School board restores funding to play depicting gay teen couple

LONDON — A southwestern Ontario school board says it has reversed a decision to pull funding from a local youth theatre program over a play depicting the true story of a gay teen couple fighting to attend prom.

The Thames Valley District School Board says it will restore its $15,000 sponsorship of the Grand Theatre’s production of “Prom Queen,” which officials had earlier said contained inappropriate content.

Organizers of the Grand Theatre’s High School Project in London, Ont., said last week they were disappointed when the Thames Valley District School Board and the London Catholic District School Board decided to withhold a combined $30,000 from the theatre’s production of the play.

The London District Catholic School Board said Wednesday in a statement that it would not be reversing its decision.

The Grand Theatre’s board of directors says as a result of ensuing community support, it will offer two student matinees, completely free of charge to students.

“We want to assure donors that the funds raised will be used exclusively to support the 2018 High School Project, a program that costs $250,000 to produce annually,” it said.

The public board said it would be requiring parental permission for any student attending a performance and schools would be required to notify parents of the nature of the play’s subject matter and language. “The … adult themes, stereotypes and offensive language were considered inappropriate for the High School Project, whose audience has traditionally included thousands of elementary school children,” it said.