OCR Text |
Show Actors Refuse Administration Dictum DES MOINES, IOWA (CPS) - Students refused an administration adminis-tration dictum to cut an alleged-. alleged-. y "gross and lewd" scene from their production of Eugene Iones-co's Iones-co's "The Chairs" at Grinnell College Oct. 6 and closed the show instead. At issue was a female charac- ter's pantomime of the sexual act with an imaginary , person. : Richard Meyer, director of the College's Arene Theater and an c associate professor, demanded : that the scene be toned down. i, , Cancel Performances ; The cast and student director, Dennis Rich, agreed to cancel the remaining performances rather ra-ther than compromise. The play was performed Oct. 5 and was slated to run three " nights, but at the second per- Jormance Rich announced, "Mey-. "Mey-. er and the administration feel that "The Chairs' as presented r last night is not fit for the Grin-'. Grin-'. nell audience . . . Under the J circumstances we feel we can-l can-l not honestly present the play and therefore regretfully announce its cancellation." Achieve Embarrassment Bonnie Tinker, a sophomore whose performance precipitated the row, said, "I fully realized what was involved in the role when I accepted it. The effect we hoped to achieve was complete com-plete disgust and embarrassment on the part of the audience." Meyer asserted he had not seen the rehearsals and did not know the interpretations of the scene until the first night's performance. per-formance. He declared that his suggestions that the scene be changed did not infringe upon artistic freedom. Grinnel President Glenn Leg-gett Leg-gett commented, "My understanding under-standing is that Meyer found the play artistically unacceptable and that was enough for me. I will admit that the dividing line between artistic unacceptability and moral unacceptability is a pretty thin line ... but I think I am content (the play) was judged artistically rather than by the standards of middle-class morality." |