High School Antigone: A Musical by
What happens at the start of this show is happening in schools all over the US. High school drama teacher Arabella has chosen to stage what she sees as a bland, tame musical – but the new school board still shuts it down as offensive, mid-rehearsal, upsetting kids who have been learning their parts, especially outspoken Elinor. Arabella’s wife Lillian agrees that Arabella’s sleepy hometown is getting polarized...
What happens at the start of this show is happening in schools all over the US. High school drama teacher Arabella has chosen to stage what she sees as a bland, tame musical – but the new school board still shuts it down as offensive, mid-rehearsal, upsetting kids who have been learning their parts, especially outspoken Elinor. Arabella’s wife Lillian agrees that Arabella’s sleepy hometown is getting polarized and ugly. Arabella has been wanting to stage Antigone by Sophocles, and Lillian advises Arabella to turn it into a musical with the kids in Arabella’s songwriting class. The kids have fun learning about ancient Greek drama and writing songs. Arabella tries to handle and flim-flam anti-“woke” Jack, who represents the school board. To distract him from all that is inherently subversive about the show, she emphasizes how Antigone is a European classic: a triumph of Western civilization! To Jack’s dismay, his son Corey is one of the “drama kids." Jack worries that this means Corey is gay; in fact, Corey has a crush on Elinor, though she considers him suspect. She plays Antigone and he plays Kreon, basing the character on his father. A kid named Beth plays Ismene, Antigone’s sister. Elinor gives Beth a hard time about being a wuss, like the character she plays, but Beth is doing what she feels she has to, to survive high school in her own way. One kid plays the Greek Chorus, and another plays Tiresias, the blind seer. Fisher, a gay young man, plays Haemon, the son of Kreon; he and Corey commiserate about their terrible relationships with their fathers, even as they rehearse a father/son scene about that kind of tense relationship. Corey and Elinor, while rehearsing, confront each other about the bad blood between them. The censorship-happy school board wants cuts in the show, which the students are not prepared to make; they take a stand on opening night.