Kirkland elementary alters 'Snow White' and some parents object

Is it censorship or sensitivity?

That's the question surrounding an adaptation of "Snow White in the Black Forest," which debuts Friday at Kirkland's Robert Frost Elementary School.

The fourth- through sixth-grade play has been staged twice before at the school without complaint, but this year objections from the principal and teachers sparked weeks of controversy about how far schools should go to shield children from certain words and ideas.

Some parents are upset that Principal Sue Anne Sullivan asked the play's directors to remove parts of the script that violate the schools' human-dignity and anti-bullying policies. Cuts included the name of the character "DimWitty," making the "crazy gesture" — rotating the index finger near the ear, and lines of a song about being proud of being curvy.

"Our concern was that in certain instances, the specific nature and/or degree of put-downs for humorous purposes was excessive or inappropriate," said Sullivan, stressing that the objections had come from several teachers.

The play, adapted from the fairy tale by Seattle director Lani Brockman, is being directed by actors from Studio East, a Kirkland storybook-theater company with a community-outreach arm that works with schools in the Lake Washington district.

"Snow White" was Brockman's second choice for this year's Robert Frost play. The first play she proposed, "The Emperor's New Clothes," was scrapped five days before auditions because the school had demanded too many changes.

Andrea Duffield, 40, whose fourth-grade daughter has a role in the play, led the campaign against the school's edits.

"I think what they did crossed the line and should be considered censorship," said Duffield, who has a background in therapy and teaching.

Parent John Stubb, 44, also objected to the editing:

"Obviously we have to protect our kids against things like pornography or swearing in the plays, but this is too far. It's the wussification of America," Stubb grumbled.

"We're not doing these kids a favor by hyper-protection," he said. "Children are going to have to deal with things as they grow up."

Not all parents opposed the changes. But objections from Duffield and others roused the interest of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

The New York-based coalition, which provides resources to organizations fighting censorship, believes the school acted unconstitutionally, said Executive Director Joan Bertin, pointing to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. But district spokeswoman Kathryn Reith said the decisions do not apply.

In 12 years of working in 17 Lake Washington schools, including nine years at Robert Frost, Studio East has never encountered a problem like this, said technical director Marty Eagleson. But Sullivan said her school has had complaints about content in past Studio East plays.

Studio East has staged "The Emperor's New Clothes" at seven other district schools and "Snow White" at Robert Frost twice before, Eagleson said.

"We were surprised," said Eagleson, calling the requested changes excessive. "Bad people do bad things and say bad things. That's how you recognize them as villains."

School officials offended Studio East by demanding quick changes, said Debbie Nelson, the parent who handled communication among school officials, parents and Studio East. She called the process "agonizing."

Everybody involved agreed that the most important consideration is the children's education.

School officials think their actions protected the kids. The district is proactive about its human-dignity policy and thinks it is important to eliminate name-calling and bullying from all aspects of school, said Traci Pierce, the district's chief schools officer.

"We need to make sure that students aren't getting one message in school and another in the play," said Pierce, adding that the play will be performed in front of a school assembly on Friday.

Bertin, of the National Coalition Against Censorship, argues that kids read books and know the difference between fantasy and reality.

Tom Drummond, a North Seattle Community College instructor in early-childhood development, said children are sometimes not trusted enough.

While he declined to comment specifically on the "Snow White" situation, he said that children see worse on television.

"Often the ways we're teaching children are very overprotective rather than trusting them to be competent and think these things through," he said.

The district has no policy about appropriate content in school plays, but will soon craft one, Pierce said.

"We really need to make sure that we're consistent school to school," she said. "That kind of dialogue, about what is OK and what is not OK, that's what we need to have a conversation about."

Brian Rosenthal: 206-464-3195 or brosenthal@seattletimes.com