Seen a Rogue on the loose? Get in touch with our Roguemeister: JOHN SCHRAG jschrag@wweek.com (503) 243-2122 FAX: (503) 243-1115 Read Kristi McKenzie's article for the school newspaper, and read her play, When You Finally See Us. Send a message to Pia Leonard (at leonardp@mail.gladstone.k12.or.us) and let her know what you think about her school's policies. And in the category of censorship by metro-area school administrator, the winner is...Pia Leonard, principal of Gladstone High School, for her roguish role in suppressing a student-written play. Leonard employed her heavy-handed tactics last month, when the school's drama club was set to present When You Finally See Us, a play by Gladstone senior Kristi McKenzie. McKenzie penned the play over winter break and says she notified school officials of rehearsal and performance times in January. Yet Leonard and other administrators didn't read the play until opening night, March 4. They found the script unacceptable. McKenzie says they demanded changes to words such as "fag" (used in a scene depicting intolerance) and "lesbian" before they would allow the show to go on. Ten minutes before the doors opened, the administrators gave their OK. By then, however, cast members were hysterical, McKenzie says, and there wasn't sufficient time to rehearse the revised script. Leonard offered alternative dates, but they conflicted with other events. The play was never staged. It's too bad McKenzie's fellow students won't get to see her play. The work dramatizes topics more relevant to teenagers than the typical warmed-over Broadway fare. She writes about eating disorders, sexual diversity, alcoholism and peer pressure with sensitivity, intelligence and humor. "I don't know why the administration censored my play so harshly," McKenzie says. School officials are unapologetic. Leonard and vice-principal Stu Evans say the play got derailed less by the content than by McKenzie's failure to follow school procedures. Their explanations about why nobody read the script until the day of performance, however, are less than convincing. For McKenzie, the frustration continues. She wrote a column about the fiasco for the school newspaper, but it was rejected by the faculty advisor. "The whole thing has left me feeling like there's no point in trying to bring up issues because we can't even discuss them," McKenzie says. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published April 21, 1999