Santa Rosa community members gathered at the Mercury Theatre in Petaluma to support a play by Santa Rosa High School after district officials briefly canceled the performance due to "mature content."
For months, students worked on a production of the play "Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead," a spin on the classic Peanuts comic strip centering on high school-age Charlie Brown. However, after a successful opening night on Thursday, the district decided to cancel performances after the first showing drew complaints.
"They called me in for a meeting and sat me down, just said, this show has profanity and some of it might be considered obscenity," said Jereme Anglin, the theater teacher at Santa Rosa High School.
All the students' parents had signed waivers acknowledging there was mature content.
The show is filled with drug use, sexual innuendos, and foul language, but it appears that the main objection was the use of a homophobic slur. The show also highlights bullying and gun violence and touches on sexual identity.
"We just felt like this opportunity was being ripped away from us by our school," said Leila Paine, a senior at Santa Rosa High. "Without those connotations, it's not as powerful, it's not as jarring, the audience doesn’t feel as grossed out or concerned, which is exactly what we want to prove this world is something that’s not OK, and that’s the point of the show."
Anglin said many of the students participating in the play are members of the LGBTQ+ community, and other students have hurled homophobic slurs at them in real life.
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"It's something that they hear all the time, all day long on campus. It's ironic that when it's put into a show, it's considered an obscenity," Anglin said.
Despite the district decision, students reconfigured the show for the Mercury Theatre, which welcomed the show.
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"You can’t silence it, or else no one’s going to learn," said Ross Winn, a junior at the high school.
Officials have since announced that shows could continue for anyone at least 16 years old.
