Grab some news

Some news you might be able to use (of the recent and theatrical variety):

At that Southern California high school where the clueless principal cancelled a production of *Rent* and then reversed herself, even as cast members were being threatened, they've owned up to the fact that a little sensitivity training (to help prevent harrassment and discrimination) might be in order.

You know that replica of an Elizabethan theater that they constructed for *Shakespeare in Love* 11 years ago? They're going to reassemble it in some as-yet-to-be-determined northern-England city, and Sir Ben Kingsley's British Shakespeare Company is going to perform plays in it.

Tyler Perry is going to film Ntozake Shange's most famous play in Nov.-Dec. in Atlanta and then release it under the Lionsgate label sometime next year.
"for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf" (1975) is a black feminist "choreopoem" in which, for example, "Lady in Blue" decides to have an abortion, "Lady in Red" recounts a story of domestic violence, etc. (Bobo enjoyed the Onyx Theater Company production at the East Central Community Center in, he's guessing, the late '90s.)

There aren't any gay people in Orange County

We sure don't want high school kids thinking that there might be any gay people lurking in the bushes nearby.

The principal at Corona del Mar High School has replaced *Rent* with *You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."

Bobo went to high school a dozen miles from there; he thought the good ol' days (?!) of the O.C. being a John Birch sanctuary were over. (Don't laugh: His high school Civics class was taught by a John Birch Society member, straight out of the Birch playbook.)
Disgusting. Stupid. Reactionary, discriminatory, small-minded bilgewater.
(Other than that, Mr. Bobo, how did you like the play?)

ADDED 2/20/09:
It seems that the drama teacher at Corona del Mar had backed down. The toned-down School Version of Rent has also been banned at other schools.

Here's a snippet from the N.Y. Times on the fiasco:
[Drama teacher Ron Martin] said his principal, Fal Asrani, had objected to the show because of its treatment of “prostitution and homosexuality.” “When I heard that, I stopped her and looked her in the eye and said, ‘First, there is no prostitution in ‘Rent,’ and second, homosexuality is not wrong,’ ” Mr. Martin said. “She made no comment. It was the most demoralizing, disappointing moment in my career as a teacher.”
Martin says he planned the production in response to what he termed "creeping homophobia" on the Corona campus.

ADDED 2/26/09:
The L.A. Times reports that *Rent* has now been un-cancelled. Sounds to Bobo as if the drama teacher didn't comply with some SOPs, then the principal overreacted, then the students and community overreacted.
Why do we settle for "nice and pleasant" when we could instead be discussing things that might change somebody's life?
Why do we shy away from discussing serious matters just because someone might be offended? Sometimes, what comes out of being offended is self-examination, an exchange of opinions, and so on. We have elevated "offending someone" to the worst of mortal sins.
I mean, after the Oscars, you think there aren't at least some gay kids in America who feel better about themselves, just because of the speeches by Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and by Sean Penn?

[ photo: CBGB in Greenwich Village -- NOT alluded to in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" ]

Box-n-Hat to do school edition of *Rent* in May 2009

Auditions are Thursday, Sept. 18, at 4 pm at the Civic
for ages 12-18
Cost: $225

Andrew Ware Lewis will direct the school edition of *Rent* with the Box-n-Hat Players at the Civic on May 30-31, 2009
In the meantime, he and musical director Carolyn Jess need interested teens to audition next week.
Prepare a verse and chorus from a Broadway musical
325-2507
www.spokanecivictheatre.com

*Rent* at NorthTown, Sept. 24-28

*Rent* closes on Broadway tomorrow
But you'll be able to see it in Spokane late this month.

In long-anticipated move parallel to the last two years' live broadcasts of Met Opera productions, the final performance of *Rent* will be "cinecast" at locations all over the nation.
During the performance, Sony's limited-engagement hi-def broadcast will wander backstage and into the wings.
No information yet on ticket prices.

Regal NorthTown Mall 12, Division and Wellesley
Wed.-Thurs., Sept. 24-25, at 7 pm and
Sat.-Sun., Sept. 27-28, at noon

Some stats on *Rent*: seventh-longest-running show in history; 5,140 performances; earned $625 million (including tours and 200 worldwide productions); unanimous vote of the Pulitzer committee; four Tonys.

Check out
this
www.fandango.com/rentfilmedliveonbroadway_
118183/movietimes?date=9/24/2008

And check out
this
www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?
archived=0&storyid=18834&categoryid=1

And also check out
this
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=20601088&sid=aS2SmTI5pTb4&refer=muse

And also, additionally check out
this