The above is the name of a musical to be performed by Granby High School students. But the students won’t be performing at the school. Why?
The gay and racial references and profanity all raised red flags, [Granby principal Ted] Daughtrey said. He had many considerations to balance: the wishes of taxpayers who finance the public school, the desires of parents to protect children from adult material, and the First Amendment rights of the students.
“It was hard because the kids are great,” said Daughtrey, who hopes to support the students by attending. “The scene where it’s insinuated two boys are kissing, it just stepped over the line, I think.”
He consulted with school division leaders and the city attorney’s office. They decided the group could rehearse at Granby and use school property as props.
But performances would take place at another venue, and the group couldn’t bill itself as the Granby Players.
[…]
Bruce Hanson, Granby’s theater teacher, said he understands the administrators’ decision but feels hurt.
“We can do a play where a man sleeps with his mother – ‘Oedipus Rex.’ Mass murder – ‘King Lear.’ Jews in a concentration camp – ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ ” said Hanson, who is gay. “But we can’t have one about a boy coming out of the closet.”
I have to agree with Hanson here.
Kudos to my friend, Frankie Little Hardin, for stepping into the breach and allowing this play to be performed at The 40th Street Stage. Now, the rest of us just need to support these kids. Catch the show at 8 p.m. tonight or and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, or at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through June 23.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Well, does ‘Oedipus Rex’ say that sleeping with one’s mother is OK? Does ‘King Lear’ say that mass murder is a good thing? Does ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ say that the holocaust is a good thing?
If they do, then I agree that they should not be shown in a high school.
To adress the message from Anon: I never suggested that the events depicted in Oedipus Rex, King Lear, or Anne Frank are good things. But they are plays that beautifully written with subject matter that is still controversial. Anne Frank in particular is a good example as her own father edited much of his daughter’s sexual awaking from the originally published diary which when read today only adds to the poignancy and tragedy of a young girl’s stolen life. Even after the war there were many detractors who felt her story should not have been published nor did some actually want to believe that Ann Frank had actually written the work. And we know that there are leaders of countries who actually stated that the WW II holocaust never happened. In addition, what all of these plays have in common s death, a subject that can be presented in plays and literature for youing children. The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan, easily the mst popular of this genre, each have their villains die in front of the audience. Yet sex in general, straight or gay is much more taboo. We raise our children with this subject matter unexplored except on TV, films and on the streets. yet by the age of 18 we send many of them off to die in wars. To die before they even got a chance to live as young adults. This is the real crimer that should be contraversial in our society; not a play about coming out. The play will be over and done with in a few weeks. the lives of youngmen and womem lost in war will be over forever. And that is not a good thing! But it should be explored in every school, church, and home in our country.
And please forgive any spelling errors. It has been a very long week of rehearsals in an un-airconditioned environment. But I am so proud of my kids that I had to write that meaage right away!!!!
Thanks to you and your young actors, Bruce, for doing good work.
Thanks for your comments, Bruce, and I echo MB’s.
Bruce — I hardly see sleeping with one’s mother, mass murder, and Jews in a concentration camp as “controversial.” Forget President Imaheadjob of Iran (unless you are planning to show it there). These topics are not controversial in the United States, but “a boy coming out of the closet” certainly is.
Does your play not suggest that his “coming out” is a good thing? If you then compare your plays to those concerning incest and mass murder, you are implying that the assertions in those plays are similar to the assertion in your play; i.e., that murder, incest, or “coming out” is a good thing.
Dear Anon E Mouse…do you have children? And if you do…do you suppress thier creativity?…and would you deny them your audience if they had an “issue” to share or express to you?…You can compare apples to oranges all day long…or ask is murder, incest, or comming out is a good thing or not….but the ultimate message here is….do you listen to your children?…things happen….good and bad…this work, created from the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of these children are not just a grade. They did not do this for money. They wrote and performed this from thier hearts….you should be touched by thier kindness. If you take the time to see the show…perhaps you can feel what it is like to have to confront your parents as a child…yea, it’s a new age…things are different than when we were kids. here’s how I feel….If my child was walking down the beach and saw someone drownding….and she dove in and saved them from certain death….people would consider her a Hero…SO to…If this production opened the eyes of one parent confused about thier childs behavior…or saves the life of a child who is confused about thier sexuality…then what we have is a stageful of Heros! God Bless Hanson and the cast of Pet Sounds!!!!!….The Proud Parent of the GRANBY PLAYERS!!!!
Mrs. Mouse,
Sleeping with your mother, mass murder &c. are not controversial in this country because the overwhelming majority of people here think both of those things are at least “pretty bad.” By comparison, homosexuality IS controversial–not just because a lot of people disagree with it, but also because a lot of people DO agree with it, or at least acknowledge it. Mr. Hanson’s message was not therefore that homosexuality=good, QED mass murder=good and incest=good. The point was that the students were free to depict the horrific on stage, but not the controversial.
Theater (at least of the non-musical variety), being less-reliant on the visual spectacle of cinematrography and special effects, must remain intellectually interesting to survive and succeed in the 21st century. This is often successfully achieved by taking on controversial subjects, or by telling an old story in a new and controversial way (see Mel Gibson’s 1990 rendition of Hamlet for a different and controversial portrayal of Hamlet’s relationship with his mother, Gertrude, played by Glenn Close). It might be controversial, and it might make you uncomfortable. You might even find it disagreeable, but it will also make you think and give you something to talk about after the show, which beats the heck out of trying to have a discussion about “Live Free or Die Hard.” ‘So what’d you think of the movie?’ ‘It was okay.’
I’m not going to go labelling anyone a hero or anything, but I do want to give kudos to Mr. Hanson for encouraging his students to stretch beyond traditionally-bland student theater by selecting a topic that encourages thoughtful conversation. The very fact that we are encouraged to have this sort of discussion, I think, gives value to the production.
Rob — I am afraid I will not be able to see the play. However, if Vivian could post a transcript, I would be happy to read it. (Even better would be a video, since it is a musical.)
“The point was that the students were free to depict the horrific on stage, but not the controversial.” -anonymous
That makes much more sense. I had not looked at it that way.
At first, I was somewhat surprised of the response that we’ve been getting because of this show. I am in the cast and so far all of us have been having so much fun. We didn’t create this play for a grade and it wasn’t anything that Mr. H pushed us into doing. In fact, I think we all knew that it was about time that we start discussing things that we, students, see almost everyday at school. Pet Sounds is a show that will make you laugh, cry, and just think about different things. That’s one of the best things about theatre isn’t it? To make you, the audience member think…if we’ve accomplished that, then I think we’ve done our part.
I too am did not expect the show to raise this much of a commotion. Yes, it is “controversial” but it is real, just as real as the students who wrote it, and denying the play or the student’s right of expression and to perform, to me, is pure ignorance. Who is anyone to say that their lives don’t get to be heard? And maybe it isn’t just about the play itself, maybe, they are actors, not just students, and they want to perform some thing great for an audience. Why deny them?
Actually, N.wing, it is the school administration’s JOB to decide what you see, hear, do, and say inside the school. “In loco parentis” is the legal phrase. (It has something to do with the administrators’ being loco.)
I’m pretty sure that when it comes to this play, the tickets will be sold. As in you must BUY a ticket to SEE the play. If the school makes an announcement every day while the tickets are being sold, informing the students what the play contains, then I see no reason why it shouldn’t be preformed at the school. If someone is offended by what the play contains, they don’t have to buy a ticket or see it at all. I, personally, am going to see the play, because I support what these kids do, and understand that the promotion of homosexuality is not in the play.
Dear Folks,
Thanks so much for your comments. The reason we created this play was because we were passionate about the subject matter along with the strong desire to write our own musical. A few months ago we created an original one act play, “A Child’s Garden of Verses” based on the poems of Robert Lewis Stevenson. Last week, in school, many of the same cast members of Pet Sounds performed that piece to over 500 elementary school kids even as they were rehearsing at night for our opening of Pet Sounds. The play was about a young, sickly boy whose toys come to life and entertain him with the poems. The cast was surprised and delighted with the small children in the audience as they squeeled with joy to the toys that came to life and yelled as the pirate took off with the fair young female marionette. A couple of months before that we produced a rousing version of Godspell, a musical based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Each of these plays was given the same care and attention that we gave to Pet Sounds. Our passion to create those plays was no less than Pet Sounds.
My analogy with past plays that we have produced was poorly written; and taken literally, Anon E. Mouse was correct. I appreciate his/her comments. Yes, my administrator does have the final word on anything presented in school as well as what the students read in the texts. What is remarkable is that we were allowed to use school space to rehearse as well as some equipment. I am grateful to Mr. Daughtrey for that as well as allowing us to work on this project. (For the record, I was paid to direct a one act play, “A Child’s Garden of Verses”, which we created. I was not paid for Godspell or Pet Sounds. After paying our orchestrator for his beautiful work and the students’ salaries from their performances, any profit will go into our Granby High School theatre account. I consider myself lucky that I teach in this country and have a principal with whom I can disagree; he has to do what he does and I do too. It was Mr. Daughtrey’s suggestion to “find another venue” for the play and that is exactly what we did. I believe we all won in the end. People do not have to agree with the subject matter but that does not mean that the play is bad or not appropriate. Just forty years ago people were shocked with Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, with it’s kiss between a black actor and a white actress. In 1968, Petula Clark had a TV Special that was banned in sevral southern states because she touched Harry Belafonte’s arm duringa song. Last year, in a school play, the audience was made aware that one female character slept with a male. They also kissed on stage. At the point my principal decided not to allow us to peform Pet Sounds we had the insinuation of a kiss between two male characters in our script. Perhaps sometime the public should look what students are reading in school these days as this play is really mild by comparison. It’s just that when the text is presented on stage it is more “in your face” ,sort of speak. And please remember, ours is a musical comedy where we purposely play with the conventions of that genre.
Sadly, one of the photos used on line by the Pilot has been misunderstood. One writer venemously described it as people attacking or pointing to a homosexual siting on the floor. Actually the photo is of a production number, “Call Me”, and the surrounding members of the cast are all holding imaginary phones as they sing the song. In fact, included in that crowd are two gay characters. Isn’t it better to actually see the play, read the book, or view the film before we critique it?
Sorry, Anon, but at this point we can not share the script and there is no tape of the production as of yet. But what is important is that the students have been gven a chance to create and produce an original theatrical work and they are quite professional in their approach. Please try to see it. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised. This isn’t their first original work and certainly won’t be their last. However, it probably will remain the most controversial as I have yet to submit any other subject matter in a play that competes for controversey the way sexuality does in general and homosexuality does specifically. In terms of theatre, what is important is if the play entertains and enlightens. In comedy, if the audience laughs, the material works. Hopefully, audiences will like what we have presented on stage.
Thanks to Rob W, a parent of one of the players. I do not know who you are but I do so appreciate that you took time to express yourself on this site. And I promise this is my last entry as I am not really a political person. I just like creating art. And creating original plays with my students is exciting even when the material is non-controversial.
I love that the students at Granby High School came up with this play/musical. As a fellow student at Granby I support this play and will always support the actors and actresses. I wish there were more daring plays such as this one. I know a few teens that are gay and I hope they go to see this liberating musical.
I love you Adam, Cleo, Jamie, and everyone else I missed.