, sanitized lyrics scribbled over the original ones, it makes the student feel like they are back to doing junior productions for middle school performances.
And finally, please recognize that, even if a show has been legally altered for a “school edition”, it still might not be the best fit for your program. If you want to do a production of Chicago but aren’t comfortable with your students dancing the sexy and iconic Fosse choreography, it is probably not the show for your program. Though it might be legal, it is still degrading a central tenant of what makes Chicago, Chicago. Furthermore, if you would like to do Heathers but not focus on the violence, or Miss Saigon but stage the prostitution so vaguely the story gets lost, or Avenue Q where the puppets don’t curse or have sex, consider other options! Though all of these shows have licensable school editions, many of them, in my opinion, compromise the vitality of the material for marketability to a broader audience.
So, what should you do instead? Here are 3 basic ideas to get some ideas circulating for other shows:
Think about the shows you would love to do, and explore other properties by the same composers and/or playwrights. For example, if you love the score for Heathers, look at other musicals written by Laurence O’Keefe, such as Legally Blonde!
On most major licensing websites, there will be a “Similar Shows” section on any given show’s page. For example, on MTI’s website, the similar shows listed for Avenue Q are Xanadu, Lucky Stiff, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, all of which are shows that are much more appropriate for a typical high school program.
Finally, look at shows with similar thematic material to the shows you would love to do. For example, if you love the satire or political allegories of Chicago, maybe look at shows such as Merrily We Roll Along, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Urinetown, or the Pulitzer Prize winning Gershwin musical, Of Thee I Sing. If you love the epic storytelling of Miss Saigon with similar themes portrayed less explicitly, maybe look at Les Miserables, Man of la Mancha, or Oliver!.
There are so many marvelous shows out there, as well as many shows that are not performed at every single high school ever. Do a bit of digging and find a show that truly suits your program well. Find something edgy that isn’t inappropriate, find something thought-provoking that isn’t inflammatory, find something recognizable that isn’t overdone. Because that is what your students want, too.
Sincerely,
Jack Castello
May 31, 2022