Teen Arrested, Shorewood's 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Canceled Again

SHOREWOOD, WI -- Shorewood High School's last-ditch effort to stage a dress rehearsal of "To Kill A Mockingbird" was canceled Wednesday, and a 17-year-old boy was arrested for posting threatening messages on social media related to the play.

Shorewood police say that at about 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 16, officers were contacted by the Shorewood School District about a threatening message that was posted on social media related to the school's play "To Kill A Mockingbird."

Police say that their investigation led to a 17-year-old from Shorewood, who was arrested Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Police say the incident is still under investiagtion and that the person arrested is being held in the Milwaukee County Jail and is awaiting potential charges.

Earlier, Shorewood High School announced they would try to stage a dress rehearsal for families of the cast and crew of the play after initial stagings of the play were canceled. On Wednesday, that dress rehearsal was also shelved.

A letter by Superintendent Bryan Davis says the school's drama director and students ultimately decided to cancel the dress rehearsal:

This morning, the SHS Drama director and student cast and crew members met to discuss the dress rehearsal of To Kill A Mockingbird for their families. Overall, the consensus among the students was that they felt if they moved forward with the dress rehearsal, they would lose the original message they wanted to convey by performing the play and would be performing it for the wrong reasons. Therefore, the dress rehearsal for tonight will not take place. More details about ticket reimbursement will be forthcoming.

We want to thank the cast, crew and staff of To Kill a Mockingbird for their hard work on this play. And we would like to thank all of our students for their willingness to listen to each other with grace and patience, and their desire to seek a path moving forward.

The District is committed to learning from the experience, beginning the healing, and further engaging with the community.

Earlier this week, officials learned that a number of students and possibly community members were planning to protest the play because it contains instances of a racially-charged term that is commonly considered offensive.

"The Caucasian students that are in the play, I can't imagine the discomfort of using that word," said one mother who wished to remain anonymous in a WISN 12 report. "I've heard that during practices, [Caucasian students] actually apologized to the African American students. Why even put them in that position?"

The play is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. The book was published in 1960, and the story is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression.

In a WTMJ report, some students say the use of the racial language is central to the play, which tells the story of a Caucasian man who represents a African-American man who has been accused of a crime.

"Us doing the word without the show without the word, we felt like we couldn't really tell the story," said one cast member in the WTMJ report.

Another student in the report said she was not offended: "And when using that word we were really trying to be considerate and telling them this is not something to hurt you. I'm in the show, I'm black and I'm not getting offended but I guess that still wasn't clear."

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