Don’t expect to see “controversial” plays like Grease or The Crucible
performed at high schools for much longer. The growing tide of
theocracy crashed on Fulton High School in Missouri, with the school
board responding to complaints from members of a Christian
fundamentalist church of a performance of the play Grease by banning an upcoming performance of The Crucible and threatening the drama teacher’s job.
Ironically, the rendition of Grease had been sanitized for
the school performance, but this wasn’t enough to satisfy the demand
for a culture compliant with Christian fundamentalist doctrine. The
school board quickly caved in to the complaints without holding any
public debates on the subject, and assures that no more plays with
“controversial” subject matter will be performed anymore.
Increasingly under the Bush regime, all spheres of public life are
under the domination of a theocratic agenda, with the bible being
forced into schools, the teaching of evolution undermined, and any
criticism of the war on Iraq by teachers grounds for firing. The fact
that innocuous school plays are now brought under the dictates of
religious extremists is only another step in the direction towards a
society in which a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism
will rule.
(source: “In Small Town, ‘Grease’ Ignites a Culture War”, NY Times, 2/11/06)