Chris Quazzo

Staff Writer

[caption id="attachment_3512" align="alignnone" width="414"] Kat Wanger and Harry Scholes in Dead Man’s Cell Phone[/caption]

As well-mannered high school students, we are expected to be respectful and engaged audience members when we host guest speakers and watch our classmates perform, which we are—for the most part. Sometimes, however, we can behave a little bit more like Middle Schoolers.

The play preview is no stranger to the Latin community; we see about four per year. So, we’ve grown very accustomed to being attentive and mature audience members, even while our own classmates and friends are performing. But, it appeared that that isn’t necessarily the case when the subject matter gets a little raunchier. Kissing shouldn’t actually be considered raunchy, seeing as it appears in everything we see on TV and in movies, as well as just in our lives in general. But apparently, when it comes in front of the whole school, we turn back into the cootie-fearing preadolescents we once were.

Yes, the performers were people we knew in our community; yes, there was a bit of an age difference; and yes, they had to share a somewhat prolonged kiss in front of the entire student body and faculty. Regardless, they were simply performing something that was written in a script as part of the play. But that didn’t seem to prevent the amount of hushed yet buzzing chatter and small bursts of uncomfortable laughter throughout that one moment of the performance—not to mention the swarms of comments and high-fives I’m sure the two performers received because of it.

Throughout the preview, we were all engaged: laughing at the funny lines and listening intently during the more dramatic parts; we even maturely handled the swearing and sexual jokes with no problem. But, for some reason, when it came time to watch two people kissing, why did we suddenly become so immature? When I went to see the full show, the reaction to that same scene was normal; no one seemed phased by the idea of two students kissing. And the same is the case for all other shows that I’ve either seen or been a part of that involved two characters kissing. So why does it seem to be such a big deal? If, as Upper Schoolers, we’re trusted and treated so maturely, should we really be giggling at two of our classmates kissing within the context of a play?]]>