Play about gay teens loses school boards’ backing

Offensive language, depiction of teachers issues cited London education officials

Two school boards in southwestern Ontario have cut funding to a local youth theatre program after officials decided a play depicting the true story of a gay teen couple fighting to attend prom contained inappropriate content.

Organizers of the Grand Theatre’s High School Project in London said they were disappointed to learn the Thames Valley District School Board and London Catholic District School Board would withhold a combined $30,000 from the theatre’s upcoming production of the play Prom Queen.

“This is a Canadian musical about true events that happened to high school students, when one boy stood up and said, ‘I can make a difference in the world,’ and (succeeded),” Grand Theatre artistic director Dennis Garnhum said.

“This is a very celebratory piece,” he added.

Every year, Grand River’s High School Project helps about 70 London secondary students produce and star in a stage musical.

Prom Queen, the play chosen for 2018, tells the true story of Marc Hall, an Oshawa high school student who took the Durham Catholic District School Board to court in 2002 and won the right to bring his boyfriend to prom.

The two London-area school boards, which for several years have contributed about $15,000 each to the project’s $250,000$300,000 annual budget, said they had concerns with language and portrayals in the play’s script, which takes a portion of its dialogue directly from court transcripts.

“(It features) a lot of derogatory terms for gay people and profanity found throughout that, quite frankly, if students used that language on the playground they would be suspended,” said Thames Valley District School Board chair Matt Reid.

“There were other more alarming aspects including having a priest blackmail a student ... and having a teacher betray the student and lie (in court) under oath.”

Reid, who is gay, said that while Ball’s story should be told, “the portrayal of adults in the script is not consistent with our approach and belief in the critical and caring roles that our adults play in the lives of our students.”

Prom Queen would not be appropriate for the elementary school students who typically go on field trips to watch High School Project shows with their class, he added.

“I want students to be exposed to the theatre and have a love for the arts, but there would be too many parents who would have too many issues with the way (the story) is being portrayed,” Reid said.

The London Catholic District School Board has concerns about the “dated stereotypes” of Catholic priests and educators in the play, the board’s superintendent of education Ed De Decker said.

“It presents a principal who is fixated on rules for the sake of rules (and) portrays the Catholic Church as something that is rigid, not inclusive, not accepting, not welcoming — a message that is very different from the one that we receive regularly from Pope Francis,” De Decker said.

Garnhum acknowledged that some of the language in Prom Queen is hard to hear, but said that was part of what made the play so important.

“(The play”) uses derogatory terms like ‘faggot’ to make a point,” Garnhum said.

In past years, the High School Project has put on classic Broadway musicals. including West Side Story, Grease and Les Miserables, which, Garnhum noted, contain mature themes.

Students from both school boards will still be able to participate in Prom Queen, and the production will go on as scheduled in September, the Grand Theatre said.

As of Thursday afternoon, an online crowdfunding campaign had already raised more than $40,000 to make up for the money the High School Project lost when the school boards backed out.