Auditions Under Way For Play Depicting Gay Jesus
Group Plans Protests
Posted: 6:26 p.m. CDT September 29, 2003
MADISON, Wis. -- Want to be in a controversial play that features Jesus Christ as a gay man?
StageQ is auditioning actors tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Callbacks are Jan. 6 beginning at 7 p.m. and attendance is mandatory for cast consideration.
Actors are asked to prepare a monologue or personal story not to exceed two minutes in length, and to sing the first verse of any hymn a capella. All actors will be notified of callbacks by 10 a.m., Jan. 6.
The cast requires an ensemble of 13 males. All ethnicities and sexualities are encouraged to audition. The production will run weekends in March 2004 and will begin rehearsals the week of January 5.
To request an audition time, e-mail auditions@stageq.com with your date/time request or call (608) 204-0306. ( Stage Q Web Site)
Interested in acting? Log on to http://www.portalwisconsin.org/opportunity.cfm?oppvar=op1 for more auditions.
Protests Planned
Madison's mayor tells News 3 he has no intention of stopping a controversial play that features Jesus Christ as a gay man.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's office is receiving thousands of postcards from across the country via a mass mailing campaign coordinated by a Pennsylvania-based religious group.
Supporters want Cieslewicz to keep the curtain from rising on "Corpus Christi," a play scheduled to open at the Gerald Bartell Community Theatre this March.
"Free speech sometimes is offensive, and that's the way it is," Cieslewicz said. "In the end, it's better for democracy, that we allow free speech even when it is offensive, rather than shut it down. So, even if I could take any action I wouldn't."
A spokesman for the Amercian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property says protests are also scheduled as his group tries to stop the play.
The play, written by Terrence McNally in 1997, has been performed across the country, stirring up controversy all along the way.
The story line is a modern-day retelling of the story of Jesus' birth, ministry, and death in which both he and his disciples are homosexuals.
The play was initially cancelled because of death threats against the board members of the Manhattan Theatre Club, which was to produce the play.
When the play opened there, 2000 protesters were on hand. When Corpus Christi opened in London, a British Muslim group called the Defenders of the Messenger Jesus even went so far as to issue a Fatwa or death sentence on McNally, according to Imagi-nation.com.
For ticket information, call (608) 294-0740.
TALKBACK: What Do You Think?
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's office is receiving thousands of postcards from across the country via a mass mailing campaign coordinated by a Pennsylvania-based religious group.
Supporters want Cieslewicz to keep the curtain from rising on "Corpus Christi," a play scheduled to open at the Gerald Bartell Community Theatre this March.
"Free speech sometimes is offensive, and that's the way it is," Cieslewicz said. "In the end, it's better for democracy, that we allow free speech even when it is offensive, rather than shut it down. So, even if I could take any action I wouldn't."
A spokesman for the Amercian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property says protests are also scheduled as his group tries to stop the play.
The play, written by Terrence McNally in 1997, has been performed across the country, stirring up controversy all along the way.
The story line is a modern-day retelling of the story of Jesus' birth, ministry, and death in which both he and his disciples are homosexuals.
The play was initially cancelled because of death threats against the board members of the Manhattan Theatre Club, which was to produce the play.
When the play opened there, 2000 protesters were on hand. When Corpus Christi opened in London, a British Muslim group called the Defenders of the Messenger Jesus even went so far as to issue a Fatwa or death sentence on McNally, according to Imagi-nation.com.
For ticket information, call (608) 294-0740.
TALKBACK: What Do You Think?Copyright 2004 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
