Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN
VOCE
Vol. 1, No. 17 Taking Pride in Our Culture
October 13,1988
Iowa High School Gives
Thumbs Down To AIDS Play
Atlanta Playwright Ransoris Warren Found "Too Controversial'
Shenandoah, IA-On September 23,
Shenandoah, Iowa High School
administrators cancelled the fall drama class
production of Warren - A True Story, a play
about the death of a person with AIDS
(PWA), written by Atlanta playwright
Rebecca Ranson.
The decision was made at an informal
meeting between School Superintendent
Joseph Kirchoff, Principal Ronald Lottridge
and Drama Instructor Fred Wilson.
Warren Johnston, the inspiration for
Rebecca Ranson's play Warren-A
True Story, a few months before his
death in April, 1984.
"We just don't want the Shenandoah High
School name on it That suggests it has our
approval and it does not," Kirchoff said.
Kirchoff said the play is not acceptable
because it condones homosexuality and is
inappropriate for high school audiences.
An outcry from the community led the
school board to examine the script, said
Kirchoff. The board is obligated to uphold
the school's policy of presenting both sides of
controversial issues addressed in school
functions, he said.
"The only negative aspect of homosexual
relations presented throughout the whole play
is that one man died of AIDS. That's pretty
subtle out of 40 pages," Kirchoff said.
"If the play had dealt with the AIDS issue
and not gotten into the homosexuality, it
would have been fine. That's what we were
led to believe," he said. "The offense was
taken in the play's dealing with homosexual
relatiohs. This play deals with two men
being manied, which is illegal in most states
of the Union."
Drama instructor Fred Wilson, who was
to direct the play, said he personally received
no negative reaction or opposition to the play.
"I think the opposition was small, powerful
and closeted," Wilson said.
Nine drama students had been rehearsing
the play since April and came to school Sept.
\ with all of the.r lines leaned, & id Wilsor
The administration was aware of his choice
to do Warren since April, Wilson said, and he
feels there has been a "miscarriage". "It's like
there's been a death for all of us," Wilson
said.
"The students were committed. We had
gone way beyond the script It was an
important issue. I think it's important to put a
name on something that's been only a statistic
- bring it down to people's emotions."
The student director of the play, Steve
Teget, said the students initially sought to go
on with the play at another location. The
Southwest Iowa Theatre Group offered the
use of their facility for $25 a night and said
they would also provide a director for the
production, according to Teget. The students
have not yet met to decide whether or not to
go ahead with the production, but Teget said
he does not think the play will go on.
"We just don't feel we can get back into
the mood of the play. A lot of students are
really mad," he said.
"It was an act of censorship and a very bad
Cont'd Page 3
Protesters chanted the epitaph"Shame! Shame!" as they left the Governor's
Mansion after a mock funeral and die-in to protest the loss of AZT funding.
ACT-UP Visits The Governor
As Congress Okays AZT Funding
Atlanta-Gowemor Joe Frank Harris felt the heat of AIDS activism at his doorstep, as the
direct-action group ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) took a mock funeral and die-
in to the Governor’s Mansion to protest the State's inaction in funding the AIDS drug ACT.
ACT-UP/Atlanta surprised the Governor, along with rush hour Buckhead drivers, on
September 29, the day before the scheduled end of a federal program to help low-income AIDS
patients pay for ACT.
ACT, which costs more than $8,000 per year, is the only drug approved for treatment of the
disease. It helps prolong the lives of many people with AIDS (PWA).
Protesters wearing black t-shirts with the familiar pink triangle and the inscription
"Silence=Death" drove a funeral-style procession on West Paces Ferry Road to the governor's
home. They left their cars carrying a coffin and marched slowly to the front of the Mansion.
There they chanted "Fight AIDS, not people," before falling to the ground to symbolize the fate
of those who will die without the drug. Behind them, hanging on the Governor's Mansion
fense, a banner read "$153 million surplus and no money for ACT," a reference to Georgia's
Budget Surplus.
Only moments after the protest in Atlanta, Senator Lowell Weicker (R-CT) in Washington
introduced a last minute bill to extend the federal program for another six months.
The original ACT funding plan was enacted last year in an effort to give states time to make
the necessary adjustments to help needy PWAs. As the final weeks of the program approached
Georgia had taken no action to help the 130 people here receiving ACT under the federal
program.
Gov. Harris' office told Southern Voice it is not state policy to take over federal programs.
Cont'd Page 3
The NAMES
Project
AIDS
Memorial
Quilt
Returns to 3
D.C. I
The NAMES Project Quilt
returned to Washington, D.C.
this past weekend-one year
after its inaugural unfolding at
the National March on
Washington for Lesbian & Gay
Rights. It has grown four-fold
since the March, and now
contains over 8000 grave-size
panels. People affected by the
AIDS epidemic poured into
D.C. to visit the Quilt in
Reagan's front yard, and held a
massive candlelight march to j
the Lincoln Memorial.
See Page 16
JO GIRAUDO