“I Caused the 5th Grade Moliere Scare” April 30, 2004 ~ 9:28 am
Posted by Julie in : Drama Queen , trackbackSubtitled: “How I made Moliere More Controversial Than He’s Been Since He Died”
Part of the deal when I work at a dramaturg at some theaters is that I have to write a study guide. Many schools around the city take advantage of lower-priced tickets to plays to supplement their arts programs. They bring students to see shows and most likely a talkback with the cast and crew of a show. To prepare them, I write a little historical background on the play, the playwright, some of the themes of the play, etc. I gear it towards high school students, because they are usually the ones who come. This week, we got fifth graders.
The study guide wasn’t geared towards fifth graders. I talked about the Cold War, and not being able to be buried in sacred ground because Moliere was an actor, and coughing up blood on stage (which Moliere did, only hours before he died, as he performed the lead in The Imaginary Invalid). I also made mention that Moliere’s later life and plays were controversial. Tartuffe ignited all kinds of fury because some priests/pastors/what-have-you couldn’t see that it was making fun of hypocrites who practice religion for their own selfish gain, not making fun of religion itself. And I wrote a sentence about Moliere’s wife being rumored by his detractors to have married his own daughter. I was trying to show the lengths to which people were going to try to wreck his career. The daughter thing is probably entirely apocryphal. It has nothing to do with The Bourgeois Gentleman. I was just commenting on the mans life, and critics were very much a part of that. That being said…high schoolers would have gotten a bang out of it. It would have been a discussion point, possibly. It was not on a fifth grade level! But people should have known that the second they saw the analogy between France’s relationship with the Ottoman Empire in the 17th Century and US/USSR relations during the Cold War. Fifth graders wouldn’t get that, either.
So on Wednesday when the cast went to the school to meet with the kids, they were expecting high schoolers, too. Big shock to see the little kids, presentation had to be entirely re-worked on the spot. And afterwards the principal calls my director into his office to discuss the study guide, and how parents are worried because it said Moliere married his daughter (newsflash, I said “it was rumored that the young woman was his daughter”) and some of them didn’t want their kids to see the performance.
Well, fuck. I get my director sent to the principal’s office and make Moliere the most controversial playwright these fifth graders have ever heard of. Go me. But seriously, am I alone in thinking that someone should have read these study guides before distributing them? Whether it was the Education Coordinator at the theater or the teachers, you always read something you’re handing out. It’s just irresponsible not to. I take some of the blame, but not all of it. But I do want a button that says “I Caused The 5th Grade Moliere Scare”. 
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