Local Prinicipal Regrets Approving The Hunger Games as School Play

ST CLAIRSVILLE - Principal Jim Rocchi says that he "made a terrible mistake" when he let the music teacher adapt Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games into a school play. Parents of children at St. Clairsville Elementary School say that their kids were forced to brutally mutilate one another in front of a terrified audience.

"Granted, the portrayal of violence was simulated," said Rocchi. "The special effects crew we hired from Hollywood did a fantastic job for the most part."

A majority of parents didn't approve of 10-year-old Braden Robinson's gruesome performance as Cato, the bloodthirsty tribute from District 2. Robinson had to kill a total of six characters throughout the play, causing his mother a great deal of distress.

"All that fake blood stained his underwear," said Carrie Robinson. "No matter how much bleach I use it just won't come out."

Others mentioned being slightly off-put at how 5th grader Austin Cameron seemed to "really get into his role" as District 1's Marvel. We were also told that Cameron deviated from the script several times.

"I told him over and over again that he was not allowed to drink the blood of the fallen tributes," said music teacher Sharon Wright. "It was a liquid form of Jell-O and had way too much sugar in it for a child his age to be drinking."

This is not the first time that St. Clairsville Elementary has been called out for its choice in school plays. Last year's rendition of the 1984 film Red Dawn came under fire for many of the same reasons as this year's play, along with the fact that the school used actual terrorists who held the audience in a hostage situation for 13 weeks.

"It was a good show other than the fact that it was so long," recalled Gary Sellers, WTOV-9's 'Local School Play Critic'. "I really had to go to the bathroom but we weren't allowed to leave. Also, the concession stand ran out of food fairly early into the show. They should have anticipated that. I gave it three out of five stars."

Wright told us that she chose Red Dawn and The Hunger Games because many parents told her that the school's 2012 play, Romeo and Juliet, was too boring.

Sellers will release his review of this year's play tomorrow on News 9 midday.