When they think they are being helpful

2. RE: When they think they are being helpful

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George Ledo

Posted 15 hours ago

I'm not a teacher, but I'm involved in a thread in another (non-theater) chat room about something similar, so here goes my opinion...

First, from your post, I see, in your admin, a complete and total ignorance of what theater is. I have seen similar posts here over the past fifteen or so years, and I am just amazed.

Second, it seems they are asking you to present a play so they can discuss it as a committee, which takes time and can get in the way of scheduling. Basically, putting you on the spot. My suggestion would be to change this meeting and make them state their concerns up front so you can use them in play selection before the process starts. I would anticipate resistance to this because it puts the onus on them.

Third, I would be very very vocal (if you haven't already done so) to my students about the issues here. Maybe they can feel strongly enough about them to get their parents involved.

Fourth, I will not say anything about being politically correct or trying to please everyone. 😃

So there's an opinion from someone not in educational theater but in the "other world." Good luck!

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George F. Ledo
Set designer
www.setdesignandtech.wordpress.com
www.georgefledo.net
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Original Message

Original Message:
Sent: 03-28-2026 10:36
From: Julie Estrada
Subject: When they think they are being helpful

This is the most difficult post and inquiry to write because after 25 years of show selection with input from students, my team (staff), colleagues, and simply reading and analyzing to see if a show is (to paraphrase Howard Sherman's workshop) right for my current students, the student body, (my memory gets fuzzy here if these are the next circle of influence so my apologies!) the audience, the parents & school community, the admin, and the community as a whole, my admin has asked this of me:

I just got off the phone with (Head of HR) and here is what I found out!

The goal of the process is to work as a team to proactively communicate, collaborate, and/or problem solve about any potential conflict)s) relating to production selections.

(Head of HR) was grateful for your attention to detail when selecting productions when I outlined everything you take into consideration.

How this would work is, you would bring your top choice for play and musical to a meeting with (Principal), (Director of Instruction), (HR Director), and (Activities Director). We will talk openly and honestly about any potential contention (i.e. physical intimacy, language/lines of the production, controversial scenes, themes etc.) Then, we discuss how we can work through those contention points in a way that honors student work, the pieces of work, our community, etc.

In short, this team does not necessarily select the production for you. This committee helps proactively address any discrepancies ahead of time.

The good news is, we are piloting this process. So, this team has the availability to refine the process for other schools in the district to use. (HR) even mentioned using your expertise to help create a checklist of sorts that sets the bar for things to consider for other directors/administrators to use when selecting a production.

I hope this provides some clarity and eases some of your apprehension.

Before you get into tech week/full blown production mode, can you let me know of a few dates/times at the end of April or early May you would be interested in sitting down as a team to have this discussion? I want to try and honor your timeline of announcing in May or June.

When you give me a few dates/times I can set up a meeting with everyone.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Have a Happy Day!

This comes after doing She Kills Monsters: Young Adventurers Edition and we were blocking/Intimacy Directing a kiss that was going to be staged in a way where no one was actually kissing. There was hubbub in the community where a mom's group became keyboard warriors and made false claims against the show. My students however? They were empowered, felt seen, and the bond in our theatre community became much tighter and I had more students audition for the current musical.

Speaking of the current musical, we are doing Bright Star, and were told by admin we cannot have any kissing....at all (because this is a rule now as a Title IV complaint was filed on admin and even though I have directed & done intimacy coordination in many differnt shows this is now the guideline set forth). We have creatively staged the Alice Murphy & Jimmy Ray scenes & the only one that is harder to get around is the Margo & Billy Cane part as the scene has been blocked, I have him kissing her on the cheek, and they are a real life couple too, but am being told to change it. I will be changing this part. I don't know how, but I am trying to play by the rules.

So, this is my dilemma. I don't need/want another hoop to jump through as I do my due diligence in play selection. This comes from the former AD who is now Principal not doing his due diligence when I brought up what could be the controversies in our show this fall. My students are worried that we will only do children's shows from now on (and our area is saturated with these frankly) and I am at a block with how to choose because we have had such buy in from the current students, we have a following from the community (supportive alumni & their families as well as outside community members), and I am struggling.

Some if my other concerns if their plan goes forward:

1. can they nix my choice of play

2. can they do this work within my time frame each year

3. are they willing to give me more money or extra time to compensate for what this process will take (also in terms of extra stress)

4. do they realize that this process will not avoid controversy- just take extra time

If I didn't use the suggested process:

1. could they tell me now what concerns them so I can keep this in mind while picking plays (& let process be what it has been in past)

2. would a statement"not suitable for all audiences" be enough attached to some ads for plays to alert parents to check out the play before bringing young people

The larger issue:

1. How does admin handle conflicts/criticism while supporting teachers/students & do the right thing

2.Do these individuals 'trust you'

3. do they personally see a) kissing on stage offensive/wrong, etc b) others?

Thanks Team.

As Princess Lea says, "Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope."

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Julie Estrada, MEd
Theatre teacher and director
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3. RE: When they think they are being helpful

Recommend

Veronica Brush

Posted 13 hours ago

I would put together 2 plans to present to the principal personally. 1 plan secretly has the stuff you don't want and 1 plan is secretly more of a compromise/more a direction you want to go, but present both of them as equal possibilities for moving forward.

In the plan you don't want, you include how much extra time and money you'll need (round up!), how often the committee is going to need to meet (frequently) to avoid even more time/cost of you getting too far in to the process before the committee decides a play can't be done, as well as a commitment that if you agree to be on the committee, you have to be at EVERY meeting, otherwise the process doesn't work, and then how the committee is going to have to have MORE meetings (again, that everyone MUST attend) when there is a controversy, as that is unavoidable, etc. Don't make it outrageous, but present the most unpleasant reality of what they are suggesting, with all the annoying details (cost, commitment, etc) clearly laid out so that they can see and understand. But rather than saying "This is a horrible plan," you show up ready and willing to do this thing, so they can be the ones saying "But I don't want to do that!"

Then you say that you were also able to come up with a second plan that has a little less time and cost to it, and you lay out a plan that is more what you want. It will have to be more meetings/oversight than you want, but if you can push it more in a direction you want, it's better than just accepting their plan. Could it be an email exchange rather than meetings? Could you say if a play is rejected, an alternative has to be suggested (explaining that it takes time to read through play options, so if there's going to be a committee, they have to be doing their part and reading alternative plays as well)?

Even if they go with the worse plan, I bet it won't stick for more than 1 year because they'll all be so miserable having so many meetings, and seeing that somehow all that effort still didn't avoid controversy.

You could also create a rubric that clearly shows if you're trying to avoid controversy (which is impossible), you're going to have to avoid all Shakespeare, all the classics, all of history's most celebrated playwrights, all Disney shows, etc. because they ALL contain romance and/or violence.

I would also reassure your students that, while they may not get to do the plays they most want, there's also a middle ground between adult drama and children's plays. There are plays that are interesting and with fun characters to play that don't touch on political/edgy themes, so are less likely to cause controversy, but also with plots/characters that are still written for an adult audience. It's hard, because to high schoolers, a show that annoys/offends their parents is always going to appeal to their teenage nature :)

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Veronica Brush
CO
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