Theater stage no place for political correctness
If theater is a place where all viewpoints should be explored, I wonder why I keep seeing the same viewpoints over and over.
I saw an excellent play recently about a Mormon who dramatized his reasons for leaving the church. It was logical, human and touching. I went home wondering, though, why don't I ever see major plays about why people choose the Mormon faith? Sure, we have things like "Saturday's Warrior," but these kinds of preach-makings are meant for the already converted.
I can recall many modern authors who dramatize what they see as the hypocrisy of Catholicism, but it's hard to come up with one major modern writer who dramatizes logical reasons for believing.
I suspect much of this has to do with the typical author profile: young to middle-age, a loner, a liberal, an agnostic.
But this problem extends into the world of the politically correct. If theater helps us see and understand the world through others' eyes, where are the anti-gay plays? The pro-racial discrimination ones? I'd love to read a good 1940s script by a devout Nazi who dramatizes and explains the logic in his hatred for Jews. Somewhere along the line, theater got cleaned up, and I regret that. Seeing plays that only reaffirm our lifestyles deprives us of new ideas and the opportunity to be challenged.
The Insurgo Theater doesn't seem to be making nice with its former hosts. The low-budget troupe, headed by John Beane, made its debut in Las Vegas 3½ years ago at the Onyx and has since moved on to other quarters. Onyx manager Mike Morse complained to the Review-Journal that he was having trouble going forward with his new theater season due to bills left behind by Beane. Morse said he finally decided to pay Beane's bills himself. Beane said later, "We didn't leave anyone stuck with a bill. ... Both parties thought the other handled it. ... It's paid. The arrangement is between us. He will tell you the same thing." Morse didn't. "There was no confusion on my part," he replied. "John may have been confused but I was not. However, now I feel that John will make paying me a priority."
This isn't the first time Beane has tangled with his proprietors. After his troupe appeared at the College of Southern Nevada, producer Joe Hammond vowed he would never allow a community theater inside the college theater again (not good news for other needy troupes). Beane called the folks at CSN "peasants" which didn't exactly heal the rift. But Hammond got off easy with such a mild rebuke. I recently wrote a negative review of Insurgo's "Salome" and got this e-mail response from Beane: "You're a piece of (expletive), man (expletive) pissy (expletive). It was womanly. Seriously: (expletive) you." Ah, the drama in making drama!
Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheater
chat@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas NV 89125.
