Play rejection ended bullying conversation opportunity

Recently, the Iowa City Press-Citizen published an article about the principal in Ottumwa disallowing “The Laramie Project” from being staged at the local high school. I feel he missed a golden opportunity to increase awareness about bullying.

Our granddaughter, who lives near Madison, Wis., spearheaded getting this play performed at her high school last year. Sarah wanted to use “The Laramie Project” for the annual school play. After some discussion, the project was on.

She began collecting short writings from students who had been bullied or were bullies. With the kids' permission, she added photographs she'd taken to the writings.

With the principal's support and a most able photographer from the Madison Sentinel, pictures and texts were greatly enlarged and became a wall of huge posters lining the hallway to the auditorium. There was discussion about whether this was appropriate for younger kids, and the decision was left to the parents who were duly informed of the content. There was about a 15 percent reduction in attendance, but the reviews for the play and the courage it took to perform it were terrific. The force of the pictures was huge. Awareness was certainly raised. Bullying is everywhere in all its ugly forms. We have to work to make it go away.

Hopefully, another year the Ottumwa principal will change his mind and it will be staged again.

Bobbie Paxton

Iowa City