The Play’s the Thing…

Forget about “Will & Grace” and “The Book of Daniel.” The latest salvo in the Culture Wars is being played out in the high school drama department in the small Missouri town of Fulton.

1) It is there that the Callaway Christian Church recently pressured Fulton High to cancel this year’s planned performance of WHAT popular play?

A) “Our Town”
B) “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
C) “The Crucible”
D) “Othello”


2) Why the cancellation? It seems that the Fulton Superintendent of Schools got cold feet after receiving three complaints — all from members of Callaway Christian Church — that the performance of last year’s play went too far with its scenes of drinking, smoking and a couple kissing: “immoral behavior veiled behind the excuse of acting out a play” as one protest letter stated.

What was THAT play?

A) “Grease”
B) “West Side Story”
C) “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
D) “Waiting for Godot.”



ANSWERS
1) C: “The Crucible,” which ironically or not, is about religious-bred hysteria and intolerance.

2) A: “Grease” — which is only the second-most-frequently-performed musical on high school campuses nationwide.

Of course, in the best tradition of religion-backed censorship, the person who wrote the protest letter citing the “immoral behavior” in “Grease” had not bothered to actually see the play.