At Tarleton State University, the show must not go on.

A production of “Corpus Christi,” produced as part of professor Mark Holtorf’s advanced directing class, was canceled March 25 after concerns for student safety, said Liza Benedict, Tarleton State’s associate vice president of marketing and communications.

“Corpus Christi” features a Jesus-like figure and his disciples as gay men. It was written by Terrence McNally and first performed in 1998 in New York City.

People who opposed the play sent threats to the university, saying the play was disrespectful toward Christianity. But John Otte, the student producer of the play, and professors at Tarleton State said canceling the play eliminated the opportunity for the campus community to learn.

Holtorf had the final say in canceling the play, Benedict said. He had been informed by the administration of the threats against the students and the play in general, she said.

“The professor made the decision to cancel because of the increase in the tonality of e-mails and calls that the university was receiving,” Benedict said. “The professor decided this was not the academic setting he was looking for.”

Though Benedict would not elaborate on the specific threats, she said e-mail and phone call threats were alarming enough for the university to forward them to the campus police, who are currently in the process of reviewing them.

Otte, the student producer, said he chose the play because it bridged the gap between his Christianity and his homosexuality.

“It takes time and energy, and it was important that we picked what we did. I read 45 to 50 plays and then I read ‘Corpus Christi,’ and I broke down and cried when I read it and believe in what it shares,” Otte said. “As a gay and a Christian, I felt alienated from my church and from the gay community. The message of the play is one of unconditional love and tolerance, and that really resonated with me.”

Though Otte said he would have liked the play to start a campus discussion about the relationship between homosexuality and Christianity and that the play delivers a strong message, he said he understands if the play was truly canceled for safety reasons.

“If it was for our safety, I’m not fighting it, but my question is what precedent does this set in which we are bowing down to extremists? Are we willing to give up the First Amendment because someone said they had to?” Otte said.

Despite Otte’s disappointment in the cancellation, he said the university fought as long as it could to keep the play.

Prior to its cancellation, the audience for the play was restricted. It was to be performed at 8 a.m. on March 27 for the students of the class and their invited guests. This change was made to “preserve the academic integrity of the classroom,” Benedict said.

The president of Tarleton State, F. Dominic Dottavio, issued a statement March 25 to the university community explaining the university does not condone the production of the play and noted that all funds for the play were covered by the student director. The president also included his own opinion in the letter.

“My personal reaction is that I see no artistic or redeeming quality in the work,” Dottavio said in the statement. “I believe, as many have opined, that it is offensive, crude and irreverent. It is my sense that there are significant numbers of faculty, staff and students at Tarleton who share my views of the play.”

Charles Howard, the communication studies department head and an associate professor at Tarleton State, said in an e-mail that among the students he has communicated with, the reaction to the play is not as severe.

Howard submitted an opinion essay to Tarleton State’s student newspaper, The J-Tac, and said protesters need to understand the difference between First Amendment rights and academic freedom.

“I have no authority to speak for the entire student body. However, the students I’ve spoken to are more bewildered by the magnitude of the outrage than anything else,” he said. “This was not a main-stage production and publicity was non-existent, so most students were completely unaware of the production until the protest hit full stride.”

Community members voiced much more concern than students about the play, Benedict said. In some instances, concerned people were from outside the Stephenville, Texas, community. Tarleton State is a public, secular university, but the administration is aware community members are highly religious, Benedict said.

“We had several concerned alumni, but they didn’t have the facts behind it and thought the university chose to put on ‘Corpus Christi’ as part of its fine arts schedule,” Benedict said.

Moumin Quazi, an associate professor of English, also wrote an opinion essay for The J-Tac. In his opinion essay, written a day before the administration canceled the play, he said he was encouraged by the university’s decision to support academic freedom despite the controversial topic.

Quazi said the university had an opportunity to create an academic discourse about academic freedom, but it lost the chance with the cancellation of the play.

“The university should have treated this like an educational opportunity and had a discourse about this whole issue – academic freedom and how educated people deal with conflict,” Quazi said. “The university didn’t take advantage of an opportunity. At a university, we’re about education. This is what people deal with in the real world, but in an academically, educated way.”

Although the opportunity to perform the play at Tarleton State was lost, Otte said a theater company in Fort Worth, about 70 miles southwest of Stephenville, has agreed to host the play.

“It was going to be 40 people, (and) now it’s going to be done in a 250-seat theater and another venue that is a 300-seat theater,” Otte said. “Because people are not quiet – and those detractors have probably not even read the play – now it will be produced in Fort Worth.”

 

Published on April 5, 2010 at 12:00 pm