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Content Advisory Overview for the 2010-2011 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 In 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.) Since Rent is not automatically included in any season package, and must be selected, exchanging out of Rent will not be permitted.

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

HAMLET — September 17 - October 2, 2010

SYNPOSIS: Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, is in mourning for the death of his father, and horrified that his mother has married his uncle. When the ghost of his father appears to tell him that his uncle has murdered him to gain the throne, Hamlet is forced to confront life’s most profound questions as he determines whether or not to exact his revenge on his uncle.

LANGUAGE: Contains Shakespeare’s usual double entendres, but no strong language.  

SMOKING AND DRINKING:  There are dinner scenes in which the characters drink.

SEX: There is no sexual activity in the play. Hamlet is engaged to Ophelia but drives her mad with his behavior towards her, and his mother’s marriage to Claudius is the subject of much wrath by Hamlet.

VIOLENCE: Almost everyone ends up dead, either by swordplay, drowning, or poisoning.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Hamlet is generally regarded as the greatest play ever written and is required reading in most high schools. It is above the heads of most pre-teens, but is suitable for all other audiences.

RATING: If it were a movie, Hamlet would be rated “PG-13.”

DRACULA — October 22 - November 6, 2010

SYNOPSIS: Jonathan Harker, a London solicitor, travels to Transylvania on business. There he finds himself drawn into the snare of Count Dracula, an ancient vampire with supernatural powers who lives by feeding on the blood of his victims. Dracula’s spell ensnares not only Harker but his fiancée Mina, his friends Dr. John Seward and Arthur Holmwood, and Holmwood’s fiancée Lucy. Only the brilliant vampire hunter Van Helsing can save Harker and his friends from Dracula, his “undead” vampire brides and his mad minion, Renfield. 

LANGUAGE:  None.

SMOKING AND DRINKING:  Characters are served drinks in several scenes.

SEX:  None, although the play includes some sensuality and eroticism. Dracula’s power is partly sexual in nature—he is irresistible to his female victims—and Dracula’s brides also use their sensuality to ensnare victims.

VIOLENCE: The play includes scenes of stylized horror, including vampiric blood-sucking, as well as vampires having stakes driven through their hearts and recoiling in physical agony from holy relics.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Dracula would be too frightening and therefore inappropriate for children under the age of ten. The play is otherwise suitable for all general audiences.

RATING: If it were a movie, Dracula would be rated  “PG-13.”

IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS — December 3 - 24, 2010

SYNOPSIS: Based on the classic movie of the same name, White Christmas tells the story of two ex-GI song-and-dance men, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis. After World War II ends, Wallace and Davis team up to save the Vermont inn of their retired General, while at the same time wooing two beautiful sisters who are just breaking into show business.

LANGUAGE: None.

SMOKING AND DRINKING: Several of the characters may smoke, at least in the early World War II scenes, and there are party scenes which will include drinking.

SEX: None.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:  White Christmas is suitable for all audiences, including children aged 5 and older.

RATING: White Christmas would be rated “G.”

BLACK COMEDY — January 14 - 29, 2011

SYNOPSIS:  Prodded by his debutante fiancée, Brindsley Miller just wants to perpetrate a harmless little deception to impress both his prospective father-in-law and a visiting millionaire art collector. Surely there’s no harm in swapping his shabby furnishings for those of his friend and neighbor Harold, who has excellent taste in furniture and just happens to be gone for the weekend. But Brindsley hasn’t accounted for the inconvenient return of his former girlfriend Clea, a woman with a decidedly mischievous sense of humor, or the blown fuse that throws his entire apartment into darkness—with chaotic and hilarious results!

LANGUAGE: There is a very small amount of mild strong language in the play, including the use of “damn” and “bloody.”

SMOKING AND DRINKING: Drinks are served, in the dark, to all the characters.

SEX: None to speak of—there is some innuendo in the play, but it is mild and mostly implied.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:  Black Comedy is suitable for all audiences, including children aged 10 and older. It might be over the heads of children under 10.

RATING: If it were a movie, Black Comedy would be rated “PG.”

IN — February 18 - March 5, 2011

SYNOPSIS: Sara, a recent graduate of Harvard, is working as a tutor helping the children of wealthy families prepare for their SAT tests in order to improve their chances of getting into elite colleges. She is hired to tutor Jordy, the charming but under-achieving son of Pammie, a driven  socialite who is determined to see her son admitted to Harvard. As Sara tutors Jordy and interacts with Pammie, we see the dreams, ambitions, and loneliness of all three characters as each struggles to get “in”—to belong to something or someone greater than themselves.

LANGUAGE: There is a fair amount of strong language in the play, including conversational vulgarities and profanities. The language includes the use of the so-called “R” rated obscenity. Specifically, the play includes the use of “bitch,” “damn,” “bullshit” and “shit” (a number of times), “fuck” and “fucking” (used as an adjective or exclamatory oath), “pissed,” “Jesus Christ,” “asshole,” “cocksucker,” and “motherfucker” (once each.)

SMOKING AND DRINKING: None.

VIOLENCE:  None.

SEX: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Because of the strong language, IN would likely be offensive to conservative audience members and is inappropriate for pre-teens. Teenagers should attend at a parent’s discretion.

RATING: If it were a movie, IN would be rated “R.”

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK — March 18 - April 2, 2011

SYNOPSIS: Anne Frank is a young Jewish girl living with her family in a small secret apartment in Amsterdam. All of them are in hiding from the Nazis, who have begun their systematic extermination of the Jews. As Anne writes in her diary of the daily events of  her life, we see through a young girl’s eyes the ordinary events of human existence, and come to understand the common humanity that binds people together even under the most terrible circumstances.

LANGUAGE: None.

SMOKING AND DRINKING:  None.

SEX: None.

VIOLENCE: At the end of the play, Nazi storm-troopers break into the apartment and take Anne and her family off to the concentration camps.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: The Diary of Anne Frank is a classic suitable for all audiences, including children 10 and older, and is in fact required reading in most high schools. It might be over the heads of children under the age of ten.

RATING: If it were a movie, The Diary of Anne Frank would be rated “PG.”

SUNSET BOULEVARD — April 29 - May 14, 2011

SYNPOSIS:  Joe Gillis is a Hollywood writer down on his luck. Escaping from men trying to repossess his car, he turns up by accident at the Hollywood mansion of Norma Desmond, a former silent screen star now living in seclusion. Attended by her butler Max, her hold on reality more and more tenuous with every passing day, Norma and Joe begin an unusual and tortured relationship—one that could save or destroy them both.

LANGUAGE:  There is a very small amount of strong language in the play, including one use of the so-called “R” rated obscenity. Specifically, the language includes the use of the word “fuck,” (once), “shithead” and “shit,” (once), “Jesus” and “Christ” (once each), and “bitch,” (once).

SMOKING AND DRINKING:  Sunset Boulevard takes place in Hollywood during the height of the studio era. There is both smoking and drinking in the play.

SEX:  None.

VIOLENCE:  One of the major characters is killed at the end of the play.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?:  Sunset Boulevard is suitable for all general audiences, although its dark view of Hollywood and the small amount of language might make it uncomfortable for some audiences. It is not suitable for children under the age of ten. It is suitable for most teenagers, although teens should attend at a parent’s discretion.

RATING: If it were a movie, Sunset Boulevard would be rated “PG-13.”

RENT — June 10 - 25, 2011

SPECIAL NOTE: Rent is being offered as an “add-on” production and is not a part of PTC’s traditional seven-play season. Season ticket patrons who do not wish to see Rent do not have to do so. Because Rent is entirely optional, season patrons who select Rent may not exchange their Rent tickets for tickets to another musical.

SYNOPSIS:  Rent is a pop-rock opera based loosely on the opera La Boheme. Seven friends pursue their dreams as artists in 1990’s New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Roger and Mark are roommates living in a loft without electricity or heat in downtown Manhattan; Roger is a singer who is HIV-positive as a result of drug use, and Mark is a documentary videographer who is still getting over his former girlfriend, a bisexual performance artist named Maureen who is now living with Joanne. Tom, an MIT graduate, and Angel, a drag queen, are a couple; both are HIV-positive but are in love with each other. Mimi, an exotic dancer, lives downstairs from Mark and Roger and is herself HIV-positive; she and Roger begin a tentative romance undermined by their pasts. Together this small circle of friends tries to support each other through the crises that confront them, from shifting romantic entanglements to preserving their artistic integrity to the life-or-death struggle with a disease that is threatening almost everyone they know.

LANGUAGE: There is a small amount of strong language in the play, including several uses of the so-called “R” rated obscenity, as well as a few profanities and other vulgarities. Specifically, the language includes the use of the word “shit” (several times),  “fuck” (several times), “Jesus” and “Goddamn” (once each), “motherfucking” (once), and “clit” (once).

SMOKING AND DRINKING: There is little of either in the play, although the presence of drug use, and drug dealing, is pervasive. Both Roger and Mimi are former addicts.

SEX: None, although there is innuendo.

VIOLENCE: Very little. Tom is beaten up by thugs early in the play.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES: Because of both its musical style—a pop-rock opera—and its subject matter, Rent is for more adventurous audiences. It would not be of interest to conservative audience members and is inappropriate for pre-teens. Teenagers should attend at a parent’s discretion.

RATING: If it were a movie, Rent would be rated “R.”