Teachers yank kids from Fresno performance of ‘Oliver!’ because of ‘dark themes’

Teachers abruptly yanked hundreds of first-graders from the audience of a Fresno children’s theater production of “Oliver Twist” after becoming uncomfortable with the show’s “dark themes,” a school district spokesman said.

The following day, middle-schoolers from the same district were a no-show at the performance because of what school administrators deemed PG-rated content.

The mid-show walkout, first reported by the Central Valley arts publication the Munro Review, unfolded Dec. 8 at the Children’s Musical Theaterworks production of “Oliver!”

Clovis Unified’s Kelly Avants told the Munro Review that the teachers removed the children after deciding “the themes of violence, alcohol use and thievery were not appropriate for their young students.”

The planned outing Dec. 9 for seventh- and eighth-graders from the same district was canceled because the permission slips had not mentioned the parental guidance rating for the show, Avants said.

Judy Stene, the theater company’s executive director, told the Fresno Bee that the production was suitable for middle-schoolers. As for the younger children, she said teachers have the responsibility of knowing the subject matter.

The Clovis schools’ canceling of the middle school outing, she told the Bee, “hurt our reputation … suggesting that we did something that middle school kids couldn’t watch.”

“Oliver!” — adapted from the 19th-century Dickens novel — was a popular stage musical and a G-rated 1968 movie that won the Best Picture Oscar. The main character is an orphan who falls in with a gang of child pickpockets.

The incident comes several months after another controversy concerning a Central Valley school production. In April, Turlock High canceled its musical after one night; the district said it had received complaints about “drug use, sex, and other topics” in “Be More Chill,” based on a young adult novel.