The Children’s Theatre of North Carolina’s Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools have forbidden a public performance of a prize-winning play because it contained lesbian characters that were deemed “inappropriate” for middle and high-school audiences.
Samantha Gellar’s “Life Versus the Paperback Romance,” was one of five plays chosen as winners of the Charlotte Young Playwrights Festival. The play is about two adult women, one of whom is visually impaired, who meet and fall in love. The play does not include any explicit sex or nudity.
Although students were warned that their plays could be deemed inappropriate for performance, Gellar still feels that she is being discriminated against because she is lesbian and dared to legitimize lesbian experience through her writing. “Once you’ve created something, you feel protective and proud of it,” she explained.
Gellar’s hopes to have her play performed by a local theatre and has donated her $100 prize to the cause.
