“This past August, Bowie High School voted to honor their longtime theatre director, Diane “Betsy” Cornwell, by naming their performing arts center after her. But just over a month later, the Austin ISD teacher is under investigation by the district after several former studen”ts said she subjected them to emotional and verbal abuse and inappropriately touched other students.”
Read More“After one performance of “Be More Chill”, school administrators at a high school in CA moved to cancel the remaining performances due to the “mature content” in the show.”
Read More“Today, November 19th, students at Maryville High School in Maryville, MO were supposed to continue the weekend run of their Fall musical, Legally Blonde. However, just one day before they were set to open, school administrators stepped in to postpone the show over content which one of them thought was inappropriate.”
Read MoreIn a normal year, KJK Productions would work with high school students to present a full-length musical for a live audience. Of course, these days, an in-person project like that would be impossible. Instead, this daring creative team decided to jump headfirst into the world of Zoom to create a unique virtual version of Urinetown. Using green screens, ring lights, new microphones, and some serious editing, this is not your average “zoomsical”.
Read MoreAlthough the world of musical theatre is slowly becoming more diverse and inclusive, our look still plays an important part in casting. In some cases, being in an industry that places so much focus on your body can lead you down a dangerous path. It took me years to love my short, slightly thicker body and to be perfectly honest; I'm still working on it.
Read More“News is coming out of Lancaster, PA today that the Superintendent canceled an upcoming high school production of the musical “Hairspray” over alleged complaints about insensitive language in the script.”
Read More“In an age of virtual learning, theatre educators have been met with new challenges of how to create theatre and engage their students in a new platform.”
Read More“Recently it was brought to my attention that a high school in FL had performed Miss Saigon last year with a practically all-white cast. While this would make any Asian performer raise an eyebrow and perhaps outrage more than a few parents, it might surprise them to know that not only is Miss Saigon available to schools but that the race descriptions of its characters are completely erased for the school edition.”
Read More“An Ohio high school theatre teacher was arrested on felony charges of sexual battery, after allegedly having sexual contact with a student.”
Read More“On December 11, 2019, police arrested Joshua Berman on charges of second-degree sexual assault for allegedly molesting a former student on multiple occasions while he served as theatre technical director at a Connecticut high school. Now, the victim has not only come forward publicly with her allegations but also details how high school officials mishandled her claims.”
Read More“Over the past couple of days an old video clip of a school production of In the Heights is going viral again due to a supercut posted on social media. While many are taking part in ridiculing the production for everything from its problematic casting to performance, I don’t see the joy in shaming a bunch of students.”
Read MoreWhile the COVID-19 shutdown sadly canceled many spring high school musicals, it’s never too early to start thinking about next year and what material these schools should select. So here are seven suggestions. Some of these you may have already produced and some you might now know. It should also be mentioned that all of these shows are licensable.
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