SEMO offers to refund tickets to controversial play

Patrons of student performances at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus will receive refunds if they were offended by a recent play and won't see controversial offerings included in future season ticket packages.

That decision, detailed in a letter from provost Jane Stephens to the Southeast Missourian that appears on today's editorial page, is an attempt to be sensitive to the community and is not an attempt at censorship, Stephens said Friday.

The play that started the local controversy, "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You" by Christopher Durang, was performed by students from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 in the Wendy Kurka Rust Flexible Theater. One of the people most offended by the performance was the theater's namesake, who wrote a letter to the school that "a play that ridicules and scorns the Christian religion under the label of satire is inappropriate to be included in the offering of season ticket holders."

Rust is the wife of Gary Rust, chairman of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian. Her letter to the university was printed in full Thursday.

"Sister Mary" is a one-act play, first performed in 1979. During the play, the title character is confronted by former students who perform a mock Christmas pageant and who challenge the Catholic dogma she teaches. A performance of the play in St. Louis in 1983 prompted an attempt in the Missouri Legislature to pass a law withholding state arts funding for theatrical productions people may find offensive.

Anyone seeking a refund of the $6.40 ticket price for "Sister Mary" may do so, Stephens said Friday. The River Campus will also refund the $11.80 paid for tickets to "Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes," a play by Tony Kushner that explores homosexuality, AIDS and conservative politics.

In the case of both plays, ticket purchasers were warned in advance that adult themes and language were part of the performance.

The bottom line for the university, Stephens said, is "in no way do we want to offend anyone."

A committee will, in the future, look at the productions planned for student performances and determine which will be included in season ticket packages, Stephens said.

"A group of us will talk this through," she said. "We will look to see what is in the season ticket package. I would not tell the theater department 'We don't want you to produce this play.' But we will look at what will best sell season ticket packages and what will hinder season ticket sales. This is a financial decision."

The review team will include Gary Miller, associate dean of the Earl and Margie Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts, and Robert Cerchio, assistant director of the school. Neither could be reached for comment.

Traveling shows will not be subject to the same scrutiny and the entire touring series will continue to be offered as a season package, Stephens said. This year's offerings that may be offensive to some people include "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," which deals with murder, and "Sweet Charity," Neil Simon's play about a taxi dancer in a dance hall.

But with student productions, the university must be careful, Stephens said. "Much of art is controversial," she said. "What we will try to do with our own local productions is be more sensitive to themes that are more sensitive to the community in terms of season tickets. I could no more select the plays for our theater department than I could select the novels our literature classes read."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

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