'The show must go on': Students raise $80K to perform canceled play with LGBTQ+ characters

After school administrators allegedly canceled the spring play at Carroll High School amid Fort Wayne, Indiana, community members' complaints about its LGBTQ+ characters, a group of students decided to produce the play independently, raising over $80,000 to support the production, which runs this Saturday.

The school district, in a written statement, denied the allegation, saying they made this decision with the experience and safety of the kids in mind.

The disputed play is Adam Szymkowicz's “Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood." The 2017 play is described as "gender-bending, patriarchy-smashing" spin on the English folktale. The students are putting on an amended "teen edition" of the comedy, which features a nonbinary character and a same-sex couple fighting against Prince John to protect the vulnerable.

"It just kind of felt hopeless at the time," senior Breanna Hess told Michael Oberholtzer, a Fort Wayne native and Broadway actor, in a recording of a Zoom call provided to IndyStar, part of the Paste BN Network. "It doesn't matter what a bunch of adults have to say. We're allowed to express ourselves because we know who we are."

Student: Cancelation made them 'even more pessimistic'

The students said in a video posted online that their drama teacher wanted to host a production that "made everyone feel welcome." But on the second day of auditions, the student actors said they were told what they considered a huge leap for their school's LGBTQ+ community was dropped. The school replaced it with “Puffs!”

Senior Stella Brewer-Vartanian first heard the play was canceled when she was in math class and was immediately moved to behind-the-scenes advocacy when she learned it wasn't a rumor.

"It made me feel just even more pessimistic than I already was," Brewer-Vartanian said. "I wasn't surprised, unfortunately, when I heard that the play was canceled, but it doesn't mean I was any less upset."

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After the play was initially cut, a change.org petition sprung up with a goal of 250 signatures to reverse the school's decision. It sits at over 5,500 as of May 18. About a dozen students spoke at a Feb. 27 school board meeting asking for the show to go on, but Brewer-Vartanian said that was a dead end.

Nathan Gotsch, producer of independent Marian play, saw the headlines about the students' fight for the play and reached out to help make their idea a reality. He said he always gravitated toward theatre growing up and found confidence when his mother urged him to play the part of Avery in "Charlotte's Web." Now he wants to help these students achieve that same feeling. These high schoolers need to see characters who reflect who their identities, he said, especially when so many kids find refuge in their theatre programs.

A website, dubbed marianlives.org, was launched with show details as well as a way to donate and to buy tickets.

"Marian is thematically fitting enough — it's about standing up for what's right even when what's right is not what's popular," Brewer-Vartanian said. "It's about being brave in times of conflict, and it's about more than anything, being yourself and being happy with yourself."

Their fight has drawn the attention of supporters from across the country. The students posted a video on social media telling their story, which garnered a few thousand retweets and likes, along with hundreds of comments hailing their support and admiration. A GoFundMe, organized by Fort Wayne Pride, raised over $80,000 from over 2,200 donors to put on their play.

Oberholtzer, a Tony-nominated Broadway actor, who implored the students huddled around a TV, both in seats and on the floor, to tell him about the details of their triumph.

"It was really just kind of gut wrenching, and it felt kind of like proof that the school didn't care about anybody except the majority of the people," freshman Parker Ryan Larson told him. "This group of theater kids could be like overwhelmed by just a few parents who decided they didn't like who we 'decided' to be."

The student actors were on a tight timeline of three weeks to practice and get ready for their show this Saturday, since several are graduating and were performing in the school's replacement show. Those weeks have been filled with opportunities to meet industry professionals, feedback from Blane Pressler, Fort Wayne native and New York director, and an eagerness to perform something taken away from them.

"There's like an atmosphere of, 'we're gonna get this done, and it's gonna be great,'" Brewer-Vartanian said.

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Disagreements over cancelation reason

Students, parents and other community members say displeased community members pressured the school to cancel the play over its inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters. However, the school district says they were prioritizing the students' experience and not catering to community member' requests.

In interviews with IndyStar, school board meetings and a video posted on social media, those involved with the production have repeatedly said "parent complaints" prompted the school's decision.

The Northwest Allen County Schools School district said in a written statement that the play was cancelled and replaced with a different production due to "disruptions already occurring between students directly involved within the theater department." They said the decision was not based on community member complaints, outside threats or the presence of LGBTQ+ representation.

"(Principal Cleve) Million repeatedly said he made the decision to change the play in the best interests of all students because of disruptions that were happening between students who wanted to participate in the play," the statement read. "It became readily apparent to Mr. Million that these disruptions would overshadow the performance, hard work, and talents of our students."

IndyStar has asked the school district for additional information regarding the nature of those disruptions.

Three speakers, two of which who identified themselves as a parent or family member, told the NACS school board in a Feb. 27 meeting that they applauded the decision to keep political "agendas" out of schools. Two said the play was exclusionary to Christian students.

The NACS School Board members did not respond to IndyStar's requests for comment. Darren Vogt, at-large board member, previously told Fort Wayne's WANE 15 he agreed with the decision to drop the play.

At that school board meeting, Superintendent Wayne Barker said reasons alleged for the plays cancelation were not factual, and they want all students feel like they belong.

"This came down to an issue where our our principal felt that it was it was going to be an unsafe activity for our students to participate in because of how divisive it was becoming, even with students who were wanting to participate," Barker said at the meeting. "We are fully intending to move forward with a play that all students can participate in. We want all students to be a part of that, and it'd be one that is more about the kids who are participating than the things that they're saying within the script."

The superintendent was unaware of the situation until Million informed him of the decision, according to his comment at the meeting and the statement shared with IndyStar.

In response to the district's comments, Gotsch disagreed with putting the blame on the students.

"People can make up their own minds about who's telling the truth with respect to how we got here," Gotsch said.

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Looking forward despite pushback

The play's roadblocks arise at a time when legislation in Indiana and across the country is being proposed and passed to institute book bans, eliminate conversation of topics like gender fluidity and sexual orientation in schools and ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Brewer-Vartanian said the mounds of support have made all the difference to put on this show, so the production staff hopes they can help other students stand up to overcome a "loud minority."

"To see that in your home and in your community is terrifying, and I think for some people, it's either stand up and fight back against it, or it's freeze and kind of go into denial," Brewer-Vartanian said. "A lot of the people who are pushing these bills and are pushing these strands of censorship are bullies, and the thing about bullies is when no one stands up to them, they think they have more support than they really do."

The show's students and outside support are working to create a toolkit to make it easier for students elsewhere who find themselves in similar situations. Gotsch said they hope to start a community fund with the play's profits.

"The kids have quite a vision; obviously, they really are passionate about this and have not backed down which is really courageous especially in today's political climate," said Nikki Fultz, Fort Wayne Pride director. "That is something that people really across the country are realizing: this is not OK, we can't keep silencing LGBTQ voices."

Contact IndyStar Pulliam Fellow Cate Charron at ccharron@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @catecharron.