I was disappointed when I opened the Barrington Times and saw the Arts Alive Broadway Rules production was being criticized. My son was in the play, actually he's been in two of Dena Davis' productions and has been part of her summer camp. She has nothing but his best interest in mind. So I feel confident she saw nothing inappropriate about this play when she presented it. I feel the same way.
My 9 year old son was actually in The Little Shop of Horrors number mentioned. He had no idea those girls were portrayed as hookers. Do you know why? Because it was never portrayed to him that way. Not in rehearsals by Dena or any of her staff, or by me. To him, these were girls on the street with "attitudes". He's the one who had lines with them and nothing in the dialog portrayed them as hookers either. If a child asked what a hooker was, then that child must have heard that word from an adult. That child would have not understood that from this scene. My son didn't even ask what these girls were supposed to be and he was part of the scene. The problem is if you watched this play through adult eyes, then you saw the things adults see because of our age and knowledege. If you watcrd h it through a 9, 10 and 11 year olds eyes, you would have not understood the things that are been critized. The children don't understand the sexual content unless someone brings it to their attention. Did I know what some of the things being said and done were, yes, but my 9 year old had no idea. And even though it was there through my eyes, I still don't feel it was over-sexualized or inappropriate. I really do feel if those who are critizing this play, sit back and watch it through innocent, non-sexual children's eyes, they'll find there was not one thing wrong with this play. I applaud Dena Davis for all her hard work. I feel badly that something my son work so hard on will now have a negative connotation.
Please explain the inappropriate content below.
