Andrew Fox
Bishop nixes Trinity Prep play

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-play0107sep01,0,2822707.story


As I was looking through my local paper I came across an article that was about my former high school. Trinity Preparatory School, which is a small private Episcopal school in Orlando was going to perform the play "La Cage Aux Folles" at the school's auditorium. This play premiered on Broadway in 1983 and features "a gay couple and actors dressed in drag." This play also turned into the movie Birdcage, which starred Robin Williams. The director of the performance Janine Papin, choose this award winning play so she could give a challenge to her excellent drama students.

Bishop John Howe, who is head of Diocese of Central Florida read about this play in the news paper and then contacted Trinity Prep's headmaster, Craig Maughan and told him that this play was inappropriate due to its sexual orientation. In the past Howe has been opposed to supporting gay rights such as appointing a gay Bishop and same sex marriages.

The cast was told that the play would not be preformed on Friday, hours before the production was scheduled to premier. Many people where shocked when the play was cancelled due to the contents, which are not really sexual. The members of the play are hoping that they will be able to perform the play at an off-campus location.

The issue of gay sexual orientation is a hot topic theses days as more and more people are becoming openly gay and as citizens of the US they too should have the same rights as others. People such as John Howe disagree with gay rights because of something that was written in the bible thousands of years ago. They do not accept the fact that over time society changes and that they too should be open minded to adapt to the changes. To help evoke these changes in society film makers produce controversial pieces that speak their mind. In this Multicultural film course we will see many films that come from different cultures and present controversial topics. We should be open minded to each of the films, because in this class we are supposed to elaborate and get the purpose of the film and judge the film to personal feelings.