Small Town Culture War

Who would have guessed that a high school musical production of 'Grease,' based on America's quintessential coming-of-age film, and the proposed production of 'The Crucible,' Arthur Miller's iconic American play about free speech, would have such a negative impact in a small Missouri town? A New York Times front-page story -- In Small Town 'Grease' Ignites Culture War -- depicted the entire town as a national joke. Two years after the story broke, filmmaker Amy Mack began talking with people in the town, determined to find truth and the heart of the story. The New York Times article elicited enough interest to generate a TV pilot, two sketches on Saturday Night Live, mention in a teen blockbuster film, enough newspaper and magazine articles to generate a stack of paper three inches thick, and become the topic of countless theatre major theses papers. What happened to merit this global interest? Through speaking with people directly and indirectly involved in the conflict, Mack discovered that while the article was newsworthy, no single opinion at either end of the spectrum could define the thought of the entire community. What she chose to celebrate was open discussion of the issues, particularly the grass roots efforts of an ad hoc group that came together to stand up for the drama students and their teacher -- and for First Amendment rights of Americans everywhere. Their efforts never made the front page. Names and locations in 'Small Town Culture War,' a Docudrama, have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved in what remains a sensitive subject. While this motion picture is based on true events and some townspeople appear in the film, certain incidents and characters are composites from countless interviews. Everyone appearing in the film resides either in the town or within thirty miles. FILM RATING This film is not yet rated. Our best guess is G - PG due to brief descriptions regarding what was interpreted as controversial material of the high school's production of 'Grease,' and the segment where thirteen year old Carey Woods explains the difference between PG and PG-13. However, she manages to do this without uttering an actual curse word.