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Loading ...Teacher accuses principal of nixing ‘Rent’ over gay characters
02.18.2009 2:51pm EST
(Newport Beach, California) Drama students at Corona del Mar High School were busy Wednesday learning the lines and music to “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown” after “Rent” the spring musical they were in rehearsals for was cancelled.
Drama advisor Ron Martin tells the Los Angeles Times that principal Fal Asrani ordered him to drop “Rent” because of its gay characters. Asrani disputes Martin’s claim. She says she only asked to see the script.“Rent” tells the story of a group of struggling artists in New York City, several of whom are gay.
Martin tells The Times that he chose the story to teach tolerance after hearing students use gay slurs.
“My responsibility as a drama teacher is to expose my students to a variety of different types of plays,” Martin told The Times.
He also said that he removed a portion of the script that showed a sex scene between two of the gay characters and that he discussed the production with Asrani before assigning it.
Further, he asserts that at a recent meeting with Martin and a representative from the teachers union, Asrani said the production could not go on and that she needed to review the script because of “prostitution and homosexuality.” There is no prostitution in the musical.
Asrani tells The Times she did not order the play cancelled and never received a copy of the script.
Dana Black, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Education, said that the district does not shy away from edgy subject matter, and, “we don’t want anybody feeling alienated.”
In the meantime, Martin said he replaced “Rent” with “Charlie Brown” because it “is safe.”
SO???? What is anyone doing about it. Don’t report it…stop it, where is the GSA, GLSEN, PFLAG, LA G& L Center?
Rent is one of my favorite musicals. I must say, it’s not really material that should be presented at a High School. Very much I can see a College taking on the project but it really does not have a place at the High School.
What was the drama teacher on?
To comment on Trace: The drama teacher has edited scenes that may have been too “racy”. I personally think that high school students would benefit from musicals like “Rent”. I think the reason why people grow up to be unaccepting and naive is because teen-agers are given less credit than they deserve. We need them to be exposed of the harshness of the real world so they don’t end up perpetuating this homophobic/hush hush, let’s not talk about “the others” cycle that leads to as the teacher stated, young ones using gay slurs and eventually hate crimes. That’s just me .02 cents.
When I was in HS, I didn’t know anyone who was what you would consider virginal. They never let me forget that I was an ‘abomination’ with strings of colorful profanity in the halls, class, lunch room, bathroom, … you name it. Though they were a bunch of ‘tards, if they were mature enough to screw and drink and smoke pot on the weekends and taunting the gay boy during the week, they were mature enough to handle RENT. And I suspect that not much has changed since I was in school.
I say get rid of the principal. Problem solved.
Replaced with “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”??????
Talk about the ‘dumbing down’ of America. sheeesh!
Lets’ stop avoiding the issue—PREDJUDICE
Fal Asani (the Principal), is likely Moslum and is using her religeous beliefs to fuel her hatred of gays etal.
This whole I’m moslum , Morman or Space Creature fueled predjudice must be stopped and stopped cold… it’s time to take on the Moslums; they do not rule North America yet and their terrorism of America must stop on every level.
To ignore the nationality and religeous bias becuse the person is a minority must not happen.
Moslums have no trouble executing gays in Iran and they will try and keep gay rights down in N America or where ever they immigrate to because of their fundamentalist beliefs!
THEY MUST BE STOPPED!
Orange County is not the most gay-friendly place. I’m not surprised this happened. Having said that, I worked at a summer camp on the east coast and the campers were freshman in high school and Rent was their favorite musical. I’m sure this high school could have benefited from seeing Rent.
Yeah… I love Rent, but this play deals with material that is not suitable for high schoolers. If it was nixed just for the gay content I would be upset, but Rent is a play that requires the characters to deal with very adult themes and situations. I could understand a principle or admistrator saying no to this play. From the drug use, the stripping, and half the material mentioned in the song La Vie Boheme alone I would not blink an eye if a high school decided against doing Rent.
It kind of sounds like the teacher is just pissy because they had to answer to someone over the play they were doing.
What is appropriate viewing for maybe grown college men and women is not always appropriate viewing for a child or developing teen.
even as a gay man, if I were a parent, I wouldn’t mind the play at all (as I believe kids need to get used to gay people) as long as actual sex acts are not being simulated and/ or indicated on stage. Those sex acts are things more for an adult mind in the framework of love, commitment and tenderness. And I wouldn’t want my kid to grow up to be disrepectful, tough, coarse and vulgar.
Everyone has to make his or her own mind about these things and I respect other people’s views but as for me and my household, if I were raising a kid, within reason as parent and guardian, billpayer and owner of the house under whose roof this young person resided, I have the right to set just a few basic rules, standards and expectations for myself, for my child and for my household.
And while I can’t and won’t try to control what goes on in a school, I will enforce within the walls of my house and in my presence certain standards of decency and respect in speech, modern but modest clothing styles, courteous behavior, chores and homework done in a timely manner.
Trace Said:
“Rent is one of my favorite musicals. I must say, it’s not really material that should be presented at a High School. Very much I can see a College taking on the project but it really does not have a place at the High School.
What was the drama teacher on?”
I am currently a sophmore in high school, and my high school did “10 things I hate about you” fro our spring play. if you watch the movie you see that there is under age drinking, drug use, sexual comments, and the main charactor flashes a teacher. our school did every peace of that movie. high school teenagers are not nieve, we know what goes on it on the world and plenty of us are already having sex and doing drugs. the only reason they would not let them do the play was because of the gay charactors in it.
“Rent” is perfectly appropriate for a high school production.
Alexander16IL,
Doing drugs has a price to be paid in financing guns for terrorists and for terrorist movements in parts of the world.
I have no problem with my teen shooting his semen, looking at hot mags (that would at home in his room and not in public in front of a school audience some of whom would rather not be confronted with sort of thing, too early and too fast for some) and pleasuring himself in his own room but I do have a problem with him getting a girl pregnant and with taking drugs.
The drugs will have to go and he will need to be directed into counseling and into helping charities, in laaving those who are doing drugs.
As for getting a girl pregnant, I will require him to get a job and help support the pregnant girl and her baby to be.
As long as he is under my roof, eating my food and I am paying his bills, he will be required by me to take responsibility for any and all bad choices. He has to know that are consequenses for bad choices and when they start to involve other people he will be required to try make better what went wrong.
No yelling or screaming, etc just a calm, Son you’ve done this and you will have to undo it make it right or better or deal with it as a adult has to too and we now have an adult type problem to deal with.
No guidance for a child will result in a spoiled kid used to getting his/her way and not having to learn to be responsible for one’s choices, good or bad.
Once your parent is not buying your food, paying your way and housing you, you can even hangglide naked from the top of the Washington monument if you want and that you will be problem, not your parents. Your parents will no longer have to answer for your messups unless you commit murder which becomes everyone’s problem in your vincinity.
The average age of loss of virginity is 16…right smack dab in the middle of high school. Another interesting factoid is that that number has remained amazingly consistent over many decades. So, *many* of these lil darlings will already have experienced some of what folks are trying to “protect” them from.
Also, are we under any delusion that our middle-school-aged kids have not seen couples “making love” in some way, shape, or form on TV shows?! So, if teens can see sexuality jokingly and loosely displayed on, say, “Two and a Half Men,” I’d argue that a more realistic portrayal might be more educational and might help them to think through tough issues about sex, involving intimacy, tenderness, STDs, and more.