Uxbridge Updated: "What is going on in Canada?"

This is the second update on a post from last week about Uxbridge Secondary School's production of The Laramie Project, which the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas was planning to protest. Well, a mom of one of the boys in the cast found my post and was kind enough to give us an update on the situation. And now the weekend is over, the play went up, the WBC was nowhere to be found, and we, up here in Canada, are one step closer to acceptance for everyone. Here is what she came back to say:

Well, it’s all over now. The three night run of The Laramie Project is complete and thanks to Fred Phelps and his band of crazies from Kansas, the 16 performers and their teacher have had their 15 minutes of fame. And the WBC never even showed up. I'd love to send them a thank you letter for all of the free publicity and noteriety, but why poke the bear? The kids got letters from Rick Mercer and Michael Ignatieff among others. They got a page 5 spot in the Globe, right below Ted Rogers' funeral. Most importantly, the town turned out in big numbers to see and support the play. It was a great experience for all of the kids and has hooked many of them on the performing arts. Thanks for taking an interest.

What I really love about this is that, in an attempt to preach hate, intolerance, cruelty, and injustice, all the Westboro Baptist Church succeeded in was uniting one small community against all of those things. It's exciting to hear about things like this and, in light of a world that seems every day to be crumbling around us with war, death, poverty, hunger, and hatred, progress of this sort offers a tiny glimmer of hope for humanity. At least, that's what I think.


Thank you, mom from Uxbridge, for sharing! I wish the students in Uxbridge all the best in their future theatrical endeavours and hope they will share them with me, too!