FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Catholic PRWire

PANORAMA CITY, CA (March 6, 2013) - St. Genevieve Catholic High School in Panorama City, CA, a parish high school, announced its intention of staging the vulgar play “Cabaret” at the beginning of the year. This is the first time a Los Angeles archdiocesan school has attempted such a sexually explicit play. Although theater arts students were dismayed, they were informed there was no other choice. Permission slips were sent home with all performers, since the play deals with “sensitive issues”. “Some of what is said by the play’s characters, some of what they do, how they dress and how they behave, can be unsettling. That is no accident. This play was written, in part, to make us explore and confront things that are unpleasant or make us uncomfortable.” (Letter to parents dated January 25, 2013).

“Cabaret” is about a seedy nightclub in 1930 Berlin. The play includes co-habitation, prostitution, multiple partners, homosexual behavior, and an abortion. The main plot is about a brief love affair between a homosexual man and a promiscuous woman, living in the same building as a colorful prostitute, during the Nazi rise to power. The play, while showing the obvious evil of Nazism, varnishes all types of sexual sin through provocative music, dancing, lyrics, and subject matter. Not surprisingly it is based on autobiographical material by self-proclaimed homosexual Christopher Isherwood, who visited Berlin nightclubs of the time looking for other men. The lead male character is based on Isherwood, while the lead female part is based on Jean Ross, a friend of his whom he admired for her lack of sexual inhibitions.

As word spread about the play, Catholic folks in the community and beyond decided to take matters into their own hands, starting with an email campaign to a broad base of contacts, outlining the facts and requesting calls and emails to Principal Dan Horn, Pastor Alden J. Sison, Director Nain Doporto, and other St. Genevieve faculty members. The email spread far and wide, sparking numerous calls and emails. Then began a postcard protest, with hundreds of postcards being signed and mailed to the same. Next, flyers in Spanish and English began to appear in Church after Church in the surrounding areas with the faculty’s contact information. Guadalupe Radio 98.7 aired the story and denounced the school’s actions on Tuesday, February 26 on "La Verdad te hara Libre" with Jesse Romero, which airs Tuesday through Thursday at 9:00 pm. Principal Horn and Fr. Sison will not return calls to Daily News or even to school parents who wish to meet and discuss the propriety of “Cabaret” at this venue, scheduled to run April 25 through 27th in Madonna Hall on parish grounds. The news continues to spread. Parents may be able to accomplish with a grassroots movement what could not be done “by the book”. Principal Horn, Director Doporto, and Fr. Alden Sison are being called on to answer to parents how they can justify this performance on Church property at a Catholic school.

To voice your opinion, call or email or both. “If this play is pulled”, one parent said, “it could be a true turning point in reclaiming secondary and elementary Catholic education for Holy Mother Church. Let your voice be heard!”

St. Genevieve Catholic High School Faculty:

Pastor Fr. Alden J. Sison (818) 894-2261, ext. 111
vgonzalez@stgenevievechurch.org
(Ask that the email be forwarded to him.)

Principal Dan Horn: (818) 894-6417 ext 0 horn@valiantspirit.com
And at (310) 473-3337 admissions@saintsebastianschool.com

Director Nain Doporto: (818) 894-6417 ext. 306 doporto@valiantspirit.com

Perf. Arts Music Director Allan Shatkin: (818) 894-6417 ext. 123 shatkin@valiantspirit.com

Perf. Arts Vocal Director Rose Corpuz: (818) 894-6417 ext. 124 corpuz@valiantspirit.com

Contact

http://www.stgenevievechurch.org  CA, 91606 US
Kimberly Brehme - , 

Keywords

Catholic High School, protest, scandal

Category

Catholic Schools & Religious Education