High School cancels production of 'Be More Chill' after one performance due to content
by Chris Peterson
Chris Peterson is the Founder of OnStage Blog
Tis’ the season of high school productions, which means it’s also the season of schools canceling productions due to content issues. It happens every year and this year it’s Turlock High School in Turlock, CA that kicks it off.
According to reports, after their production of “Be More Chill” opened last Thursday night, school administrators moved to cancel the remaining performances due to the “mature content” in the show.
The show had been advertised with warnings of the content within the show and that parental guidance was recommended. But that wasn’t enough and now the students involved won’t be able to play in front of the full houses they envisioned they would.
As expected, everyone involved is saddened by the news. According to one parent, her daughter was “crushed,” she said. “After missing out on so many activities due to the pandemic, this show was one of the first things she was involved in at school”, the parent said.
The students were apparently allowed to perform the show once more, but just in front of immediate family.
So how did this happen? Well, that’s where things get a bit muddied and deserve mentioning. Because it looks like this is another case of adults in the room acting irresponsibly and only the students are the ones to suffer.
According to local news,
District officials believe communication between the director and site administration to secure approval for the spring musical did not occur, Russell said. A message posted to Turlock High’s website Friday said the district will review protocols for approval of all performances moving forward.
If this is true, the fault is entirely on the director and administration. It was either on the director to seek approval to do the show or for the administration to check to approve it. The fact that this apparently did not occur is terrible. It is unconscionable that this led to the school canceling the production after it had already opened. The students shouldn’t be punished for the dumb actions by the educators in the room. At that point, the show should have been allowed to continue and then the administrators could take action after it concluded.
The news of this has already hit social media with the show’s composer, Joe Iconis, chiming in.
“Be More Chill” is certainly an edgy choice compared to typical high school musical fare. It’s based on a novel by Ned Vizzini and follows a high school student who takes a pill, nicknamed a “Squip,” in hopes it will help him become popular. The Squip acts like a supercomputer inside his head, telling him how to act if he wants to seem cool. But it comes with risks — he must choose between the Squip and his true self.
The show is set in high school and the teen characters mention sex, masturbation, drinking, and smoking marijuana. They also use expletives at a couple of moments in the show as well.
School administrators are well within their right to deny permission to perform it given they have to account for every age potentially being in that audience. The director should also take this into consideration when selecting material. But when this group of adults fails, the students are the ones shattered by their terrible decision-making.
My heart goes out to the students at Turlock, especially the seniors. I can’t imagine basically having half of your high school theatre experience eliminated due to a pandemic and then having your last performance cut because of stupid adults making stupid decisions.