Miami-Dade superintendent says he’s pained by decision to reject Nilo Cruz play. So, reverse it | Opinion
Breaking his silence on Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ decision to reject a Pulitzer Prize-honored play by a celebrated Cuban American playwright, Superintendent José L. Dotres said Nilo Cruz isn’t being censored for being gay.
“We never made a decision based on him as an individual,” Dotres told me in a late Tuesday night conversation. “We made the decision based on content and inappropriateness.”
The superintendent also denied that the rejection — communicated in writing to the theater company staging a 20th anniversary performance of the play “Anna in the Tropics” the same day the School Board denied observing LGBTQ Heritage Month — was related to anti-gay bias.
“I can put my hand on the Bible on that,” he told me.
The controversy over the censorship of Cruz’s play by the schools’ cultural arts program “pains me,” said Dotres, 60, a veteran Miami-Dade educator who was deputy superintendent of Collier County Schools before returning home to replace California-gone Alberto Carvalho just seven months ago.
“I came here [from Cuba] when I was 5 years old, and I was raised to accept everybody.”
Cruz “is a treasure in this community, and I don’t want him to think this is about him,” Dotres said.
“That kind of hurts my soul,” he added, noting that he also had high regard for Nilo’s sister Clara, a Spanish teacher at Hialeah Gardens Elementary when Dotres was principal.
“She was one of the most outstanding Spanish teachers I have ever worked with,” Dotres said of the now retired teacher. “She was always celebrating his success.”
The superintendent sounded sincere.
He said he would call Cruz Wednesday morning “to set the record straight so he doesn’t feel that we don’t value and treasure who he is,” which I confirmed Dotres did.
Cruz told me Dotres apologized “for what is going on,” invited Cruz to speak to educators and said he had “tremendous respect” for the artist and his accomplishments. Hopefully, they began what should be the first step in a more profound dialogue that leads to openness between the school system and the arts community it also serves.
“I agree [with Cruz] that what was needed was dialogue,” Dotres texted me Wednesday.
But he needs to do a lot more than mend fences with the renown artist.
He must reverse the ill-conceived decision to keep all high school students from attending a world-class play written and to be directed in January and February runs by one of Miami’s own.
There’s no reason to keep 17- and 18-year-olds away from “Anna in the Tropics,” except for a ridiculous rule in the Cultural Passport Program that says all grades in a school have to attend — or no one goes at all.
As I wrote in a previous column, students of all ages are routinely exposed to more sex and violence on television shows and cell phones than scenes they find racy in Cruz’s play.
Revisit censorship
Explaining to the public what occurred in the closed meetings of a schools committee having a great deal of influence over what culture students consume is a start.
“To our misfortune,” Dotres said, the email informing Miami New Drama of the rejection was sent the afternoon after the heated School Board meeting where confrontational parents and even the hate group Proud Boys showed up to voice anti-gay bias.
But the script, Dotres said, had been under review since it was received Aug. 18 by a seven-member committee reviewing plays for the school district’s Culture Passport Program and made up of language arts and curriculum specialists, and some in performing arts.
“I promise you . . . there’s a process in place, and it has absolutely zero relation to positions the School Board takes,” he said.
Then, why not revisit the issue?
Dotres said he doesn’t want to reverse what “my academic team” has decided is inappropriate. Cruz said he’s willing to tone down scenes for the students’ matinee showings, as he did in the past.
Lament not enough
It’s not a good enough excuse to keep the status quo.
He needs to correct a wrong that has captured the attention of the national arts community and the national media, too.
His unwillingness to reconsider a decision that is within his rights to reverse — especially when Cruz has said he toned down the scenes for high school students who previously saw the work and is willing to do it again — continues to feed mistrust.
It’s hard to believe that the hostile atmosphere created in Florida by Republicans who, last legislative season, pushed through a “Parental Rights” bill — signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis and prohibiting gender identity discussions in grades K-3 — doesn’t have anything to do with the censorship of Cruz’s play.
Still, everybody seems eager to please political censors.
The committee also vetoed another recently staged play by Miami New Drama relevant to Miami and written by another gifted Cuban American playwright and actor, Carmen Peláez — the clever comedy “The Cuban Vote,” a humorous portrayal of the shenanigans of Miami politics.
When I recently saw it at The Colony Theater, Republicans, Democrats and independents in the audience were laughing out loud at the antics of characters playing the roles of candidates and their political operatives.
There really was no valid reason to censor that, either — other than educators are reviewing scripts with the fraught times much on their minds.
They, too, have been censored.
At the impassioned School Board meeting last week that Dotres says played no role in censoring Cruz, board members — acting against the advice of the district’s attorney that the “Don’t say gay” law didn’t apply — rejected teaching 12th graders about two landmark Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage and workplace discrimination.
Who are we kidding here?
The sponsor of the anti-gay law disguised as parental rights was state Sen. Manny Diaz Jr., a Republican who is now education commissioner. He can make life a living hell for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Diaz is beholden to DeSantis, who appointed him, a reward for his years of voting with the North Florida coalition of ultra-conservatives against the best interests of South Florida institutions like Miami Dade College.
And, didn’t DeSantis just remove from office four Broward School Board members and the duly elected Hillsborough County state attorney?
READ MORE: DeSantis suspends four Broward County School Board members, appoints replacements
All those crackdowns are creating a chilling effect — exactly what DeSantis and the Florida GOP want.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade School Board’s anti-LGBTQ vote shows chilling effect of parents’ law, some say
Whether intentional or not, Miami-Dade Schools’ lack of courage amounts to acquiescence.
Censorship is anti-democratic and anti-American.
There are ways to correct this wrong done to our students, an artist and an entire community.
A lament from the superintendent isn’t enough.
