Marion Community Schools board offers up theater for Mississinewa High School students to use to run canceled play

MARION, Ind. — The Marion Community Schools Board of Trustees has offered up one of the district’s auditoriums to a group of theater students at Mississinewa High School.

At a meeting of the MCS Board of Trustees on Tuesday, members of the board introduced a motion to offer the MHS students a chance to use an MCS auditorium for one of their plays. The board approved the motion shortly after it was introduced.

The MHS play in question is based on the novel “Between the Lines.” The book was co-authored by best-selling writer Jodi Picoult, who has sold more than 40 million copies of her books worldwide.

MCS board trustees offered their auditorium to the MHS students because the MHS students were deprived of the opportunity to put the show on at their home auditorium. Last week, MHS administrators canceled the students’ planned performances of “Between the Lines.”

In an interview with FOX59/CBS4, Picoult said one parent’s complaint about a non-binary character in the “Between the Lines” book led to MHS’ cancellation of the students’ performances. Picoult added that, while the character is present in the book, the character is not part of the play MHS was planning to put on.

According to Picoult, a sanitized version of the “Between the Lines” play is often run by schools in “climates that politically might not be as open as others.”

“Allegedly, the parent who complained was upset about a gay character, which is so interesting because it isn’t a gay character, it’s a non-binary character,” Picoult said. “That character’s gender orientation, actually, with our own hands as writers, was edited out in the version that is licensed to schools so that it is never mentioned. So, already there is some weird misunderstanding here.”

In a statement given to Channel 27 News and Entertainment, MHS Superintendent Jeremy Fewell indicated that the students’ planned performances of “Between the Lines” were canceled because they contained content that is “not appropriate for a public school-sponsored performance.”

Fewell also told Channel 27 that the inappropriate content he was alluding to is “sexual innuendos and alcohol references that I couldn’t, in good conscience, allow in a public school performance.”

It is currently unclear if the MHS students will take the MCS Board of Trustees up on its offer to perform “Between the Lines” in Marion.

To listen to the MCS Board of Trustees meeting in which the MHS students’ performance of “Between the Lines” was discussed, click here. The board’s discussion on the topic begins about 34 minutes into the video.

As for what the future holds for other productions theater students at MHS want to put on, Fewell said he is planning on “implementing a more robust review process for proposed productions.” In a statement, Fewell also reiterated that it was his decision to cancel MHS students’ performances of “Between the Lines,” not that of any other members of the school’s staff and board.