After more than a month of memorizing lines and rehearsing for their fall play, students at Hillsboro High School were told last week that their production was being canceled because of the sexual nature of some scenes.
But Duncan Pickering-Polstra, a senior, told The Enquirer he doesn’t buy it. Hillsboro has put on countless other shows with sexual references and sometimes explicitly sexual scenes, Duncan said. In the school’s production of “Les Misérables," he played the role of a pimp selling prostitutes at the docks. He was 13 years old at the time.
“It’s not about the sex,” he said of the cancellation. “It’s about gay people. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they’re lying.”
Hillsboro is a city in Highland County, Ohio, approximately 50 miles east of Cincinnati. U.S. Census data from 2019 reported Hillsboro had a population of just over 6,500. Donald Trump received nearly 80% of the county's votes for president in the 2020 election, according to USA TODAY.
This year's fall play at Hillsboro High, "She Kills Monsters" by Qui Nguyen, is popular among high school and university drama programs. It was ranked at No. 3 on TheaterLove's list of 35 best plays for high school.
“The district’s decision to cancel the fall play is based on the play being inappropriate for our K-12 audience. This production is recommended for ages 12 and older due to the language and mature content,” Superintendent Tim Davis wrote in a statement on Monday. “As a district, we based our decision on the play’s use of inappropriate language, profanity, homophobic slurs, sexual innuendos and graphic violence."
Davis' full statement can be found at the bottom of this story.
The play is set in Athens, Ohio, and centers around Agnes, a high school senior, who finds her younger sister's Dungeons & Dragons notebook after the sister's unexpected death. Agnes discovers things she never knew about her sister, including scenes that imply her sister was gay.
Concord Theatricals, which represents the play via its Samuel French imprint, said the show is coming up on its tenth anniversary.
"It is one of our most popular titles and is consistently within our top ten most-produced shows every year, with hundreds of productions performed annually in North America alone," a spokesperson told The Enquirer.
There are three versions of the script, including a "Young Adventurers Edition" which dulls some of the profanity and sexually explicit scenes for younger actors and audiences. Hillsboro High School was working with that version, Hillsboro junior Chris Cronan said.
Chris told The Enquirer he "fell in love" with the script shortly after getting cast in "She Kills Monsters" this fall. The school's production was scheduled to open on Nov. 19.
The play is about inclusivity, he said. He said he admires the moral of the story: "to love and accept people for who they are."
Chris Cronan's father, Ryan Cronan, said the show's directors held a meeting for students and parents a week before the cancellation, to answer questions about the play. They had expected reservations in reference to the play's need for stage combat, though Cronan said that wasn't a voiced concern from any parents at the meeting. Instead, the conversation shifted to the play's "sexualization" of certain characters – specifically characters implied to be gay.
“They didn’t have a problem with the sexualization until it became about the LGBTQ community," Cronan told The Enquirer. "So, it’s pretty obvious."
Chris said he has never noticed teachers or administrators being overtly hostile to gay people at Hillsboro. “In fact, there's a lot of teachers there that are very supportive of everyone,” he said.
Even so, Duncan said the news was "disheartening" after students have already lost so much due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
"From somebody who's missed out on shows since their sophomore year because of the pandemic, and suddenly these adults who should be looking out for my best interest, who should be doing things to make me feel safe and wanted and happy at the school, they don't care," Duncan said. "They're being cowardly."
Cronan said the students, parents and directors met again Monday evening to discuss an alternative fall play selection.
Board members Bill Myers, Jerry Walker, Beverly Rhoads, Tom Milbery and Larry Lyons did not respond to The Enquirer's request for comment on Monday.
The board's next public meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15, according to the website.
Fund for show exceeds goal
Students and alumni of the high school theatre program have since created a GoFundMe and raised more than $15,000 of the fundraiser's $5,000 goal to support putting the show up at a different venue over the summer.
"Without the show being sponsored by the school, though, we have no funds to produce it, which is why we need your help," Zebadiah Pickering-Polstra, the GoFundMe's organizer, wrote on the fundraiser site. "These kids, my siblings included, have poured their heart and soul into this show. We want to see their aspirations realized."
Donations have come in quickly over the last several days. Ryan Cronan said the students have gotten offers from venues in Cincinnati and Columbus to hold the summer performances.
“We are not out to get anybody. We are not out to shame anybody publicly, really. We’re not out to take down anyone. We are out to stop prejudice and bigotry from infiltrating the public school system. And we are out to just try to do our play the way it was meant to be done," Cronan said. "And we're going to be able to do that now."
Any donations that do not go toward the show will be donated "to a friendly cause," Pickering-Polstra wrote.
Students gain national attention and support
Duncan said news of the show's cancellation has spread quickly around the high school, well outside of the drama program, where the "general consensus" is "this shouldn't be happening."
"Imagine if they did that to football. Or imagine if they did that to basketball. There would be such (a) huge uproar," Duncan said. "They would never even consider doing it."
The story has gained traction outside of school walls, too. The students have picked up support both locally and nationally from various activist groups and fellow thespians.
"An active choice was made to pander to homophobia. This choice is harmful and offensive to the LGBTQ+ community at large, but especially harms the LGBTQ+ students at HHS," community group Hillsboro Against Racism & Discrimination posted on Facebook. "It shows these kids that their hard work doesn't matter, and creates an environment of fear. It shows them that if it comes down to protecting the feelings of homophobic people, or protecting them from discrimination, the school will choose the side of homophobia."
The organization wrote it "condemns" the action taken by Hillsboro City Schools and "is calling on the Board of Education to immediately rethink and reverse" the decision, "as well as issue a public apology."
"Mad Men" television actor Michael Gladis shared the students' GoFundMe page on his Twitter.
"Screw the fundamentalist bigots that shut down a high school play cuz it has a gay character," Gladis wrote.
New Jersey Thespians, a nonprofit organization, also posted on Facebook about the play's cancelation.
"We are heart broken for the cast and crew of She Kills Monsters, a play scheduled to be produced at Hillsboro High School in Ohio. There is no place for homophobia in our society," the society's post reads. "Shame on this school board for creating a culture of hate, fear, and divisiveness. We stand with these students and hope you do too."
Howard Sherman, an actor, writer, producer and arts administrator based in Manhattan, wrote a Facebook post regarding the cancellation, stating "theatre is back, and so is censorship of theatre." Sherman has taught or guest lectured at the Yale School of Drama, Columbia University, Princeton University, North Carolina School of the Arts and other drama schools, and was named one of the top 40 free speech defenders by the National Coalition Against Censorship in 2014.
Statement from Superintendent Davis
Davis provided a statement Monday regarding the play's cancellation. In the statement, he refers to Jeff Lyle of Good News Gathering, a church in Hillsboro.
Students and parents told The Enquirer that Lyle was present at the meeting a week before the play was canceled. Lyle could not be immediately reached for comment.
Davis' full statement is provided below:
The district's decision to cancel the fall play is based on the play being inappropriate for our K-12 audience. This production is recommended for ages 12 and older due to the language and mature content. As a district, we based our decision on the plays use of inappropriate language, profanity, homophobic slurs, sexual innuendos, and graphic violence. Furthermore, I have not had any contact or communication with Mr. Lyle or any other religious entities concerning the characters in or the production of this play. They had zero influence on this decision. This decision was made after the administration read through the script. I do apologize to the students for the time already spent on the play. Future plays and productions will be read and approved by the administration before we hold any auditions. I would also like to apologize to the entire community for any stress or division this may have caused.
