Some on Social Media Are Asking, ‘Have They Read Shakespeare?’

Christian parents are turning to God in anger after a traveling theatre company performed an educational parody of Shakespeare’s plays for students of one North Carolina high school. Parents and pastors held a prayer meeting outside the school (photo) after it was revealed the play included a same-sex “stage kiss” – which means it wasn’t even an actual kiss.

“A group of concerned parents and pastors held a prayer meeting after a play was performed at Mitchell High School they say was inappropriate for the student audience,” WLOS reports.

The comedy, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” was edited to be more “appropriate” for students, but apparently issues of alcohol, suicide, and especially homosexuality were still too toxic for some parents.

“Earlier reports suggested the prayer circle was formed in response to ‘inappropriate content’ including suicide, alcohol consumption, and ‘bad language’ — all of which you’d find in Romeo and Juliet — but a local resident informed me the real ‘concern’ was over homosexuality,” Friendly Atheist’s David Gee reports.

“What people were actually upset about,” Gee says the local resident told him via email, “was the all male cast and that two men shared a stage kiss.”

Reporting on the prayer meeting, WLOS Meteorologist Rob Bradley posted the above photo. Some responses via Facebook: