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New York’s Tectonic Theater Project and its founding artistic director Moisés Kaufman are speaking out against a recent decision by a Texas high school board to cancel a student production of Tectonic’s widely performed The Laramie Project.
The 2000 play, which was adapted as a feature film in 2002, is about the reaction to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.
“When the administration of the Timber Creek High School cancels a production of The Laramie Project, it’s telling the LGBTQ students that their stories are unwelcome, that they should refrain from speaking their truth and that that community is not willing to listen,” Kaufman said in the statement. “This is a terrible thing to do to any minority.
“The Laramie Project has been performed in thousands of universities and high schools around the world,” he continues. “The only logical reason to censor it is homophobia – and that’s not what that school should be teaching its children.”
The school board of Timber Creek High School in Keller, Texas, canceled the performance last week. According to The Dallas Morning News, parents in the district received an email from the board last Friday saying that school leaders are “working on developing an alternative production opportunity for our students.” The email indicates that students “will still have an opportunity to read, discuss, and analyze the play during the school day.”
District spokesman Bryce Nieman said in a statement to local news organizations that the decision was made by “many stakeholders,” and 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.”
Since the board’s announcement, an online petition urging the reinstatement of the production has garnered more than half of a 5,000-signature goal. “This play is a poignant depiction of queer history,” the petition reads. “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. The absence of such narratives can lead to ignorance, prejudice, and discrimination.”
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