Merchant of Venic for Kids

I thought that the production of The Merchant of Venice was interesting, especially with how they made Antonio a girl.  I think they might have done this to help people view the play with the interpretation that Antonio & Bassanio have had a homosexual history (something we discussed in my English class last semester). (After all, it did seem weird that Bassanio would say that his friend was more important than his own WIFE, and while he was still in the newlywed stage, too.)
The discussion at the end was interesting, too, and though I think the producers may have wanted it to teach kids that bullying is NOT okay, I thought the little kids got caught on the "Tharian" side and didn't seem to really sympathize with Shylock (especially the girl acting Nerissa).  Young kids don't have a long attention span, and you could tell that by the end of the play, shortened though it was, most if not all of the younger children had forgotten that Antonia was the first one to spit on Shylock after the introduction about bullying had just ended, so it must have seemed that picking on Shylock was what everyone was supposed to do, and the families with the youngest children (those most likely to have forgotten that Shylock had been bullied) left before the discussion even began.  I think it was a good experience for those families with older kids, though, especially for those whose parents engaged in the discussion--it was a great teaching moment for them.