At Ohio’s Cardinal High School, their high school play, “The 25 Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, was canceled by the school board in Jan.

   This play was adapted into a high school production after the Broadway hit collected six Tony nominations, won Best Book of a Musical, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Folger, according to Broadway.com. 

   It is about six middle school students who strive to gain the Spelling Bee Championship award.

   According to News 5 Cleveland, they picked out the play in the fall and had started rehearsals. They even constructed some of the set before the call was made. 

   They had spent a total of 1,700 dollars on the production and it is too late to gain licensing for another musical, according to Fox 8. 

   The superintendent made a statement which contains the reasons for the cancellation.

   According to Fox 8, “The Cardinal Local School District has decided that its spring musical production will not be ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,’” Superintendent Jack Cunningham said. “Its dialogue and song lyrics contain vulgarity and are therefore not suitable for our pre-teen and teenage students in an educational setting.”

   The play contains some topics that have been edited out from the original broadway production to make it appropriate. They chose to use a different variation of a song about puberty so it was more age-appropriate. Along with the minor changes in the script, they sent out permission slips for middle school students who planned to be in attendance.

   Senior Riley Matchinga was prepared to take on one of the main roles and was shocked that it was canceled.

   According to News 5 Cleveland, “We’re all getting super, super excited about it. And then suddenly it’s just gone,” Matchinga said. “Personally, I was devastated, along with all of my friends and cast and crew.”

    In the script, a character’s parents are a same-sex couple. The district claimed that the cancellation was not due to discrimination. They made this statement to the public.

   According to News 5 Cleveland, “The district believes that the consideration of controversial issues has a legitimate place in the instructional program of our schools,” the district said. “However, the district wants its student productions to be something that community members of all ages may enjoy without adult supervision. In all aspects of its operations, the district vigorously enforces its prohibition against discriminatory harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), disability, age, religion, ancestry, or genetic information.”