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Miami Herald, The (FL)BARRED FROM SCHOOL, STUDENTS' SHOW GOES ONJune 6, 1997Section: Local Edition: Broward Page: 1B DEBORAH SCHWARTZ Herald Writer Hollywood Hills High School students took the stage Thursday for a performance they had honed for more than three months -- but the play wasn't in the school auditorium. Administrators had deemed the content of the play -- For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf -- inappropriate, with its sexual innuendo and racial epithets, as well as references to sexual abuse and infanticide. So the students took their show to the Florida Playwrights' Theatre in downtown Hollywood, which donated the space at 1936 Hollywood Blvd. An audience of about 100 students, faculty and others watched the performance of the play, written by Ntozake Shange. The students in Deborah Clark's acting class had planned to perform the controversial play at the school, but administrators deemed it inappropriate less than two weeks before opening night. ``It was the most ridiculous thing,'' said sophomore director Heather Nevins. ``This play, if anything, shows how people work together to overcome things. It teaches so much.'' Writer Toni Cade Bambara said in an article in Ms. magazine that it ``celebrates the capacity to master pain and betrayals with wit, sister-sharing, reckless daring, and flight and forgetfulness if necessary.'' Hollywood Hills Principal Joyce Ferguson said, ``I think this play is best suited for a more mature audience.'' Ferguson, who attended the play, said she consulted over the decision with Tom Geismar, the Broward school district's director of secondary education, and Diane Fettrow, the language arts curriculum specialist. ``When a play is performed at a high school, we get a general audience,'' Geismar said. ``And this play is not appropriate for what we would consider a general audience.'' But plays like Colored Girls can be read during class time -- and it was, early in the semester. That's when some girls in Clark's class decided to perform it. The 90-minute show was choreographed by sophomore Jennifer Sauser, and involved three other students backstage. ``We put so much into this play,'' said Cynthia Gutierrez, who performed in Colored Girls. ``It was a true play about women's lives. It should be exposed for that reason.'' When confronted with the play's possible cancellation, Clark went to the community for help. Several places offered free performance space. In the end, she was happy the show went on and her students were able to expose others to good literature. ``I want to educate people,'' Clark said. ``I want people to understand if it's art and it's beautiful that the student body deserves to see it.''
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