theawesomeadventurer:

Clovis Unified School District Fails Its Students (Again)

In order from left to right: Bella Martin, CC Fisher, and Mallory Lozano pictured in costume playing on a swingset.

“Education is a journey of continuous improvement involving the school, the family and the community.” This is one of the five core values of Buchanan High school. So why isn’t anything improving?  

On January 20th, 2017 the play No Exit directed by student senior Jared Serpa was canceled after one performance due to parents calling and complaining about “overly gay scenes” and “a woman playing a man’s character”.

No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre consisting of three main characters. Garcin: a coward. Estelle: vain. And, lastly, Inez: a self proclaimed “damned bitch” and also- a lesbian.  Inez was played by Bella Martin. Estelle was played by Mallory Lozano. Garcin was played by CC Fisher. A summary of the play can be found here.

For those unfamiliar with the play’s characters, Garcin is written to be male but is played by CC Fisher, an androgynous individual. Yet, as many know, in the world of theatre anyone can be anything, and having someone of one gender play a part meant for  someone of another is nothing new. Shakespeare himself had male actors play women for hundreds of years due to woman lacking any personal freedom and being  forbidden by law to become actors at that time.

Times have changed, however, and things are different now. Woman can now become actors. Women play men, men play women, and when put simply- people play other people. Things are different now- at least everywhere else.

Here in Clovis Unified, apparently having a genderqueer actor who happens to appear feminine is too much. Here in Clovis Unified, apparently having a few scenes in which two women flirt and look into eachother’s eyes is too much. Put simply, here in Clovis Unified, apparently…being different is too much.

Upon hearing of the show’s cancellation Buchanan High school and CUSD’s  students took to twitter to defend their fellow student actors who worked for months in preparation for their show- a show that only saw it’s opening night and nothing more- and to sign this petition made by the cast and crew. 

As a senior at Buchanan High I was also shocked at the sudden cancellation of No Exit, especially since it is a required read for any Buchanan Student entering AP English and Literature. My immediate thought was, “So we can read about gay people but we can’t see them on stage?”  Upon letting the news settle in my shock turned to anger. A student show that supported local artists and young gay actors was shut down due to homophobia and reinforcement of gender roles- two things that bring no improvement to the journey of education.

I am bisexual, I am a student at Buchanan, and I like to believe I am speaking on the behalf of my fellow members in the LGBT community when I say this situation is not “ just an opinion”. This is homophobia and discrimination- and worse yet- this is CUSD and Buchanan High saying that it’s okay.

ADDENDUM

When possible, since CUSD will not allow No Exit to be performed on any school grounds, the cast and I plan to call local public and community theatres to discuss the possibility of renting a space in order for the show to go on. I have set up a YouCaring page in the hopes that the community will come together for what is right and help us by donating in order to cover the costs of theatre rental.