NEWS STORY: Protesters accuse playwright McNally of `theatrical hate speech’

c. 1998 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ In the largest demonstration yet against the play”Corpus Christi,”some 2,000 protesters Tuesday night (Oct. 13) called down the wrath of God on the controversial work that suggests Jesus was a homosexual. The protesters, waving crucifixes and bearing signs with slogans such as”Blasphemous Filth is not Art,”were countered […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

NEW YORK _ In the largest demonstration yet against the play”Corpus Christi,”some 2,000 protesters Tuesday night (Oct. 13) called down the wrath of God on the controversial work that suggests Jesus was a homosexual.

The protesters, waving crucifixes and bearing signs with slogans such as”Blasphemous Filth is not Art,”were countered several yards away _ and separated by barricades and 300 police officers _ by 400 supporters of the Tony-award winning playwright, Terrence McNally, who said they marched in defense of his free speech rights.”Terrence McNally is engaged in theatrical hate speech,”said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Liberties, which organized the latest of several mass protests against the play.”We want to send a message to Broadway theaters that (Catholics) want the same respect accorded blacks, Jews and homosexuals.” At the counter-demonstration organized by the liberal civil liberties group People for the American Way Foundation, supporters also waved placards but this time with quotes Voltaire, Abraham Lincoln and Oprah Winfrey about about the importance of free speech.”There shouldn’t be a monopoly on religious viewpoints,”said Ming Cho Lee, a Tony-award winning set designer and Yale professor who had earlier joined arts groups in urging the Manhattan Theater Club to stage the play after it backed down in the face of vocal opposition.”We gathered together to show physical presence that we are committed to the First Amendment.” But the group’s founder and chairman, television producer Norman Lear, said he also supported the rights of those who opposed the play. “They have the right to hate the play. We believe everyone has the right to free speech,”said Lear, who added that his group would continue its fight to protect free speech rights.”Whoever said, ‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’ had the right idea.” Lear was one of several dozen celebrities, among them the cast of the Broadway play”Cabaret,”the actor Wallace Shawn, and the playwright Tony Kushner, who turned out to support McNally and the play.


Lear, who almost three decades ago produced the groundbreaking and highly controversial TV sitcom”All in the Family,”said he understood the pressure the theater was under to cancel the play.”I know, I’ve been there,”he said.

Six months ago, the Manhattan Theater Club six months ago announced it was canceling the play amid intense opposition, but shortly after reversed its decision following an outcry from the theater community and free speech groups.

The theater’s artistic director, Lynne Meadow, said in a statement issued Tuesday:”Much of the judgment that has been issued against the play has come from people who have not actually seen the play,”and that”tonight the press will have a chance to express its views on the completed script.” Early New York reviews appearing Wednesday said the hype surrounding the play was far more exciting then the play itself. The New York Times called”Corpus Christi”a”minor work by a major playwright,”while the New York Post concluded it was”rather dull.”All performances of”Corpus Christi,”through

its scheduled Nov. 30 closing date, are sold out.

DEA END WORDEN

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