Critics contend school's play (The Laramie Project) is too vulgar

[deadparrot]

Detractors of Valley High School's fall play plan to express their concerns to West Des Moines school board members at the board's regular meeting tonight.

"The Laramie Project" came under fire earlier this month from people who say it's too vulgar for students.

More than 100 Valley students auditioned for the play, which is a collection of interviews about the murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die when he was tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyo., in 1998 because he was gay.

Reike Plecas, who ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign this month for one of two open school board seats, has been a vocal critic of the play.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060918/NEWS02/609180336/1001

[xchrom]

1. there is no end to the excuses

that bigots have for their hate.

[endarkenment]

2. Our high school drama club performed this play.

There is nothing vulgar about it at all, other than the raw, naked, brutal unforgivable murder that is the center of this wonderful play. Too vulgar for students? The murder is not shown. The language is tame by high school standards. What is vulgar is just how pervasive homophobia is in our schools where the most frequent derogatory comment about all aspects of life is 'that's so gay'. What is vulgar is how terrified the right is of this play and the light it shines on the truth, the vulgar truth of our society. Reike Plecas and the hideous Rev. Phelps have much in common.

[cboy4]

5. Thank you so much for giving this argument some first hand perspective.

You writing is very, very well put.

It's clear you're a quite thoughtful and articulate human being.

[rodeodance]

6. send your comments to the paper that printed the story.

[marmar]

3. Oh good grief...

I guess stopping hate crimes is vulgar? :shrug: WTF is wrong with these people?

[cboy4]

4. I'm lost for words. Or more accurately, any nice ones about people

who continue to spit on the grave of a person who was kidnapped, beaten, and tied to a fence.

I don't care whether he was gay or straight.

It is unspeakable to continue portraying Matthew Shephard as the villain.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. "Vulgar" is a convenient catchword for "we're offended".

Look, life itself is "vulgar" and art reflects one person's reality.

[saltpoint]

8. Gay orientation is not vulgar. Murdering innocent people is.

Romeo and Juliet are unmarried teenagers yet spend a blissful night together, and that play is taught in almost every U.S. high school lit class. It is celebrated as something almost staggeringly beautiful, and properly so.

THE LARAMIE PROJECT is lifted pretty much from the newspaper accounts. There's precious little gratuitous exaggeration.

Should we yank ROMEO AND JULIET out of classrooms owing to its "vulgarity"?

And if not, then why is it vulgar when gay folks are involved but curriculum-friendly when it's straight folks?

_______
edit: spellin'

[cboy4]

9. Another thoughtful and articulate human being!

:hi:

[saltpoint]

12. Hey there, cboy4. Very nice to bump into you this evening on DU.

People who are afraid of literaure or film or art always give me the creeps.

It's that censorship/inquisition thing, and it's hard to escape.

:hi: :dem:

[yellowcanine]

10. Well, yes it is vulgar. Isn't that the point? The events were vulgar.

Besides, if we ban literature on the basis of vulgarity there would be a lot of good literature left out. We read "Beowulf" when I was in seventh grade. Some guy got his arm ripped off. I thought it was quite vulgar at the time, though I guess not by today's standards.

[GoldenOldie]

13. Just as vulgar as the 18-20 yr olds troops dying in Iraq

These are recent highschool grads.......those who use the highschool students are just not equipped to deal with the "vulgar," part of life, haven't a clue about what is happening in the world. I would wager they don't even know what is happening outside their front door.

My daughter the highschool theater arts teacher, who began her theater career at the age of 14 as an extra for Miracle on 42nd Street and is now teaching Theater Arts to Highschool students world-wide. She has used these plays: Diary of Anne Frank (she spent a week of study in a concentration camp) and she had concentration survivors speak with the students and their audiences immediately after the show. She had the students perform To Kill a Mockingbird, a required English read for most highschool students and after the performance she had the students and the audience talk about it's meaning.
Now that she is teaching in foreign countries, she uses their literature and plays to not only teach students the art of lighting, scenery, costume and performing but also the history, the culture and what the writer meant to convey to his/her readers or viewers. Students remember their lessons and their plays and they remain in contact with my daughter years after they have graduated, to thank her for opening their hearts, minds and teaching them to speak out when they know others are being hurt.

Yes she also had 1-2 parents who would call the principal, superintentent, a schoolboard member but she has always been fortunate to have had the majority of the parents support and defend her position the importance of highschool drama students learn something other than My Fair Lady or The Sound of Music.

[heliarc]

20. In fact...

All literature would be left out. Art(ifice) is meant to heighten the experience of our daily lives and resonate it. Who here can say that they haven't experienced both vulgarity and beauty in their lives and felt art in any of its forms to be the best way to reflect on the experience whether vulgar or beautiful?

These people who oppose the Laramie Project are dangerous because they are exactly what that play is about. Not so much about Matthew Shepard. It is about the people of his town... the people who protected him, and the people who persecuted him.

[karlrschneider]

11. Well, torture and murder actually is fairly vulgar.

:eyes:

[cosmicdot]

14. Reike Plecas

Reike Plecas:

"To the Gay Mom in Bloomfield Hills, Mi.'Get Saved' I have been pro-active in every obstacle that has presented it to me during my life. Being an educated professional in the Teaching field you can present a topic with out being blatently ignorant. Perhaps we should teach our children how to use drugs and masturbation through the Play 'Hair' and hold a forum afterwards so we could introduce the masturbation techniques of Dr. Ruth."

I need to see a "Hair" revival. I missed the message. I wonder what production Mr. Plecas saw? Obviously, he's never been robbed, severely beaten, tied to a fence left to die in his "pro-active in every obstacle" life.

HS Class of 1981
(it's on the internets http://www.vhs81.com/class%20list.html)
... my guess he's another come-of-age during the era of Reagan right-wing authoritarian political types who think center-right is liberal and progressive.

oddly enough, it seems he works for a company by the name of Veracity (Cassandra Plecas is President), and quoted, ironically, saying:

"Finding the truth is an important part of what we do here," said Reike Plecas, director of operations and sales for Veracity.
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-2717000_ITM

Finding the truth.

Reike Plecas on Matthew Shepard and The Laramie Project (misspellings are his):

"We are definately not homophobes! In fact just the opposite. We are homofriends! The teacher who chose this production has rallied the children against their teachers, peers and now parents. She has called all students to come out and 'protect her' from the mean parents so that she doesn't get beat up at the board meeting." ~snip~

"The fact remains: bad things happen to bad people! It is a shame that Mr. Sheperd lost his life not only to: drugs, disease and dispare. What we need to lift up is the positive impact his life could have if we use it as a poster against drug and alcohol use, or safe sex. I hope that we as educators and friends can gage war on all crimes! Peace my friend, and the next time you visit Iowa look me up!"

A reply back to him:

"So bad things only happen to bad people? What kind of nonsense is that?? By your reasoning, all the folks who died on 9/11 were bad people.

"And Matthew did NOT lose his life to 'drugs, disease, and despair'; he was brutally murdered by two homophobic jerks. The Laramie Project is a moving, powerful examination of how pervasive homophobia is in our culture and how Matthew's murder forced some people to re-evaluate their attitudes.

"I fail to see how the instructor is 'rallying' the students against the community; it sounds to me like she is getting them to fight censorship. Good for her!

"Oh, and I've visited Iowa once or twice. Based on what I'm reading about the attitudes of the people who live there, it is doubtful I will ever go back!"

http://www.topix.net/forum/city/west-des-moines-ia/TG7QPNVH3DOT9N3O0

Denied someone unemployment insurance.
http://www1.iwd.state.ia.us/uiappeals.nsf/70ad4978bd15a64686256e860062bd84/b80aa0af7be7d7c7862570a5006ed149!OpenDocument

"Veracity Financial Group LLC (employer) appealed a representative's September 22, 2005 decision (reference 01) that concluded Nicholas W. Pommer (claimant) was qualified to receive unemployment insurance benefits, and the employer's account was subject to charge because the claimant had been discharged for nondisqualifying reasons. After hearing notices were mailed to the parties' last-known addresses of record, an in-person hearing was held in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 17, 2005. The claimant participated in the hearing. Reike Plecas, the director of operations; Cassandra Plecas, the president; Dee Nikolas, a supervisor; Peggy McGuigan, a supervisor; Amy Hackbarth, an employee; and Patrick Morris, a former employee, appeared on the employer's behalf. Based on the evidence, the arguments of the parties, and the law, the administrative law judge enters the following findings of fact, reasoning and conclusions of law, and decision."

[zbdent]

15. So the righties are complaining because of the language, not the

subject matter of killing a gay student?

:eyes:

[Debi]

16. I hope the school district stands strong on this.

Hate and bullying and MURDER should be considered more vulgar than swear words.

I'm prowd of Valley High for putting on the play and I'm proud of the 100 students who auditioned.

[dback]

17. Bullcrap! There is a version available that trims the profanity down.

They use the profanity excuse and hide behind it, so they don't have to deal with their homophobia. (Beaverton HS went through this recently.)

Do conservatives even realize how they use weasel words and logic games on a regular basis?

[laylah]

18. I knew Matthew!

A very gentle, diminuative person! I live in the QCA, coming from Colorado after many years. Although I am not surprised by this freaking ignorance, I am saddened. Matthew's story deserves to be told, over and over and OVER again. JFC, what have we turned into?

Jenn

[kainah]

19. as a resident of Laramie

who knew people who knew Matthew, who watched gay friends and an entire community try to cope with this horrendous crime, who knows several people portrayed in The Laramie Project, who has seen the play several times in several different forums, who has a minor in theater and has directed a couple of high school plays, I have to say that this is appallingly ignorant. And just very, very, very sad. The Laramie Project is an amazing piece of work and it should be a regular on the high school theater production schedule.