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Content Advisory Overview for the 2009-2010 Season

Pioneer Theatre Company wants the theatre-going experience to be enjoyable and entertaining. Because of our commitment to our patrons, we annually post a review of potentially discomforting or offensive material in our shows.

What follows is a detailed list of items that have been found offensive by some in the past. If you have concerns about content, feel free to look over this page. As you do so, please keep in mind that the words listed, taken out of context, may seem more offensive than they would in the context of the play.

Season Ticket Holder Exchanges for Content

Season Ticket Holders who do not wish to attend Touch(ed) because of strong language or subject matter may exchange their tickets for additional tickets to another of the non-musicals remaining in the season. (Tickets for non-musicals may only be exchanged for other non-musicals.)

In order to exchange such tickets, patrons MUST REQUEST THE EXCHANGE AT LEAST 48 HOURS BEFORE THEIR SCHEDULED PERFORMANCE.

A CHORUS LINE

1. SYNPOSIS:
   Zach, a Broadway director/choreographer, is auditioning singer/dancers for his new show. He needs four women and four men, and as the audition begins he has winnowed the auditioners down to twenty-four. In addition to putting the singer/dancers through a grueling round of dance numbers, Zach also asks them to talk about themselves—to give him a sense of who they are as human beings. As the singer/dancers, desperate to get the part, strive to impress Zach with their abilities, they also reveal themselves to him, and us in intimate, touching, sometimes painful, and unexpected ways.
2. LANGUAGE:
   There is a fair amount of strong language in the play, both profanities and vulgarities, including the use of the so-called “R” rated profanity. In the song “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three,” a female dancer describes how, despite her skills, she was never cast in shows until she had cosmetic surgery, and the refrain of that number includes the repeated use of the phrase “tits and ass.” In addition, the script includes the following: “shit” (many times), “Jesus,” “Jesus Christ” and “goddamn,” (several times), “boobs,” “fuck” and “fucking,” “crap,” “faggot,” “asshole,” and “Christ,” as well as several slang expressions relating to sexual activity.
3. SMOKING & DRINKING:
   None.
4. SEX:
   There is no sexual activity in the play, but there are discussions of sexual identity (one character describes his life as a gay man), and sex appeal (the aforementioned number).
5. VIOLENCE:
   None.
6. FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:
   Because of the strong language, A Chorus Line will likely be offensive to conservative audience members and is inappropriate for pre-teens. Teenagers should attend at a parent’s discretion.
7. RATING:
   If it were a movie, A Chorus Line would be rated “PG-13” or “R.”

IS HE DEAD?

1. SYNPOSIS:
   Jean-Francois Millet is a brilliant but impoverished painter living on the outskirts of Paris in 1846, and he has a problem: no one will pay good money while he’s still alive. He owes money to an unscrupulous dealer, and he’s in love with a beautiful girl he can’t marry until he solves his financial situation. When his friends persuade him that the secret to success lies in convincing the world he’s dead, thereby driving up the price of his paintings, Millet hatches a scheme which could make him rich, famous, and able to marry the girl of his dreams—if only he didn’t have to be a corpse to do it.
2. LANGUAGE:
   Very little; a few exclamatory oaths (“Oh Lord!” “go to hell,”) and several uses of the word “ass.”
3. SMOKING & DRINKING:
   Several of the characters smoke cigars.
4. SEX:
   None.
5. VIOLENCE:
   None.
6. FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:
   Is He Dead? is suitable for all general audiences and children aged 5 and up.
7. RATING:
   If it were a movie, Is He Dead? would be rated “G” or “PG.”

A CHRISTMAS STORY

1. SYNPOSIS:
   Nine-year-old Ralphie only wants one thing for Christmas: the legendary official Red Ryder 200-Shot Carbine Action Range Model Air Rifle with a compass and this thing that tells time built right in the stock. The problem is that every adult in his life, beginning with his mother, is afraid he’ll shoot his eye out with it. Ralphie’s attempts to persuade Santa and his parents that he should get the Red Ryder gun form the basis for this charming and nostalgic look at growing up in a small town in Midwestern America in 1938.
2. LANGUAGE:
   None.
3. SMOKING & DRINKING:
   None.
4. SEX:
   None.
5. VIOLENCE:
   None.
6. FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:
   A Christmas Story is suitable for all audiences, including children aged 5 and older.
7. RATING:
   The movie version of A Christmas Story was rated “G.”

TOUCH(ED)

1. SYNPOSIS:
   Kay’s older sister Emma is everything a younger sister would idolize—smart, funny, artistic, and empathetic. She has also been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for the last eight years suffering from what the doctors tell Kay is schizophrenia. As a last resort, Kay removes Emma from the hospital to spend a week with Kay and her novelist boyfriend in a cabin she has rented in the woods. She hopes the change in surroundings will help Emma. Kay’s boyfriend, suffering from writer’s block, strikes up a friendship with Emma during the week, and Emma seems to be getting better. Kay begins to hope that she may get back the sister she remembers and idolizes.
2. LANGUAGE:
   There is a fair amount of strong language in the play, including conversational vulgarities and profanities. The language includes slang descriptions of sexual activity, mostly used for comic effect, and the occasional use of the so-called “R” rated obscenity (used as an adjective or an exclamatory oath). The language includes the following: “blow job,” “shit” (several times), “crap,” “Jesus” and “God” (several times), “fuck,” “fucking” (as an adjective) or “fuck it” (several times), “damn,” “dick,” and “bastards.”
3. SMOKING & DRINKING:
   Emma smokes, and the main characters drink beer or wine during the course of the play.
4. SEX:
   Kay and Billy kiss and “make out” and engage in sexual banter, but there is no explicit sexual activity in the play.
5. VIOLENCE:
   Billy cuts his lip in one of the opening scenes, and it bleeds profusely. There are discussions of suicide, but such activity is not depicted.
6. FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:
   Because of the strong language, Touch(ed) will likely be offensive to conservative audience members and is inappropriate for pre-teens. Teenagers should attend at a parent’s discretion. The play’s discussions of mental illness and suicide could be disturbing for younger audience members.
7. RATING:
   If it were a movie, Touch(ed) would be rated “PG-13” or “R.”

TWELVE ANGRY MEN

1. SYNPOSIS:
   Twelve jurors are sequestered to discuss, debate and ultimately render a verdict in a murder trial. During the course of the play, the emotions of the jurors frazzle as they attempt to come to terms with the facts of the case, their personal histories and prejudices, and the sobering fact that a man’s life hangs in the balance.
2. LANGUAGE:
   The script of Twelve Angry Men licensed to PTC is the revised script which was used in the recent hit Broadway revival of the play. In this script, there is a fair amount of profanity, used in the heat of the moment by the twelve jurors as they wrestle with the verdict in the murder case. The language includes the frequent use of the word “God-damn” or “God-dammit,” as well as the infrequent use of the words “bastard” and “son-of-a-bitch.”
3. SMOKING & DRINKING:
   One or two jurors may smoke during the course of their deliberations, however, a theatrical, non-.tobacco product will be used.
4. VIOLENCE:
   None. A murder is discussed in detail, and in the throes of strong emotion some of the jurors threaten violence against others, but nothing happens.
5. SEX:
   None.
6. FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:
   Twelve Angry Men is suitable for all general audiences, including children aged 10 and older. Younger children might be bored by it.
7. RATING:
   If it were a movie, Twelve Angry Men would be rated “PG."

OUR TOWN

1. SYNPOSIS:
   Our Town shows us three days in the life of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, at the turn of the twentieth century. In the first act, we are introduced to the citizens of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, and in particular to two neighboring families, the Gibbs and the Webbs, during the course of an ordinary day. In the second act, we see the wedding of young George Gibbs and Emily Webb and learn through a flashback how they came to fall in love with each other. In the third act, we’re confronted with sorrow and mortality as the town deals with the death of one of its own.
2. LANGUAGE:
   None.
3. SMOKING & DRINKING:
   None.
4. SEX:
   None.
5. VIOLENCE:
   None.
6. FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:
   Our Town is an American classic suitable for all audiences, including children 10 and older, and is in fact required reading in most high schools. It might be boring for children under the age of ten.
7. RATING:
   If it were a movie, Our Town would be rated “G.”

42nd STREET

1. SYNPOSIS:
   Peggy Sawyer has come to New York with talent and dreams of making it big on Broadway. Unfortunately, it’s the height of the Great Depression, and jobs are scarce. Then Peggy gets her big break when a star is injured and she’s cast in a spectacular song-and-dance musical by legendary Broadway director Julian Marsh. Can Marsh put together a show that will make America forget its troubles for just a little while, and will Peggy be able to seize the moment and turn her dreams of stardom into reality?
2. LANGUAGE:
   None to speak of—a few exclamatory oaths.
3. SMOKING & DRINKING:
   There are party scenes where the characters drink. There is no smoking.
4. SEX:
   None.
5. VIOLENCE:
   None.
6. FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:
   42nd Street is suitable for all general audiences, including children aged 5 and older.
7. RATING:
   If it were a movie, 42nd Street would be rated “G” or “PG.”