"Oregon high school halts Steve Martin's 'Picasso' play"

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 1:42am

What?!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/401717_picasso28.html

[theaterlover95]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 1:54am

Absolutely ridiculous...
School does nothing for kids- it does not give them the chance to be "truly creative" and express themselves. I've always been fascinated by profanity. They're just words, like any other words. They have a meaning behind them... The word f*ck is that of a sexual act. Something completely normal that every human engages in. When used in a profane way, they generate a desired response. By telling an eleven year old these words, what will happen? He may repeat them, like everyone else in society does. There's nothing wrong with these words, it's ridiculous that someone could get so offended based on hearing a basic sound. Like many other irrational things in life, it's all about societal expectations and unjustified beliefs.
Updated On: 3/2/09 at 01:54 AM

[theaterlover95]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 1:55am

Also- high school kids, get real! You think they don't all talk to each other using profane words. Every hs kid does... I understand what they're saying about setting "parental standards," if there was actually something wrong with using profanity. Profanity is only offensive because some people in society have decided to say it is.

[BNN]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 1:58am

If you are upset by language, don't see the show but don't prevent others from seeing it! That woman and her 137 signatures can sit at home pretending profanity does not exist in everyday culture. People are stupid.

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 1:58am

I kind of love that quote:

"I strongly believe censorship erodes the human soul"

[emo_geek]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 2:22am

"Let's be honest here," Cahill said. "You have not been coming (to the plays)."

Love it.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 2:29am

It's been years since I saw this play, but I do not remember it being offensive in any way...just hysterically funny. Am I forgetting something?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 3:15am

Another shame. At least this time, however, the principal was going to bat WITH the director; it was not a matter of ONE person making the blatant decision (as in the Rent issue of a week or so ago.)

I think banning for the lanugage or for them TALKING about sex is ridiculous. My own students are allowed to use whatever language they choose in their creative writing -- assuming that it suits the situation/character to do so. HOWEVER, many feel there is a difference between realizing kids USE that kind of language and promoting it. (Because kids are bound to have sex, you wouldn't expect the school to provide beds, would you?)

[withoutlovewithoutU]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 10:44am

It's amazing how often this happens. The school I now work at (that I attended for grades 10-12) had a production of one of the Reduced Shakespeare plays cancelled a few weeks before the show was set to go on because some parent got a bunch of signatures. Two years later when I was in a production of "A Chorus Line" there we had to cut out a ton of stuff because we didn't want our show to be canceled again. It is really upsetting to me as a preformer and also as someone who works with high school kids. People are so closed minded and because of this schools are limited to doing the millionth production of "Guys and Dolls Jr." or something of the sort. It makes me mad!

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 10:55am

She warned that if the play is performed, many conservative families would move their children out of the district and into charter or online schools.

Sounds like even more of a reason to proceed forward with the production!

Seriously, though, when I was in elementary school, we had a mother so upset that we read "Bridge to Terabithia" -- which had a "damn" or two in it, I guess, though it never really struck me at the time -- that she pulled her kid out of public schools and proceeded to home school him for the rest of his school career. Poor kid.

Yet even in that conservative Texas community, the local theatre performed "Picasso" without a squeak from the public.

[alliez92092]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 11:11am

That's ridiculous. My school did Picasso last year and I didn't find it offensive whatsoever. These people need to get off their high horses and enjoy the show for what it is.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 1:48pm

And as the principal said (I think it was the principal) the folks complaining weren't even audience members.

If you are going to use some of the subject matter as a measuring tool...you had better get ready to ban Shakespeare!

I directed Taming of the Shrew a few years ago and used the verbal foreplay between Kate and Petruchio to its physical limits. Not a single complaint to Petruchio "mounting" her.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 1:52pm

Hey, we did that play at my high school three years ago... the same year we did Les Miserables, both with profanity and sexual stuff intact. I was in middle school at the time, so I wasn't in either production.

Last year, we had to edit the word 'h*ll' out of a play.

So although we did Picasso and Les Mis without repercussions, I guess there were complaints or something. I also know my county is banned from putting on Sweeney Todd, although local schools are doing A Chorus Line, Company, and David Mamet plays this year.

Updated On: 3/2/09 at 01:52 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/2/09 at 2:55pm

Unbelievable. If you aired PICASSO on network television, you wouldn't have to cut that much. Absolutely absurd. This is how powerless people feel useful.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/4/09 at 2:13pm

Hey, happy ending!

Link goes to Fark for amusement; you can also find the Oregon Live link in there.

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=4247587