The drama group at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School in Massachusetts is performing William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning musical Falsettos this weekend. That might seem to be of only local interest, except that the play is about a man who leaves his wife for another man, and the impact of that decision on his wife, son, and two other couples, one lesbian and one straight. The school is the first public high school in the country to produce it for an outside audience, reports the Boston Globe.
The right-wing group MassResistance, which campaigned against marriage equality here in the Bay State, recently sent out an online newsletter with the headline, “Concord-Carlisle High School presenting depraved homosexual musical.’’
The students don’t seem to mind. Director and math teacher Peter Atlas says that when he told the straight students playing the two gay male leads that if their performances were any good, people would likely assume that they, too, were gay, it wasn’t a problem for them. For sophomore Hannah Kilcoyne, who plays the 12-year-old son, the play hits closer to home. After being married to Hannah’s father, her own mom discovered she was a lesbian.
This isn’t about forcing some “homosexual agenda” on innocent students. This is about letting students experience the richness of drama—good, Tony Award-winning drama—that reflects their own lives and those of others around them.
What the Globe didn’t mention, however, is that MassResistance also said Atlas is “a long-time homosexual activist, a personal friend of Kevin Jennings, and former board member of GLSEN” (http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09d/falsettos_play/index.html). Jennings, one of GLSEN’s co-founders, is now the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education. The idea of a gay man having anything to do with children has whipped the right into a frenzy trying to remove him. Their objections to the high school play should be seen in the light of this larger goal.
It remains to be seen whether there will be any protests at the performances; regardless, these kids need your support and encouragement. If you’re in the Boston area this weekend, do try to attend. Performances will be this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the high school auditorium, 500 Walden St., Concord. Tickets are $15 at the door.
Zander Ansara, who plays the male lead, tried out because he didn’t make the soccer team, and observes, “My friends don’t make fun of me for playing a gay character. They just make fun of me for being in a play.’’ And thus the age-old battle between jocks and drama/music geeks continues. Sue Sylvester would be proud.
Jane Lynch, I imagine, would be even prouder of what these kids are doing.
(Thanks to Sarah Brannen for the tip!)
[Update: Please see the comment below from Hannah Kilcoyne’s mom.]
Good on them. Hugely so. Makes me wish we were up there, so we could go.
Thanks so much for this post. I’m Hannah Kilcoyne’s mom. I hope any of you in the Greater Boston area who are free this weekend will come see Falsettos. I do need to share that the show may not be appopriate for children under the age of 13 (and not because of the gay theme but because it’s very, very complex and there’s some serious language). So if you have young children, in my opinion it would be best to get a babysitter and consider it a date/bring-a-friend night (or afternoon). Tickets will be available at the door and the seating is open but I recommend coming early to get a good seat. I also need to comment on the words in the blog post “Her own mom divorced her father when she came out as a lesbian.” Sigh. That wasn’t quite how it happened. Five years ago when I met the woman I fell in love with, I had been married to Hannah’s dad for 16 years and was very, very fond of him, although there was something that wasn’t quite right (I didn’t know what until the bolt of lightning hit me). He and I had two wonderful children together, a home we’d lived in since our first child was born, a social life in our community and in our (very liberal) church, and had built a life together. So it wasn’t so simple for me. It wasn’t like I said to him, “Oh by the way I’m a lesbian now; see ya!” It was very, very painful for me, not to mention for him, and we worked hard together to create a wonderful new relationship built on love, our history together, our desire to continue parenting our children together, as well as respecting our own individual needs. We still live on the same property (he’s in a studio over our garage) and we are raising our kids together as we always did, with the exception that we sleep in different places and are no longer in an intimate relationship. The children are doing great and are fully accepting. I also want to share that my experience was more of a “discovery” than a “coming out,” since I was not consciously in The Closet. I just didn’t know I was gay until I met this woman. Exhilarating and liberating, yet excruciating. Perhaps some of you out there know what I’m talking about. I’m proud to be where I am now, living an authentic life (except for the fact that I’m now single – that’s not so fun) and I’m very proud of my children and my former husband for their hard work and love that keeps us still together and still a Family.
Many thanks for your comment, Martha. I apologize for saying you divorced Hannah’s father when you came out–I certainly did not mean to imply that the experience was easy. (Mostly, I was just repeating what the Globe had reported.) I’ve changed the wording slightly, however, based on your comment. It is wonderful to see two parents who are no longer married but are still committed to raising their children with love and respect for all. I’ve seen too many nasty custody battles, gay and straight. Your experience shows that it doesn’t have to be that way. I hope Hannah’s performance this weekend is a big success!