Circuit court dismisses
suit against play
By Kurt Esposito
Assistant
Campus Editor
A lawsuit against a Purdue regional campus' production
of a controversial play was dismissed on the grounds that the issue
lacks merit because the play was staged over a month ago.
On Sept. 19, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Chicago rejected an appeal by a group of Allen County residents against
the Terrence McNally play Corpus Christi, which was staged on the campus
of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
The play features a homosexual character, Joshua,
whose life mirrors that of Jesus Christ. He also has 12 homosexual disciples
and it is suggested that he and the character based on Judas have had
sex.
The plaintiffs argued the play is an attack on
Christianity and its production at a public university violated the
separation of church and state.
The court said the issues brought up in the appeal
were no longer relevant because the play has already been performed.
The six performances of the controversial production took place from
Aug. 10 to 18.
The plaintiff's attorney, John Price, told the
Associated Press he planned to file an appeal early next week. He said
he will ask the court to review the case to see if the panel that presided
over it was correct in dismissing it.
The play was the senior project for IPFW student
Jonathan Gilbert under the supervision of Larry Life, professor of theater.
Life said he is especially pleased that the suit was dismissed because
of the recent tragedies that have devastated the country. "I just don’t
think we need more divisiveness," he said.
He said the play has structural faults but that
should not take away from the point it was trying to make.
He said the play asks what it would be like for
a gay Christ-like figure to grow up in Texas. "Would he meet with the
same things Christ met with? And the playwright's answer is yes," he
said. "I certainly think that everybody connected with the piece. That
makes it valid and an educational experience."
The suit was filed in July seeking to stop production
of the play on IPFW'S campus. Later that month U.S. District Judge William
Lee ruled that the production of the play did not violate the separation
of state and church.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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