Corpus Christi, the play

In the 90's I was very fortunate to view the play Corpus Christi. It was performed in Austin, Texas at a small theater (on Congress Ave, not far from the capitol building, if I remember correctly).

There were death threats towards Terrence McNally, the author, who is from Corpus Christi, Texas. Quite frankly, that furthered my desire to see the play.

Jesus and his apostles open the proceedings by explaining their roles. They are all presented as ordinary people in professions ranging from hairdresser and hustler to the usual doctor-lawyer-indian chief professions. The "real" story is all there -- Nativity, the Sermon on the Mount, the Last Supper -- but with substitutions to add the right degree of up-to-date relevancy. True to the title, Joshua is born in a motel room and grows up in the playwright's own home town of Corpus Christi, Tex. Sex while suggested is never graphic and the four-letter words should offer few surprises to today's theater goers.

All agreed that the show's history demanded that "attention must be paid" (especially in light of Matthew Shepard's murder in Wyoming just before the play's official opening) but found that their defense was more of The First Amendment than the play as a work of art.

Corpus Christi joins a list of other "sacrilegious" works:

Jesus Christ Superstar
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All to You
The Monty Python movie The Life of Brian
The 1971 musical Godspell
The Deputy (about Pope Pius XII's moral stance during the Holocaust), which opened to similar sturm and drang in the sixties and also became a publicity generated hot ticket with a Tony "for courage" awarded to its producer. (Rich).

As Lloyd Rose of The Washington Post put it: "Many people will think this play blasphemous. Others will just find it embarrassing." The scene singled out by Michael Feingold of The Village Voice as the most riveting and disquieting to the religious right is one which "shows Joshua confronting the age of AIDS. Philip, the Greek apostle, is represented as an HIV-positive hustler, whom Joshua heals with an embrace. This sexually charged moment--undoubtedly the one likely to cause dogmatic Christians the deepest disquiet--takes its power from its immediate relevance."

Religious Right Wrong (again)

Back in 2001 there was a court case. The religious right, in attempt to stop abortion, published the names of all Doctors who performed abortions. Their right to do so is part of our First Amendment right to free speech which was upheld by a San Francisco federal appeals court.

Of course the backlash of such did occur when "Jesus" killed two and injured seven in an abortion clinic attack.

One of their most recent "articles" claims freedom of speech is under attackin the USA. Claiming Europe is passing legislation which will criminalize speech against homosexuals and the USA is one step away! Of course the "article" doesn't link to proof of this claim.

So I looked around a bit. Indeed a French politician did get fined for an outburst in court, stating that “homosexual behaviour endangers the survival of humanity” and that “heterosexuality is morally superior to homosexuality”. This was a court case where he was being sued by 3 gay organizations.

France has a very strong hate crimes code. Nothing near what we have, or are proposing, in the USA.

I doubt France cares much about the religious rights' opinion. But it is nice to see the religious right reach out to the International Community in such a loving and giving way.