Where's the line?

1 Comment By Spencer Spotts | November 16, 2012

As an actor, you tell the story of different struggles, different triumphs, and different lives. You deliver a message. However, stronger messages tend to correlate with shows featuring adult content. As actors, we often love the challenge of tackling a piece that explores difficult and mature content.

As teenage performers, is there a line of “too much controversy?”

Pieces such as The Laramie Project send weighty messages to their audiences, and have been popular choices by high schools. Is the content found in similar shows too much for the teenage actor? Or does choosing edgier material teach not only the audience, but the students as well?

The answer really depends on the community and environment. Some titles such as Urinetown cause plenty of stir in school districts, while other troupes are openly applauded for their performances of shows like Good Boys and True.

What is your opinion? Students, how do you feel when presented with the opportunity to perform a mature piece? Do you believe there is a fine line between risk-taking, and pushing the limits too far just for attention? Directors and theatre educators, how do you decide what is appropriate for your students? What do you feel should be the boundary for high school level theatre?

All Comments

A wonderful topic to bring up - I think it is very pertinent to high school thespians and teachers. As a student, I tend to see theatre as a "safe" place to explore tough topics - you can recreate emotions and experiences in a nonthreatening environment, where the true consequences can be portrayed but not suffered. That's not an option in the real world. Theatre gives us the chance to rehearse our problems, think about them, discuss them, feel those emotions, and ultimately better understand them - minus the pain of real life. Therefore, I am inclined to embrace the opportunity to perform pieces that may be considered "mature", as I can learn from them and grow and help others to do the same.

However, do I think that every show should be granted free license to the high school stage? No... I, for one, can think of shows in which I may not be comfortable acting. That's when I leave it to the judgement of the director to decide what is appropriate for the situation, audience, and students; and, most importantly, to the judgement of the one who can best determine comfort zone - the individual student. It is impossible to ask a theatre director to select shows that will be "clean" enough for everyone - there are just too many different ways to interpret material, too many opinions to recognize. At which point, the student needs to be the one to make that call, or the student's guardian. I believe that whether or not a show is "too mature" is up to you and the people in your school. There are shows I would never pick for a high school, but that doesn't mean there aren't other students who would be happy to perform in those shows.

Thanks for blogging on this - as a thespian participating in different shows, this is the sort of issue that really hits home!

— Abby on December 29, 2012 at 10:31pm

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