High School Musical ... or Drama in the Theatre?

So, surely by now, you know that AISD refused to fund a student-cast district-wide summer production of Rent, right? Our own Arts Ed Robert Faires most excellently reported on all this a few months ago.

Well, it seems that the Houston Chronicle and a number of other outlets have finally picked up on the story.

The good news?

The show will go on – no thanks to AISD. The thanks for this brave production go instead to McCallum High School principal Mike Garrison, Theatre at McCallum Fine Arts Academy technical director M. Scott Tatum, and to parents and students who wouldn't let the show die. Robert published an update with this news a few issues back.

We especially like this part from his first report:

…Tatum and his colleagues on the production were notified by John May, AISD interim administrative supervisor of fine arts, that AISD could not support a districtwide production of Rent. No specifics were cited for the decision to withdraw support, just the assertion that Rent would not be well-received in some campus communities.

As the show deals openly with drug use, HIV/AIDS, and homosexuality, that's very likely, but here's the rub: In the notice that informed the teachers of the decision and the need for them to choose another show this summer, May offered a few alternatives: Les Misérables, Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd. So AISD was cool with last year's show featuring slaves and prostitutes – excuse me, courtesans – and thinks everyone would be fine with shows that feature more prostitutes, strippers (and mothers who push their daughters to become strippers), or bloody murders and cannibalism, but the district draws the line at gays and lesbians?

We'd love to see this run packed with family. It's the best way for us to show our gratitude to this sweet community of kids and to support their courage. Rent runs Thursday-Saturday, July 17-19, 7pm, and Sunday, July 20, 2pm, at the Theatre at McCallum High School, 5600 Sunshine. click the links in this paragraph for tickets or mo' info.