O.C. school district makes amends over ‘Rent’ controversy
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical ‘Rent’ is close to 14 years old, but it has clearly lost none of its ability to provoke.
This week, an Orange County school district announced a settlement involving events surrounding a student production of the musical in which varsity athletes allegedly threatened to rape and kill a lead actress.
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has agreed to provide harassment and discrimination prevention training to Corona del Mar High School students, teachers and administrators. The school district will also apologize to the student, Hail Ketchum, now a freshman studying theater at Loyola Marymount University.
A March lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union reportedly says that three football players posted an online video in which they threatened Ketchum and used slurs to describe another classmate.
Earlier this year, the school’s principal canceled ‘Rent: School Edition,’ citing concerns about the show’s content. The production was later allowed to continue.
-- David Ng
