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http://dailytexanonline.com/content/unpopular-art-cesured-and-shut-down
Daily Texan {University of Texas} column by
By Douglas Luippold, Daily Texan Columnist
Published: Sunday, March 28, 2010
I have another donation suggestion: Contribute to Tarleton State University student John Jordan Otte, so he can produce “Corpus Christi,” a one-act play he was set to direct but was then canceled by the school’s theater department due to safety concerns stemming from the play’s controversial topic, a gay Jesus Christ living in modern-day Texas.
Otte chose to direct scenes from the Terrence McNally play for an upper-level theater class at Tarleton, located in Stephenville, about 100 miles southwest of Dallas. Otte said he wanted to direct the play to help gay Christians like himself who struggle to reconcile their sexuality and faith — a message that has clearly taken conservative Stephenville by storm.
To quell the cries of community members who were understandably offended by the play’s subject, Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio released a public letter stating that while he didn’t personally approve of the play, the university is legally and ideologically bound to allow the play to be performed.
Controversy grew when Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst weighed in: “Every citizen is entitled to the freedom of speech, but no one should have the right to use government funds or institutions to portray acts that are morally reprehensible to the vast majority of Americans,” he said in a statement. “Texans don’t deserve to see their hard-earned tax money used to debase their religion. This lewd display runs completely contrary to the standards of scholastic excellence and common decency that we demand in our publicly funded institutions for higher learning.”
I’m not sure which is more troubling: Dewhurst appointing himself spokesman for the morals of “the vast majority of Americans” — implying there should be a litmus test for art that is even partially state-funded — or that he has enough free time to monitor the content of college theater departments. Shouldn’t he be busy spending my hard-earned tax dollars repealing health care legislation or suing the Environmental Protection Agency?
After initially changing the play’s location, restricting the audience to only students and moving the curtain call to 8 a.m., an official from the university’s theater department canceled the show altogether, citing safety concerns.
I certainly recognize the threats as causes for concern. That said, according to an Abilene newspaper, security measures included university police, Stephenville police, 18 police cars from the Department of Public Safety, street barricades, additional resources from the Erath County sheriff’s department, the Stephenville fire department and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
I have trouble believing all of these resources could not secure an auditorium for 40 minutes at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Due to the university administration’s lackluster support for the play and students to begin with, it seems like the play’s cancellation has less to do with safety and more to do with the university finding a way to legally cancel the play and save face. It’s not that they couldn’t protect their students’ free speech — they wouldn’t.
This should have been a nonissue. It was a student-directed one-act play, the kind normally produced on a shoestring budget and attended only by friends of the cast and other theater students.
Because the theater department will be under increased scrutiny — from senior state officials, apparently — it should probably stick to producing classics that uphold the public’s moral standards. Perhaps it could produce “Oedipus Rex”; I’m sure the community would not react so harshly to incest and murder
.
Shakespeare is a safe bet, too: I doubt there would be a backlash over the opiate-filled, five-act outdoor orgy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Or perhaps it could produce a play that encapsulates the entire controversy — “Much Ado About Nothing.”
Daily Texan {University of Texas} column by
By Douglas Luippold, Daily Texan Columnist
Published: Sunday, March 28, 2010
I have another donation suggestion: Contribute to Tarleton State University student John Jordan Otte, so he can produce “Corpus Christi,” a one-act play he was set to direct but was then canceled by the school’s theater department due to safety concerns stemming from the play’s controversial topic, a gay Jesus Christ living in modern-day Texas.
Otte chose to direct scenes from the Terrence McNally play for an upper-level theater class at Tarleton, located in Stephenville, about 100 miles southwest of Dallas. Otte said he wanted to direct the play to help gay Christians like himself who struggle to reconcile their sexuality and faith — a message that has clearly taken conservative Stephenville by storm.
To quell the cries of community members who were understandably offended by the play’s subject, Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio released a public letter stating that while he didn’t personally approve of the play, the university is legally and ideologically bound to allow the play to be performed.
Controversy grew when Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst weighed in: “Every citizen is entitled to the freedom of speech, but no one should have the right to use government funds or institutions to portray acts that are morally reprehensible to the vast majority of Americans,” he said in a statement. “Texans don’t deserve to see their hard-earned tax money used to debase their religion. This lewd display runs completely contrary to the standards of scholastic excellence and common decency that we demand in our publicly funded institutions for higher learning.”
I’m not sure which is more troubling: Dewhurst appointing himself spokesman for the morals of “the vast majority of Americans” — implying there should be a litmus test for art that is even partially state-funded — or that he has enough free time to monitor the content of college theater departments. Shouldn’t he be busy spending my hard-earned tax dollars repealing health care legislation or suing the Environmental Protection Agency?
After initially changing the play’s location, restricting the audience to only students and moving the curtain call to 8 a.m., an official from the university’s theater department canceled the show altogether, citing safety concerns.
I certainly recognize the threats as causes for concern. That said, according to an Abilene newspaper, security measures included university police, Stephenville police, 18 police cars from the Department of Public Safety, street barricades, additional resources from the Erath County sheriff’s department, the Stephenville fire department and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
I have trouble believing all of these resources could not secure an auditorium for 40 minutes at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Due to the university administration’s lackluster support for the play and students to begin with, it seems like the play’s cancellation has less to do with safety and more to do with the university finding a way to legally cancel the play and save face. It’s not that they couldn’t protect their students’ free speech — they wouldn’t.
This should have been a nonissue. It was a student-directed one-act play, the kind normally produced on a shoestring budget and attended only by friends of the cast and other theater students.
Because the theater department will be under increased scrutiny — from senior state officials, apparently — it should probably stick to producing classics that uphold the public’s moral standards. Perhaps it could produce “Oedipus Rex”; I’m sure the community would not react so harshly to incest and murder
.
Shakespeare is a safe bet, too: I doubt there would be a backlash over the opiate-filled, five-act outdoor orgy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Or perhaps it could produce a play that encapsulates the entire controversy — “Much Ado About Nothing.”
