Florida High School Cancels To Kill a Mockingbird Production

[winston89]

Posted: 11/8/10 at 9:18pm

That was the headline I saw just now of the playbill.com website. I am sure that I am not the only one that finds this to be crazy. I do give the director kudos for not allowing the school to change the script due to copyright. But, at the same time I have the tough time of believing that the parents in the community who are seeing the show will have issue with the usage of the N word.

What I don't understand is this, if To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that is widely read by high school students all over the country as well as in this school, wouldn't the parents have an issue with the book and its usage of the N word as well? It seems to me that if reading the book is not an issue then neither should doing a play based on the book be an issue either.
Florida School Cancels production of dramatic version of Mockingbird

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 11/8/10 at 9:31pm

There are some people who have weird notions of who should be allowed to say the word aloud, even in the context of a performance. I was a production assistant a few years back on a regional production of A Raisin in the Sun. The stage manager made it a rule that none of the SM staff (who were all white) were allowed to say the N-word out loud, even if it was in the context of giving an actor a line (which, I know for myself, and like to think of the others, would be the only time we would think of using it). Luckily the situation of having to navigate around not saying the word never came up during the rehearsal process, but it was definitely something that we all had to keep in the back of our minds' once the actors were off book.

It seems that the rational is that reading and discussing it in class is a controlled situation where it can be put in context for the students. I can't say, however, that I agree with their logic.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 11/8/10 at 9:37pm

Maybe this is the difference in Texas and Florida, but when we did it in 2001, we said it.

[winston89]

Posted: 11/8/10 at 10:21pm

AEA AGMA SM, I do have a question in going with that logic. If talking about the usage of that word in a class due to it being from a book is sparking discussion in class, wouldn't the usage of the word in a play also do the same thing? I mean, isn't that the whole point of theatre and art, to spark discussions and to push the envelope?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 11/8/10 at 10:30pm

Like I said, I don't agree with their logic. It would be nice to think that the performance could be used to foster discussions within the classroom. However, I think this is falling victim to an almost hyper-sensitivity in an effort to avoid offending anyone.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 11/8/10 at 11:36pm

Exactly.

I did the show in summerstock a couple years ago. I don't think anyone batted an eye with the repeated use of the N-word. Then again, we were in Indiana.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/9/10 at 1:51am

What a shame.

Such a beautiful story. We cannot change our history by pretending it didn't happen.

Certainly, the word is offensive and now we know better (well, most of us). But it IS the language and attitude of the time.

Isn't it strange that the Scottsboro Boys trial is Harper Lee's inspiration for To Kill a Mockingbird.

People get to sensitive over all the wrong things. SAYING the word is not the problem, it's the meaning behind it.