It's been a few years, but the notion of children reenacting Scarface for a school play is still hard to believe. The fact that it received school board approval is even more surprising. Keep in mind that the play was above board, no pun intended.
The 1983 drug-addled, gangster flick by Brian De Palma became a piece of cinema history for its extreme subject matter. Set around Tony Montana (Al Pacino), a Cuban immigrant struggling to make a living in America, Scarface follows his journey as he breaks out of mediocrity to become a drug lord. The problem is Tony's dreams of "making it big" turn out to be his downfall. He's all but the 80s interpretation of Icarus flying too close to the Sun. Tony has it all at one point, except he gets greedy, and that desire inevitably becomes the deciding factor in his demise.
As for the school play—Marc Klasfeld directed the reenactment. The educational professional crafted the performance through traditional means, albeit with some tinkering. Klasfeld made certain not to expose the children to any of the film's mature themes; presumably the chainsaw execution and sex scenes. There is some talk of substances in the play, although it's very mild. Dialogue from the play included replacing expletives with examples such as "fudging" and "fudgers."
The clip itself went viral on YouTube and then later on Facebook. It's presumably been shared across social media for several years have passed. Scarface School Play didn't just gain attention online. News outlets also sought Klasfeld out for answers.
Reporter Shira Lazar from CBS News interviewed the play's director about his ideas going into the production. He had surprising answers as to why, and it seems like his satirical approach was done in good faith. Lazar grilled Klasfeld thoroughly, eliminating any presumption that he had ill intent while creating the play. That could have been the case when so many individuals take advantage of children, but Klasfeld kept it clean.
Considering how the director used popcorn as a prop instead of a photo-realistic prop like flour for scenes involving cocaine, it goes to show that Klasfeld protected them. Changing the dialogue up so that the kids wouldn't use as much vulgar language also proves how the play didn't expose them to subject matter not suited for them. An argument can be made that the entire play is inappropriate, but Klasfeld explains the situation well, pointing out that children are exposed to the same content—if not worse—in their everyday lives.
Scarface is streaming on AMC+ and Amazon Prime Video.