We did it in 2011 and the only push back I got was from my new principal worried about breaking the commandment of taking the Lord's name in vain. When I pointed out to her that the only time that happens is when the lawyer is trying to get the Hungarian girl who is innocent to lie to save her life, yet Billy Flynn evokes "God Bless America" a gagillion times to justify sleaze---and that Kander and Ebb are using that contrast is a very specific foil to point out the hypocrisy in the American pysche, she got on board. Which was lovely and brave of her, but she also had the cover of the previous principal (who trusted us to do Rent and Laramie Project) having given their consent to the show before she arrived. You have to know and gauge your community---get the data. We put out surveys after heavy shows to collect both targeted response criteria and unsolicited reactions, we send very explicit permission slips when students audition and we are transparent about content in our advertising. If our audience give us positive, affirmative feedback, if we have enough kids able to audition and our ticket sales don't drop, we've got a batch of data to say that the community is in support of this kind of material and here's why. Or why not. If the data comes back in a negative way, you can't ignore that either. We changed our Lynn Nottage pick from Intimate Apparel to Crumbs from the Table of Joy because our Southern African American community was not comfortable with their daughters playing a character who kisses another woman, even though the majority of our white community was comfortable with that choice. You've got to listen to where your audience is at---and of course, keep listening, because every four years or so, the conversation changes.
Best of luck. Stretch your communities' expectation of what your students are capable, surely, but at not at the risk of your peril because you don't have the information to make a calculated guess at what is within the bounds of their capacity to grow.
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Hope Love
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-30-2017 10:38
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: Chicago
Maybe wait and see what the high school version is like. It is notoriously tricky to get permission to do Chicago in any case, plus the content does tend to make most communities and therefore administrations squeamish...If it was me, I wouldn't do it. But that's me.
Plays with lots of violence, though, I'm all game.
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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor
Etobicoke ON
Original Message:
Sent: 08-30-2017 10:18
From: Stephen Ingle
Subject: Chicago
Has anyone done this at their high school? Would this be considered inappropriate even if you toned down the sexuality and got permission to take out the language from the song "Class"?
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Stephen Ingle
Drama Teacher
Jefferson High School
Jefferson, GA
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