This high school
show must go on
I attended the school board meeting Tuesday night and, to coin
Voltaire, I may disapprove of "Bat Boy," but will defend to the death
the right for this production to go on.
At 16, I was exposed to a play containing many of the
controversial references and then some found in "Bat Boy": patricide,
incest and even witchcraft. That play did not lead me down some dark,
immoral path. To the contrary, Shakespeare's "Hamlet" illuminated the
paradoxical world of human action and flamed in me a lifelong love of
literature and theater.
One parent said it was not an issue of censorship or morals. It is
exactly that. Nearly 2,000 men and women, some not much older than
the kids in this production, have died in an attempt to bring freedom
to Iraq. We have already fought for and won that very freedom,
including freedom of speech, here in America. Yet, there are those
among us who whittle away, word by word, action by action, at the
very essence of what it means to be an American just to satisfy their
misguided sectarian extremism. There is no room for extremism in the
land of the free. This play must go on.
TAD MALONE
Pasadena
Students are mature enough for school play
I am a parent of children in the La Canada schools, and I support
the production and performance of the play, "Bat Boy" at La Canada
High School.
High school students are savvy enough to make rational value
judgments about many issues, including a rape scene in a play.
MARK BERNHARD
La Canada
Play is not quite
ready for springtime
You asked the wrong question Wednesday when asking if La Canada
High School students should be allowed to perform the musical "Bat
Boy." Of course La Canada High students should be allowed to perform
controversial works. Many high school students are certainly capable
of literary and dramatic appreciation of mature works, and there is
obvious educational value in serious high school drama students
taking on challenging subject matter, under the proper conditions.
The far more compelling question is whether the school's students
should perform "Bat Boy" as its annual spring musical, given that it
contains simulations of rape, incest, bestiality, drug use and
violence. In my opinion, choosing a play with these elements, for the
annual spring musical, demonstrates extremely poor judgment.
The annual spring musical is not the only artistic outlet for La
Canada High School drama students. It is, however, the dramatic
