Scott,
You may not remember our conversation a couple of years ago, but I grew up with Matt and know many of the people whose words made it into the play. We did this show a few years ago and when I was asked about the language my argument was two-fold: One, this is not a fictional play with made up characters, this is a piece of journalism and these people's words represent how they felt in that time. To censor them would be antithetical to what we teach about citation of sources.
Second, the play revolves around a viscous murder in which a young man had his skull bashed in with the barrel of a large gun and left for dead. That to me is much more offensive than a few F words. The jail monologue is important in that it gives McKinney's reason for killing him: "He touched my dick." That simple phrase encapsulates the hate crime aspect of the murder and also shows that even a "macho" character in jail sees through the idiocy of the gay panic defense.
I followed our district's policy on showing films in class: All students had a parent permission form in order to audition (it helped that this was for my thesis and had to follow IRB procedure) and we had a disclaimer on the poster about the language.
Also, I would be willing to have a conversation with your cast for background on Matt, the event and what it was like to be in Laramie when Matt was killed if you are interested.
Hope your meeting went well,
Zach
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Zach Schneider Troupe No. 1
Teacher
Natrona County High School
Casper WY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-11-2017 08:17
From: Howard Sherman
Subject: Laramie Project cuts?
Scott:
I hope that the administration has come to understand why schools can't just pick and choose what words in a script can and can't be heard at their discretion, and that any changes must be approved by the authors, which may not be forthcoming. If you need assistance communicating with DPS or with Tectonic, or making the case for the show being done as written, please contact me at artsintegrity@newschool.edu.
LARAMIE PROJECT is an important piece, done by schools across the country. I hope yours can move forward without incident, for the benefit of your students, your school and your community.
Regards,
Howard Sherman
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Howard Sherman
Director, Arts Integrity Initiative, New School of Drama
New York NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2017 12:32
From: Scott Hasbrouck
Subject: Laramie Project cuts?
First of all let me say how lucky O am to be doing the Laramie Project this year and to have an administration that is behind me and supporting this production. Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Principal, the student director, and the Thespian president to discuss possibly editing out F bombs and part of the prison monologue.
I am of two minds on this myself. It will be a friendly "come to the table together" discussion about what is best for audiences and future productions.
My question is only this, if you have done Laramie Project did you make any of these cuts or did you perform it as written?
Scott Hasbrouck
George Washington HS
Denver, CO