History of Theater Censorship in the US

During the 1930s, theater approached its greatest momentum as a symbol for social and political change in America thanks to the Federal Theater Project. The theater activities of 1937, especially, involved vigorous protests surrounding the theater unions’ new demands and the work force in general. Performers and writers responded to these demonstrations with a piece called The Cradle Will Rock—which was subsequently shut down by the government for it’s pro-union and anti-capitalism sentiments. The night of the show, audiences were met by a closed theater and a sly lie that the production was put off until July 1^st. However, the performers led audiences to the Venice Theater where a piano rendition of the musical was performed. Although those who participated avoided severe punishment, they defied the orders of some of the most powerful political and theatrical leaders in America in order to defend their right to free expression. Link 1 (Cradle Will Rock coverage)

Censorship like this continued into the “Red Scare”, but eventually petered out. Although we believe the days of theater censorship are long gone, we still face these problems on smaller, but more influential scale. Recently, various reports have shown schools cancelling performances for “inappropriate content”—homosexual themes being the biggest contributor. A high school in Pennsylvania recently took Spamalot off its calendar for that reason exactly. The principle believed that students should not be expected to make any decisions regarding controversial material. Link 2 (Spamalot Cancellation)

This idea is reminiscent of the censorship style of the early English government regarding obscenities. It was believed that obscenity was a crime if it “disturbed the civil order” and was therefore punishable. Speech or any expression regarding the LGBT community is a hot topic for debate, and would most likely be censored by old English rulings. Although we do not punish obscene speech in modern America, we do tend to shut it down at an educational level. Theater has a way to open audience members and performers alike to new ideas and challenging concepts; if we do not allow our youth to hear, see, read or act on these ideas how can we expect them to form a coherent opinion or lead a country? Theater is an art based on speech that inspires powerful emotions and presents the opportunity to let students to speak up and confront norms, whether it’s as a performer or an audience member. It is one thing to read a book or a play, it’s another to choose to participate and hear the words aloud. High-schoolers need to be confronted with controversial material in order to grow into opinionated adults.  The more opinions present, the more free speech and debate is protected.