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Canceled school play about Iraq brings out real drama
Connecticut students find themselves in the national spotlight when their principal shuts down their play.
from the June 12, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Other monologues describe soldiers wrestling with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, questioning the reasons they're in Iraq, or lamenting the horrors they see. In one monologue particularly bothersome to the school's administrators, a soldier describes shooting a veiled woman by mistake.
In addition to the script's use and attribution of such scenes, the principal felt these were in a dramatic context that sensationalized atrocities, and therefore lacked balance and perspective.
While students recognize the script brings out the negative aspects of the war, they don't want to describe it as antiwar. "It's not an issue of liberal and conservative," says Tara. "We're not all liberals, and we have different views on the war, even if we see that there are no easy answers." Another cast member, Devon Fontaine, adds, "A lot of things in life are hazy, and we've really learned this as we've done the research for the play.... But I think it's the highest honor we can give the troops by letting their voices be heard."
Canty's cancellation of the spring performance, however, led to an explosion of attention. The National Coalition Against Censorship and the Dramatists Guild urged the administration to allow the students to perform the play, unedited, in a letter signed by 33 prominent playwrights, including Edward Albee, Christopher Durang, and Marsha Norman. Music Theatre International, a New York agency that licenses most student productions, awarded the Wilton students a "Courage in Theater" award.
"Now we're taking it to New York, and I think that will be really great," says Sarah Anderson, a senior playing Sgt. Kelly Dougherty. "But it's still so frustrating that we can't perform it here in school, which is what we wanted to do from the beginning."
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