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Opinion Editorials Play does have redeeming qualities
Play does have redeeming qualities
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Steve Martin tried unsuccessfully for years to get his play “Picasso at
the Lapin Agile’’ made into a movie. It never happened, probably
because film producers deemed it too highbrow. The play raves on about science, art, commercialism and the true meanings of talent and genius. It’s just too heavy for movie-goers who get their kicks seeing people killed and buildings blown up, over and over again. In 2006, Martin announced he had given up trying to make a film version. He may want to re-think that, now that the play’s been banned in at LHS. Publicity like that, money doesn’t buy. The metafictional play, centering on a meeting between Picasso, Einstein and a time-traveling Elvis Presley-like character in a bar in 1904, is raunchy in places. No doubt about it. But since its debut in 1994, it has earned high acclaim. It has enjoyed long, successful runs in Chicago, New York and San Francisco and played in countless small venues, including high schools. It’s more than a little newsworthy that the La Grande School Board voted 4-3 to uphold Superintendent Larry Glaze’s ban of the production. It’s also a little disconcerting. At a stormy, jam-packed special meeting, Glaze said the play violates district policy against offensive or objectionable material. He can’t be faulted for following his conscience, but the judgment could lead people unfamiliar with the work to dismiss it as obscene with no redeeming value. That’s unfortunate. The play is a little gem that provides marvelous insight into the nature of dreams and ambitions. It deserves better treatment. Hindsight is 20-20, but the question of whether “Picasso ...” should be allowed on the LHS stage should have been handled differently. Obviously, Glaze never saw the storm clouds gathering. The play should have been reviewed and held up to policy long before and not after the protests erupted. That would have saved everybody a lot of trouble. Another alternative: though the thought of editing a work of art is repugnant, a case might be made for it where high school students are involved. It’s been done before. With just enough creative cutting, the show could have gone on with everybody feeling like they won a little. Instead of any reasonable solution, we wound up with a sharply divided community, people on one side crying “Indecency!” and people on the other invoking the First Amendment. The rancorous debate and the decision to ban didn’t do a thing for La Grande’s image. And irony of ironies, nothing really was accomplished. The cast and crew will stage the play at Eastern Oregon University. If anything, they’ll draw a bigger crowd than they would have if there had been no controversy. But don’t worry about these students. Because they are bright, smart human beings capable of forming their own good judgments, they will emerge with their morality and humanity intact. They can handle the adult themes, even the profanity. The truth is, there’s nothing in “Picasso ...” these young people haven’t heard already, and nothing in it they won’t be hearing the rest of their lives. |
