"Rent" stars in a high school drama of its own

Drama students at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach were excited to push the envelope with a spring production of the Bohemian love story "Rent."

But the school's drama teacher said the principal told him to cancel the show because she disapproved of the gay characters in the musical. Fal Asrani, the school's principal, disputes that she pulled the plug on the production, saying that she only asked to review the script.

Now, amid growing backlash and consternation from students and members of the gay community, the actors at Corona del Mar High are grudgingly preparing for a very different show: "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."

The drama teacher said it's a safer choice, and one sure to pass muster with his boss.

Drama instructor Ron Martin originally settled on "Rent," the story of artists living in New York City, for the spring musical. He said he hoped it would be a vehicle for teaching tolerance after overhearing students using homosexual slurs.

"My responsibility as a drama teacher is to expose my students to a variety of different types of plays," Martin said.

At a recent meeting with Martin and a union representative, Asrani shut down the "Rent" plan, saying that she needed to review the script because of the "prostitution and homosexuality" in the musical, Martin said, adding that there is no prostitution in the play.

Asrani did request a script, a common practice in the school district, and was not provided one, said Newport-Mesa Unified School District spokeswoman Laura Boss. The principal has discretion over anything that happens on campus, but she "emphatically denies" canceling the show, Boss said. That call was made by the drama teacher, she said.

"We feel confident at the role the principal played," Boss said, adding that district officials will follow up on the matter when students and staff return from a break next week.

Martin said Asrani had never asked to review a play script prior to a production in the five years he’s worked at the school. The teacher had already run "Rent" by actors' parents with no problem, he said. And previous shows such as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" portrayed adult themes without raising administrators' eyebrows.

Drama students, roughly 20 of whom had already been cast for roles in "Rent," were flabbergasted.

"We've all been angry," said Tim Dyess, 17, a Corona del Mar High senior and president of the Drama Club. "The reason why it got canceled was completely ridiculous.”

He and other students plan to distribute fliers and buttons and post YouTube videos criticizing what they view as a discriminatory move.

-- Susannah Rosenblatt

Comments

[dodger tony]

I work at Hollywood High School, which has one of the more prestigious drama programs in the city. Last year I suggested that "Rent" be done. The drama program was open to the idea but stated that getting the rights to it could be difficult. I actually wrote Michael Greif at the La Jolla Playhouse but didn't hear back. I assumed the rights were not available whatsoever.

I wonder if the portrayal of drug use was really the main concern. Somebody, somewhere is not telling the truth about what happened and it would be very interesting and very important to really know the truth. While Newport Beach is conservative, it sounds like the community was supportive of it and someone, somewhere, got cold feet.

Come on people, this is 2009. Lets grow the hell up. How embarrassing for the region. I really feel sorry for the kids who would have most likely been so passionate about the piece. It reminds me of Dead Poets Society and the father who wouldn't let his son do what he loved.

Hey someone, have some guts and put this extraordinary document of courage and pain up at your high school.

[joe peter]

A special edited version licensed by MTI has been available to high schools for two years. It's called Rent: School Edition.

http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000305

[Faux Asrani]

Well, my, my.

I never anticipated such an outcry, and during the Presidents Week break no less. It must be a slow news week; I’d hoped that drug-resistant head lice issue at the elementary school would’ve stolen the spotlight by now. All I was trying to do was protect the community from a play with unseemly characters, and their dreadful homosexual behaviors. All this stress, I long for my home country. President Ahmadinejad is right when he states that there are no homosexuals in Iran.

That Martin, he thinks he can go on with this play? We’ll see about that. And if any students dare to show up next week wearing ‘RENT’ t-shirts, well they had better be very careful. I’d hate to see any graduating seniors expelled for having marijuana found in their locker. Zero tolerance, remember.