New York, NY - On November 6, 2007, as part of its 4th annual Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders, The National Coalition Against Censorship will honor Wilton High School theater arts teacher Bonnie Dickinson and her students, for their courage and determination to write and perform Voices in Conflict, a play about the war in Iraq.
Dr. Gary Richards
Superintendent of Schools
Wilton Public Schools
395 Danbury Road
Wilton, CT 06897
Re: Bonnie Dickinson
Dear Dr. Richards:
As you know, Bonnie Dickinson has been a teacher in Wilton Schools since 1993. She has, as you do, copies of all of her evaluations and staff appraisals dating back to 1997. Each evaluation by the high school administrative staff concludes with Ms. Dickinson being referred to as an excellent, organized and supportive teacher.
As the dog days of summer wane, high school students shop for clothes and supplies, bus drivers plan their routes, teachers prepare lesson plans ...
... and in Wilton, Connecticut, the superintendent of schools and his flunkies get into character by lying like a GOP senator caught in an airport bathroom.
As part of their week-long series "Iraq War: A Young Perspective" last night Sara Welch featured "Voices in Conflict". ctblogger has the first installment below. As Sara Welch of WTNH puts it "This week on WTNH, we are profiling teenagers in Connecticut who are using their artistic talents to voice their concerns about Iraq. The teens use music, theater and books to express themselves. It's impressive to see how well spoken they are." You can comment at the WTNH blog or contact Sara Welch directly at e-mail Sara.Welch(at)wtnh.com for your thoughts on their series.
This is the from their appearance yesterday with Amy Goodman.
Administrators at Connecticut's Wilton High School have banned students from performing "Voices in Conflict", a play about the Iraq war, calling it "sensational and inappropriate." We speak with the play's director, as well as two students involved in the production. We're also joined by Iraq war veteran Charlie Anderson, whose story is depicted in the play.
From her program Democracy Now, here is Goodman's in-depth interview with VIC director Bonnie Dickinson, choreographer Courtney Stack, cast member James Presson and Charlie Anderson, who Presson portrayed in Voices In Conflict.
(Good news: the complaint by the vile Barbara Alessi has been dispatched. Response from the Superintendent's office below. - promoted by mattw)
One of the clouds that's been hanging over the Voices In Conflict matter has been the Board of Education's response to the accusations of Wilton High School parent Barbara Alessi against theater teacher Bonnie Dickinson.
We have received a number of emails expressing support for Bonnie Dickinson and concern over potential disciplinary action. I wish to clarify the situation. In April, we received a complaint from a parent about Ms. Dickinson. After receiving the complaint, we followed an investigative process that included administrative review of the complaint, an opportunity for both parties to be heard, and examination of the facts. After a thorough review we found no evidence that would justify disciplinary action against Ms. Dickinson. We consider the matter concluded.
On a separate note, we congratulate the students on their successful off-campus performances of the revised “Voices in Conflict” project.
ABC News aired a major piece on the Wilton kids and "Voices in Conflict" Saturday night.
A group of high school students in a small Connecticut town wanted to perform a play telling the stories of actual soldiers in Iraq. But their school said no, afraid it might offend members of their community.
Although the students were silenced on their own stage in Wilton, Conn., they were given another -- Off Broadway in New York City.
The New York Times has published a followup article by Melena Ryzik about the June 9 Vineyard Theater performance of Voices In Conflict.
And then there's the Wilton Bulletin, "newspaper of record" for the Connecticut town whose Board Of Education prohibited performance of the play that has now become the hottest ticket on off-Broadway.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! has a glowing review of a Connecticut high school play that was denied performance at their own school, the subject matter of Iraq Vets in their own words deemed too controversial.
Last Sunday night, as millions of Americans tuned in to the two Tonys—the final episode of “The Sopranos,” to see whether Tony Soprano lived or died, and the Tony Awards, celebrating the best in American theater—actor Stanley Tucci (who played “Nigel” in “The Devil Wears Prada") was in an off-Broadway theater, the Culture Project, watching high school students perform a play about war.
The production, “Voices in Conflict,” moved the audience to tears, ending with a standing ovation for the teenage actors, still reeling from a controversy that had propelled them onto the New York stage. Their high school principal had banned the play.
The Wilton High School students involved in the play, Voices in Conflict, will return to the stage at the Fairfield Theatre Company for an encore performance on Friday, June 22. The play begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12, or $7 for members of the theater.
Joshua Marris was kind enough to add this video to another thread here at MyLeftNutmeg. I took the liberty of upping it to Daily Motion (YouTube too, eventually--argh). The Fairfield Weekly has posted a 3-minute video of 6 of the students, which is the first clip. The second clip is a report from WTNH last week on the plays opening. (I'll change the formatting when YouTube ever gets the clips processed.)
(A great first-hand account of seeing Voices in Conflict in Fairfield. Kudos to the Wilton High Drama students and to Ms. Bonnie Dickinson for a job well done! - promoted by Maura)
A journey that started three months ago with a New York Times article about the town I grew up in, has taken me back to the scene of my childhood for a once-in-a-lifetime evening, the most moving and revelatory theatrical experience I have had in years.
Is the right to free speech absolute? Does art need to be "fair and balanced"?
I've spent hours discussing these questions since my column on the cancellation -- or postponement, depending on who you talk to -- of the play "Voices in Conflict" at Wilton High School.
The most interesting yet disturbing conversation was via e-mail with 1st Lt. Zach Alessi-Friedlander, of the family whose protests managed to get the play canceled/postponed, who is currently serving in Iraq.
Lt. Alessi-Friedlander's position can be summed up by this, from his most recent e-mail to me: "High-school students are mostly under the age of 18 -- i.e. the age at which the government has determined that they are able to serve in the military and to vote in formal elections ... Prior to the age of 18, high-school-aged students are relieved of the responsibility of participating in our civic processes so that they may cultivate the critical thinking skills necessary to make these types of important decisions. You said in your response that Ms. Dickinson's ... students were intending to stimulate discussion and therefore are not required to do thesis work. I would counter this contention by saying that if these students want to take on a serious subject, then they must be prepared to do the serious work necessary not only to stimulate but to frame and develop a serious discourse."
I find his point of view problematic for many reasons. It's been many moons since I got my degree in politics, but I don't remember the Constitution limiting the right of free speech to those of voting age. But more than that, this script was written for a drama class, not for history, social studies or the debate club. A work of artistic expression shouldn't be expected to "frame and develop a serious discourse." It can, however, provide a vehicle through which serious discourse can take place. Art is meant to stimulate thoughts, emotions, beliefs or ideas. As an author, I'd argue that it is only able to do so by taking a stand.
Lt. Alessi-Friedlander feels the "pro-military service" point of view should be experienced by impressionable under-18s to counteract the arguably negative portrayal in "Voices in Conflict." But by allowing armed forces recruiters to set up shop in the school cafeteria, Principal Timothy Canty ensured that the military has a voice at Wilton High School. I find it extremely disturbing that it's fine for students to be exposed by on-campus recruiters to a one-sided portrayal of life in the service (do you think the soldiers currently serving in Iraq were told: "And by the way, we might just extend your tour of duty by five months while you're over there"?) but unacceptable for a drama class to present a play that explores other points of view on the conflict unless they do detailed study of the Middle East situation.
Lt. Alessi-Friedlander and I agree on one thing: "that freedom of speech is a privilege and a right; it is an extraordinary tool for shaping our nation's present and future." However, here's where we part ways: "In an abstract intellectual sense, the principal of free speech is absolute. However, in a practical sense, we must be willing to do the hard thinking and work necessary for free speech's most effective application."
I don't believe that free speech is absolute only in an "abstract intellectual sense," and that we are only guaranteed that right if we are willing to pursue with intellectual rigor every topic we wish to discuss in the public domain. The blessing (and yes, sometimes curse) of our Constitution is that any nut job has the right to speak out. Take Ann Coulter, for example.
I do agree with Lt. Alessi-Friedlander that, "We must, as a country, work harder to make the public discourse more serious -- and this starts with how we train the younger generation in school."But here's where I think both Principal Canty and the Alessi-Friedlander family have got it wrong.The Socratic Method is the oldest technique of fostering critical thinking, in which a teacher does not give information directly but rather asks a series of questions, continually challenging students' assumptions and logic, with the result that the class attains knowledge by answering the questions and, often as a result, deeper awareness of the limits of knowledge.Why not present the play and then lead discussions using the Socratic Method?
Surely a lesson in expression and critical discussion is better than one in suppression and intolerance?
Now that it's official that a version of Voices In Conflict compiled and performed by the students of the Wilton High School Theater Arts II class will be performed in June in New York City and probably in Connecticut, the Wilton Board Of Education has announced the upcoming production of their version.
I'd written a bit about my problems with his reponse but then hit the wrong button and lost everything and now I'm late for the school run so...here it is, without commentary from me. But believe me, there will be more later!
WILTON —The Theatre Arts II class whose performance about the war in Iraq was canceled at Wilton High School will be taking their play off school grounds before the end of the academic year.
"There is a legal way for me to take it off-campus," said theater teacher Bonnie Dickinson, who was advised by her personal legal counsel to sign a document which will disassociate the play, "Voices in Conflict," from the Wilton schools.
In the meantime, Dickinson and the 15 students in her class are still working on the piece in class.
Principal Timothy Canty says Dickinson and her class have always been free to take "Voices in Conflict" to an external venue on their own time. He added that any legal documents signed by Dickinson are for her own protection; teachers who meet students off-campus for non-school events should clarify that such activities are not sponsored by the schools.
Canty says he's always encouraged the students to keep working on "Voices in Conflict" in class, although they would not be able to perform it in school this academic year.
It was always my perspective that the teachers and the students would continue to work on the piece in class," he said, adding that the performance would follow at a future date.
So here's the latest fallout from my column. This evening I get an anonymous e-mail entitled "Voices in TRUTH" from Mr/Mrs/Ms. globchem at optonline.net which says the following:
You like many have been taken in by a manipulative teacher.
Fact 1-- The script she now claims is not the script that she showed to the school or the that students were to learn or perform.
Fact 2. The students have confirmed Fact one and have said that they never wrote any of the script. The only thing they were to do with proof from an e-mail from Bonnie states that fact-- See the Wilton Paper this week.
Fact 3- Once caught in her web of lies Bonnie then tried to wrap herself in the flag by claiming that it was always about honoring the troops-- This lie is most disturbing since she attempted to use the death of a local soldier to cover her lies-- She was rebuked by the family and so encouraged the N.Y. Times to do her dirty work. SHAMEFUL
Fact 4 She only started using the Title Voices in Conflict AFTER the original ( the one she was told could not be done this year) was revealed as a verbatim copy of the film "The Ground Truth" There is much more. You owe this Town and the school an apology
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