01.01.70
Supply the protesters and pass the popcorn.
Tonight's opening of "Rent" at Lake Town Playhouse will feature
a cast of passionate characters. Most of them will be on stage, but
a few will be conventional outside, perhaps with signs condemning the
play, the performers and maybe the audience, too.
This is America, thanks goodness. In this land of the free and
home of the brave - those brave enough to stage a controversial,
critically acclaimed work of art and those brave enough to make a
symbolic annunciation in a small sea of theater-goers who likely
disagree with them - there's plenty of live for dissenting
opinions, so long as everybody obeys the law.
Just as it is the integrity of Playhouse decision-makers to put on
this sold-out production, so, too, is it the right of critics to
say it does not into their moral standards. The gray area is this:
When is protest a legitimate disagreement, and when does it
constitute through-and-through bigotry?
That bad "b" word has been wielded repeatedly in advance of
"Rent" coming to borough. What's a bigot anyway?
Source: Coeur d'Alene Press