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You better watch where you’re standing. Because if DeSantis keeps pushing education in Florida much further right, we’re all going over the edge.
What we’ve added to the growing list should scare everyone. It currently includes Critical Race Theory, Parental Rights in Education Act (Don’t Say Gay Bill), Stop WOKE Act, new training for civic teachers, rejection of math books thought to be have included elements of CRT, enhanced training for school librarians on choosing, removing and curating books, meddling in local school board, Bright Futures debacle and the overhaul of Florida’s Higher Ed system; and the latest sideshow which is the rejected AP African American studies course on the basis of many comments including that it lacked educational value. And he’s just getting started.
TAKE I10 FOR THE REAL DRAMA
Now let’s move 165 miles east of Tallahassee and 10 months later to Jacksonville for the next step towards the cliff.
Just 10 months after Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” Law (“Don’t Say Gay”) bill was passed, students at a Jacksonville high school feel they are already experiencing the effects of the bill’s anti-LGBTQ censorship.
Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, an arts magnet school with an extensive theatre program, was set to perform the Paula Vogel-penned play Indecent beginning March 1, with the first rehearsal set for January 5. But something different happened on the fifth. An Instagram posted by student and lead actress Madeline Scotti announced that the production had been shut down and would be replaced by Chekhov’s The Seagull.
In an email sent to students, the school’s principal, Tina Wilson, cited that “a closer review of the mature content” of Indecent led them “to the conclusion that Seagull is better suited for a school production.”
THE DISTRICT RECITES THEIR
(DESANTIS) LINES TO PERFECTION
“Indecent contains adult sexual dialog that is inappropriate for student cast members and student audiences, the district said in a statement. It’s that simple. The decision has no relevance to any legislation but is rather a function of our responsibilities to ensure students engage in educational activities appropriate for their age.
In a thematic resemblance to the real events playing out at Douglas Anderson, Indecent depicts the true story of Jewish novelist Sholem Asch and the controversy surrounding his 1906 Yiddish play God of Vengeance.
Notably, the work included a lesbian couple in its story, and is recorded as featuring the first ever kiss onstage between a lesbian couple in American theatre. The play’s 1923 Broadway production was met with the arrest and conviction of the play’s producer and cast on obscenity charges.
CENSORSHIP’S REHEARSAL
Vogel’s Indecent contends with the dangers of censorship on both marginalized communities and society as a whole through the experiences of the cast of God of Vengeance. The work also depicts the actresses playing the lesbian couple onstage as having an offstage romance, making both Asch’s and Vogel’s plays a powerful assertion of LGBTQ+ and Jewish representation.
Theatre students at Douglas Anderson are not convinced that Indecent’s mature content is the singular reason for the play’s cancellation. According to Scotti, their producer shared with the company that he has “rarely had to ask for the approval of a play, almost never.”
For many involved in the new play, including its Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish playwright and the Florida high-schooler cast in a lead role, the déjà vu is alarming. The plot picks up after God of Vengence shuttered and its cast briefly imprisoned over obscenity charges. Indecent follows the stage manager who returns to Eastern Europe, disheartened by what happened in America, and is ultimately murdered by the Nazis.
PREVIOUS STANDING OVATIONS
Students at Douglas Anderson all had permission to act in Indecent and they had put on other shows portraying sexuality in the past: Chicago last year, and Rent before that.
It’s sad to think 100 years ago in 1923 New York, a Yiddish play that featured the first lesbian scene on a Broadway stage was censored for being indecent.
It’s sad to think 100 years later in 2023 DeSantis Florida, a Yiddish play that featured the first lesbian scene on a Broadway stage was censored for being indecent.
You better watch the edge.
This column is by Ritchie Lucas, Founder of The Student Success Project and Think Factory Consulting. He can be reached by email at ritchie@thinkfactory.com and on Facebook and You Tube as The Student Success Project.
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