Letter to the editor: Save the theater

Lawrence Journal-World opinion section

To the editor:

The Black Box Theater at Free State High School is being redistributed as a flex room, readers learn in the May 19 Journal-World article. School administration suggests that the crushing need for the theater program to be tossed under the bus arises from the rise in enrollment (according to the figures given, 200 new students vs. 75 at LHS). The dismantling of the FSHS theater comes, ironically, at the same time that LHS is building its own Black Box Theater.

A lot of lip service is given to the arts, especially in a town like Lawrence. However, even I — a huge supporter of high school sports — am hard-pressed to imagine that the locker room would be turned into a flex room and the players asked to just go without uniforms or maybe change in their cars. Or that the AP chemistry class would be turned into a flex room and the teacher asked to function without heat sources or sinks or maybe store those at home.  Or that the English teacher would be asked to do without smart board or books and just play charades in the hall.

We know that the arts are so important to all students’ learning process and development. Administrators, people in charge, please stop throwing words around to defend a bad choice, and instead be noble and help our students. Stand up for the arts. Please just fix the situation.