Comments on Gun Play
It's bama, and charles barkley isnt governor there yet. This is just par for the course.
one of my favorite musicals!
since when are the people in the south afraid of guns? not to mention wooden guns that don't work???!?!
It wasn't the guns that bothered them. It was a musical...hello...gays?
no, it's ARKANSAS not Alabama...not that there's much difference.
I'm hoping someone put a call in to the ACLU.
And yes, this is a travesty because "Assassins" is arguably, Sondheim's greatest piece and can honestly be called the Great American Musical because it really is ABOUT America.
Same logic behind DADT: everyone's afraid of faggots with guns.
When you outlaw theater, only outlaws will major in theater arts.
Ooh, that sounds sexy, @6.
Wonder if Steve knows about this?
Had Oliver Sipple been cast, perhaps none of these assassinations and/or attempts would have occurred. And each involved a - hello - gun. Well, except for the idiot who tried to fly a plane into the White House.
Theater that still gets banned in America must be good theatre. Even it is banned in the south.
Dixie will rise again: BECAUSE SH*T FLOATS!! HAW!
Take the guns out of the play and someone could, say, bleed to death by getting a paper cut from the program.
Highly unlikely you say? Yeah, I'd say it's about as likely as someone seeing a wooden gun in a college musical and taking that as license for a shooting spree.
I hate college.
I'm sure everyone on the AU campus can rest easier knowing it's officially a wooden prop gun free zone.
#11, don't you know that every major wooden gun crime has happened in a wooden gun free zone?
I just know that theater people are crazy.
And not always in a good way.
What.
The musical isn't even about guns, so much as it's about crazy fucks who shoot presidents because of their own deluded self-obsessions.
Moral: Arkansans are stupid.
Dammit, those guns are in there for a reason.
to Gomez, and the others that have used this to insult my home state. Here is a copy of an open letter sent to Dr Brown. I hope it will show you that not everyone for Arkansas is a backwoods idiot. Arkansas has a lot to offer when given the chance.
An open letter to ATU President, Dr. Brown
Dear Dr. Brown,
I am a senior in the ATU Theatre Program that would like to respond to the “postponed” production of Assassins. It is not my desire to embarrass you, myself, or my university. I gain nothing from embarrassment as my future is invested in this college. However there are some issues which must be pointed out.
First in the press release postponing the show the reason mentioned is “scenes of violence” and respect of NIU victims. This would be understandable if any member of the administration had asked to see a rehearsal, to read a copy of the script, or see another production of the show. However no such effort was made. How can one judge a show as too violent with out seeing it? In addition if a musical that’s shows not a drop of blood is too violent, what message is sent with the showing of the movie American Gangster?
Second, contrary to the press release, the reason for the postponement given to the news was a “public safety concern.” This would be all well and good if the administration had a least first offered other options to canceling the show. How can Public Safety be concerned about the sound of props that they never heard? The Theatre program would have been glad to test fire the props with Public Safety officers present to see how real the sounds where, and how far they carried outside the building. If the sound was deemed dangerous, we would have still had a week to find another option such as a digital sound effect. Why was no such effort made? Also why where the prop guns too dangerous to be seen in the context of the play, but perfectly okay to be twirled in the Ms. ATU pageant held in the same week as the closing of the show?
Last, Dr. Brown, I would like to talk to you. I am not questioning your concern for the safety of the students. Perhaps you read something somewhere about this show that caused you to overreact in light of recent national events. I can understand that. We are all human and make mistakes. However, in this case, you have to opportunity to make things right. It takes weeks to mount a production. We in the Theatre Program need to know if and when we will be allowed to share our work with the community. This must be decided this week so that preparations can be made. Dr. Brown please take this opportunity. I look forward to showing the world what I was able to accomplish with my education at Arkansas Tech. I want to speak with pride and say “this college allowed me to reach my full potential.” Yet I fear that I, along with my fellow students, will now look back with embarrassment and sorrow and say, “Remember the thing of beauty that we created, that we poured our hearts into, and that we where never allowed to share with the world?”
ATU Senior Scene Designer,
Kenneth Zumwalt
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