Hillsboro High School (Screenshot via Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO-TV)
A Southwest Ohio high school’s play was abruptly canceled after Jeff Lyle, a local pastor from Good News Gathering, complained of a gay character.
Hillsboro High School’s fall production of “She Kills Monsters” was scheduled to open in less than one month, until students learned the play would be canceled last week, reports Cincinnati’s ABC affiliate WCPO.
The story follows a high school senior as she learns about her late sister’s life. It is implied throughout the play that her sister is gay, according to the news station.
The play’s cancellation comes a week after Lyle, a long-time voice of the anti-LGBTQ+ religious-right in Ohio, and a group of parents confronted the production’s directors at a meeting, according to Cincinnati CBS affiliate Local 12. Lyle denies pressuring school officials, but tells WCPO he supports the decision.
“From a Biblical worldview this play is inappropriate for a number of reasons, e.g. sexual innuendo, implied sexual activity between unmarried persons, repeated use of foul language including taking the Lord’s name in vain,” Lyle said.
Some families say they believe Lyle did influence the school’s decision.
“I think that’s wrong,” Jon Polstra, a father of one of the actors, told WCPO. “All they would have had to do if they objected to something in the play was not go to the play.”
In a statement to Local 12, Hillsboro City Schools Superintendent Tim Davis said the play was canceled because it “was not appropriate for our K-12 audience.”
The Lexington Herald Leader reports that the school planned to perform a version intended for audiences as young as 11 years old.
Students were “devastated” and “blindsided” by the news, according to WCPO.
“It felt like we had just been told, ‘Screw off and your lives don’t matter,’” Christopher Cronan, a Hillsboro High student, said. “I am openly bisexual in that school and I have faced a lot of homophobia there, but I never expected them to cancel a play for a fictional character.”
Cronan’s father, Ryan, also voiced his frustration.
“They want to say the town is just not ready, but how are you not ready? It’s 2021,” Ryan Cronan said.
Students started a GoFundMe with a goal of $5,000 in hopes of putting on the production at a community theater in 2022. Donations currently exceed $16,000.
“If we do raise enough money, I am going to be genuinely happy for a very long time, because that means people do care,” Cronan told WCPO.
