Changing Minds – Ready or not, it doesn’t change much

Changing Minds is a contemporary high school musical with score by Bret Simmons (film and TV composer) with book and lyrics by David Howard (he wrote the hugely popular movie Galaxy Quest). I’m not sure I was in the right state of mind to see this kind of theatre as I had just left a deeply engaging conversation about anti-oppression and dialogical practices. In addition to that this play incorporates my three least favourite story tropes: switching bodies, star-crossed lovers and beauty and the beast.

THE GOOD

If I put the content of the story aside (I’ll get to that later), the music, lyrics and dialogue in the script are great. The songs are catchy and well executed by the cast. The dialogue flowed well and captured the awkwardness of the teenage years.

The cast were wonderful. Beautiful harmonies, great comedic timing and slick dance moves. Vancouver, watch out, there is some serious triple threat talent coming up. Remember these names Hana Decolongon, Molly Wilson and Devon Busswood, these three will be making a splash on stages for years to come.

THE BAD

Some of the staging and choreography was predictable and didn’t fully utilize the talents of the cast or include much innovation. At times I felt like I was watching a high school play from 15 years ago. Further, casting, costumes and directorial choices reinforced the problems with the script and the issues (and lack thereof) it tackles, often making jokes about things like cross-dressing men, racial stereotypes and hyper sexualized youth. I also couldn’t help but notice that this was the whitest high school in Vancouver (with only 3 of 18 persons of colour in the cast).

THE UGLY

From what I could gather via a quick Internet search, Changing Minds was written in the last five years. With the themes it contains I would have expected it to be written decades ago. I am confused why Awkward Stage Productions would pick a play where the key lessons are:

• Being different comes down to how you look and to fit in, change how you look;
• How you look is very important, very important, I mean very;
• Girls get attention from boys by using their sexuality;
• Learning about the history of feminism is boring, surfing is a far more interesting topic;
• Having passions and participating in after-school activities means you have no life;
• It’s ok to trash talk your peers;
• Cultural appropriation and exoticism are ok and, in fact, hilarious;
• You win by making the jock fall in love with you and calling his ex-girlfriend a long list of terrible names; and
• I could go on...

And here is a short list of the issues plaguing our high schools not covered in the play at all: addiction, homosexuality, suicide, birth control, racism, homophobia, classism, consent, white privilege, bullying, eating disorders, violence at  home, environmentalism, aboriginal issues,  changing family structures, again I could go on.

To say I was disappointed by Changing Minds would be an understatement. I’d hope Vancouver theatre could do high school better covering what matters to our teens, than well, let’s see…Glee.