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Staff Reports

NJ Catholic High School Cancels Spring Play Production Of “The Laramie Project

LAWRENCE, NEW JERSEY -- A decision by the administrators of Notre Dame High School to cancel the spring production of “The Laramie Project,” has provoked outrage from students and cast members who are angry that the decision was based on undue pressure from a limited number of parents and others in the school community.

Sabrina Campelo, a sophomore at Notre Dame and a cast member said:

The spring play was supposed to be "The Laramie Project", but as we were a week into rehearsals, yesterday, the show was shut down due to the complaints from the community and parents of the school. The show was already approved by our president and our principal and they allowed the pressure of the community to shut it down. Us students all signed up for this project to share the story and spread awareness to help educate the ignorant people. Our play was shut down, for the same reason we were putting it up.

The principal and administrators claimed that parents were worried that the choice for the play was inappropriate for high schoolers. “The Laramie Project,” is an award winning play based on the violent 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay college student beaten and left tied to a fence to die.

The cast members and students say they’ve been unfairly robbed of their ability to put on a thought-provoking and powerful play, one whose message of tolerance resonates powerfully in the wake of the Tyler Clementi cyberbullying verdict and other anti-harassment efforts in New Jersey and around the nation.

Campelo adds:

So far we have had an overwhelming number of students at school and

even college students from all over the United States are supporting the cast's decision to attempt to bring back our show. Over 700 emails have been sent to the principal from students and some from alumni expressing our sadness and disappointment for allowing the ignorance of the community to influence the decision to shut down the play. Our principal's response was ‎"The broader community does not know or understand this play." SHE'S NOT LETTING US SHOW THEM! if they never give us the opportunity to help them understand, they never will. We gotta start somewhere!

“I wanted to do a show that had meaning and purpose to it and when I found out we were doing ‘The Laramie Project’ I got really excited because this show teaches the values I’ve been taught my last 12 years of Catholic education,” cast member and Notre Dame senior Tessa Holtenrichs said. “When I was told we couldn’t do it, I felt like it was really hypocritical.”

While students described Notre Dame as a high school with an unusually tolerant and friendly atmosphere, “We felt it was breaking barriers being at a Catholic high school,” senior cast member Macklin Fitzpatrick said.

School president Barry Breen and principal Mary Ivins said in a statement the choice for the spring play was originally seen as a “powerful and appropriate vehicle” to address issues of respect and tolerance. But as calls questioning the play’s content rolled in, officials worried that the controversy would become distracting, and the decision was made Tuesday to cancel the show.

“The expression of these concerns opened our eyes to the realization that different eyes will see radically different messages than the ones we intended,” they said.

“This has led the administration to conclude that we might inadvertently be placing our school at the center of an undesired and potentially damaging controversy by moving forward with the production.”  ~ The New Jersey Times

Hundreds of high schools, colleges and community theaters have put on Moisés Kaufman’s play, which became a 2002 HBO film, with varying degrees of controversy.

In 2009, members of the extremist Westboro Baptist Church picketed a production at an Indianapolis high school. Other shows, including several at Catholic high schools, have drawn little in the way of fire.

Cast members and school officials said the play had been edited slightly to remove some language and one particularly intense scene. Few uttered surprise at the complaints the play drew at Notre Dame, but said the Catholic Church, which opposes gay marriage, has maintained gays are still deserving of love and understanding.

The High School nor the Archdiocese of Trenton returned calls or e-mails from LGBTQNation seeking comment on the play’s cancellation.