Friday. Ociober 7, I966

SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Fi

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} Play

(Continued Irom Page I)

Meyer said the character
of the scene made the play
"unacceptable tor the Grinnell
audience.” The scene in ques-
tion involved the female char-
acter's pantomime of the sex—
ual act with an imaginary per-
son.

The female role was played
by Bonnie Tinker, who com-
mented, “I iully realized what
was involved in the role when
I accepted it. The eitect that we
hoped to achieve was to com-
pletely disgust and embarrass
the audience.” Her iamily was
in the audience the night or the
cancellation.

circumslances Confused

The circumstances surround-
ing the censoring of the show
are both involved and cnniusing.
The discussions of the censor-
ship among the various parties
concerned have been equally
coniusing and oiten emotional
and contradictory as well.

Rich directed the play as an
Independent Project in speech
and theater under Mr. Thomas
Somerville, who is new on the
tactilty this year and was a
1964 graduate ct Grinneli.
Somervilie, to whom Rich was
directly responsible, saw a come
piete dress rehearsal and part
0! another rehearsal before the
play was presented, but did not
say anything to Rich directly
concerning the controversial
scener Somerviile told the
sen, “Nothing was directly
said about the actions of the
girl, but I did say tone down
some of the physical actions and
speed the whole play up." lie
added. “I wasn’t judging it
against u Grinneil audience"

lack! Meyu

Somerville went on to say
"I back up Meyer completely
now I just don’t know why 1
old not demand a change in that
articular point at the play."

hen asked about the effect at
the play on the Grinnell audi-
ence Somerville said: “Grinnell
is sophisticated enough to ac-
dept many things, but this
scene was just too repulsive."
When asked if he thought the
administration or iaculty had
the right to go beyond an ad—
visory capacity and actually
censor a student artist,
Somerville replied, “No com-
merit.”

Meyer had not seen the
production previous to the open»
ing night He said, “I made the
assumption that the play would
be given in good taste. It was
not given in good taste.”
Meyer said later that the forni-
cation scene was [he “most
graphic and most distasteiui
that I have ever seen. I don’t
think that it could have been
made much worse."

Reason Unclear

There was much discus-
nion and disagreement between
Meyer and Rich concerning the
reason for the censorship
There was contusion over
whether the play was censored
Ior artistic reasons, moral con<
sideratlons. administration in-
ﬂuence. or all three. Rich
told that the scene was “pur-
posefully made shocking, exag-
gerated and palntul" “After
ltudylng Ionesco and reading
his notes on ‘The Chairs.’ I felt
lhnl I rhould embarrass the

audience and make the audience
feel uncomfortable.”

Rich commented, "The die
rector doesn‘t give a damn
about good taste. I tried to give
a faithful interpretation of Ion-
esco. I do think, howeVer, that
more are still many things
wrong with the play and that:
we need to work on, especially
the timing of it."

Meyer agreed with Rich
that the director's obligation is
to interpret as taithtully as pos-
sible, " but added, “Our artISr
tic standards are intertwined
with our moral standards.” He
said that the audience must be
considered and also noted that
"a director is not a tree agent
at Grinnell College."

Scene Destructive

Meyer said, concerning
the artistic effectiveness of the
play, “that scene destroyed the
rest of the play. One went away
not thinking anything else about
the play. This is my own judg<
ment and I didn’t talk to any-
one else about this before I told
Dennis and Bonnie that they
couldn’t put this on again in
this manner."

In a discussion last night
Meyer said, “The oifense was
primarily a moral offense —
the scene was inappropriate to
the Grinnell audience.” But he
also said in the Same discussion,
“I'm not trying to protect the
morals of the students.” He
went on to say, “If the play had
been presented in a classroom
situation I would have simply
discussed the interpretation and
the suitability at it.“

Meet with Leggeﬂ

Rich and several of the other
students involved met with
President Leggett yesterday to
discuss the censorship. Leggett
said that there was a difference
between a student director in
an academic situation and the
nnrmal role of a directort The
student, he said, comes under
the academic judgment of the
faculty memberr He added. “As
I understand it, Mr. Meyer
iinds the play unacceptable
artistically and I accept his
judgment on this.” In a discus-
sion with Rich on the scene in

question, Leggett commented.
(-> ,

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"I understand that Mr. Somet-
ville told you to tone down that
scene.” Dennis replied, “That
is a blatant lie." Tanya Huvav
nessian. director of “Snowan-
gel," and who was also present
at the meeting. told Leggett, “I
thought ‘Sllowllngel’ was more
objectionable morally than was
Dennis’ and less suitable to be
shown to a college or any nudi-
ence. ‘The Chairs' was more or
an intellectual drama.”

"Knack" Controversy

It was also brought up at the
meeting with Leggett that “The
Knack," directed by Meyer and
presented last year during Par-
ents’ Weekend, caused some
embarrassment to the college
when some or the mothers pres-
ent complained. Leggett said
that he thought part of the rea-
son {or the criticism was that
the performance was somewhat
limited by the abilities of the
amateur actors here He felt
that this caused some misin-
terpretation oi the play. He said
that when there is criticism he
is “the one that has to answer
all the letters.”

Meyer commented on “The
Knack" by saying “I made an
e rror in presenting “The
Knack” on Parents’ Weekend.
Otherwise it was It harmless
Show. But the experience made
me more Conscious of the fact
that we should not make errors
in the future.”

Undefined Viewpoint

Meyer had previously re-
terred to “past administrative
experience” as a factor in his
decision to censor “The Chairs."
The part that the “undefined
administration v i e w p o i n t"
played in inﬂuencing the censor-
ship was an additional compli-
cation in any discussion of the
moral and artistic objections to
the play Meyer said, "Per-
sonally I’m against all forms of
censorship, but you are not a
free agent at this college. ideal-
ly the show should stand on its
own leer, but we should face
the tact that the college spon-
sored it."

Leggett later told the Ser,
"Everything that is put on
on this campus, whether you
like it or not, carries the over-

0ur Representatives on Campus

SALESMAN

Gene Coleman
Dick Lamb
Hank Bulikov
John Pittman
Dave Schulz
Tim Duiley
Bob Wart
Kent Thompson
Nord Brue
Ellion Hibbs
Jim Polsor

South Campus — Par Miles, Robin Kroc
Campus Representative—Bob Wait (Clark)

BATES FLOWERS

236-3111

tones of institutional approvalt"
He went on to say “I’m going
to reserve the right to say that
some things are unsuitable to
show to a Grinnell audience. I
think that I have a high toler-
ance though." Concerning the
possibility oi personally review-
ing the play and then passing
judgment on it, Leggett said.
“Mr. Somerville and Mr. Mey»
er know more about this than I
do When a faculty member

finds a work unacceptable I
have to either accept this or
get rid of him."

Alter meeting with Rich last
night, Meyer told the SM}, “I
hope that in discussion with
Dennis and his Cast We can find
ways to play the scene that
would satisiy them artistically.
And it we can agree with them
on this then we may have a
performance in the very near
future.”

 

 

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