Texas School District in Hot Water Again over cancellation of "The Laramie Project"
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
Last August, the Keller Independent School District in Texas found themselves embroiled in a controversy over banning a trans & non-binary student from joining a girl’s choir at one of their schools. The student’s family ended up suing the Keller ISD and that case is still pending.
But the school district is under fire once again, this time over canceling a planned production of ‘The Laramie Project’ despite the show being approved earlier in the year.
Timber Creek High School parents received an email Friday night saying that students would no longer perform the show this spring. The email did not explain the change.
District spokesman Bryce Nieman said in a statement that the decision was “made by many stakeholders.”
“The decision to move forward with another production at Timber Creek High School was based on the desire to provide a performance similar to the ones that have created much excitement from the community, like this year’s Keller ISD musical productions of Mary Poppins and White Christmas,” Nieman wrote in an email.
‘The Laramie Project’ is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.
Shepard’s mother, Judy, told the Morning News she was disappointed. “My heart is broken when people still refuse to see how important this work is,” she said.
A petition is circulating calling for the school to reverse this decision and allow the students to perform the show.
The petition states,
“By banning this play, we are not only suppressing an important piece of history but also denying our students a chance to understand and empathize with the struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community.”
To me, this is another example of how bigoted schools have become toward the LGBTQ+ community, especially in states like Texas. I feel awful for the students and the community who were looking forward to performing this important work. I also find it ridiculous that the Keller ISD seemingly approved the decision to perform the show before reversing course for unknown(but we know, don’t we?) reasons.
For their part, the students aren’t being provided with details as to why this is happening other than reportedly being told that school leaders want “more exciting performance opportunities”.
Neely Jones, a junior at the school says differently.
“Just because it does not seem ‘exciting’ to the community does not mean that it is not important or exciting for us, the performers,” Jones said. “We don’t do performances to sell tickets, we do theatre because it’s healing.”
When school administrators pull stunts like these, they only embolden the hateful crowd and put the LGBTQ+ community in a worse position. It’s disgusting. And given their previous work to ban a trans & non-binary student from joining a school choir, I’m more than tired of it.
I hope a resolution can be made and the students are allowed to perform the show, either at the school itself or perhaps a local theatre in the Keller area. If the schools aren’t safe spaces anymore for these students, then the local theatres should welcome them with open arms.