Fundamentalists Try to Silence Small Grants Pass Theater Company

J. Pate, 08.02.2005 10:09

Monday, February 7, 2005, Grants Pass, OR - Connect the Dots Theatre Company, a small community theatre organization, has been targeted in recent days by a small group of local fundamentalists who are using letters, phone calls and e-mails to harass the theatre company and attempt to erode their financial support from local businesses.

In the two years of its existence, Connect the Dots (CTD) has offered the community a full plate of theatrical productions, including popular musicals Godspell, Little Shop of Horrors, The Fantastics, Grease, and Les Miserables, dramas including Arsenic and Old Lace, children's shows including Pinocchio, and five cutting-edge community forums on discrimination and violence against women. They have also presented The Laramie Project and The Vagina Monologues, two dramas that deal with the hard subjects of hate crimes and the sexual abuse of women worldwide. Connect the Dots is producing one performance of The Vagina Monologues on Saturday, February 12, as a benefit for the Josephine County Women's Crisis Support Team, a local shelter for battered women. The current harassment and threats are an attempt by a small group to silence the voice of dramatic diversity and to shut down a non-profit organization by scaring off its financial supporters.

This is the second year that Connect the Dots and the Women's Crisis Support Team have participated in the international observance of 'V-Day' which focuses attention on the many hidden instances of rape and violence against women worldwide. Tickets for last year's CTD production of The Vagina Monologues sold out in three days, and the hastily added 'donations-only' dress rehearsal was also sold out. Despite this year's campaign against CTD by the small group of attackers, ticket sales for the production in a new, larger venue are going well, with sold-out status expected within a day or so.

However, the group of attackers has contacted local businesses with threats targeting their own livelihoods, should they continue to give financial support to Connect the Dots. The local City Council is even considering ending their longstanding practice of handling sales of tickets for non-profit organizations' events, as a result of the current controversy. While the attacks have focused on The Vagina Monologues, the biggest concern at Connect the Dots is that the small company's tenuous budget can suffer irreparable harm if the threats cause these valuable contributors to withdraw their financial support.

"Callers have harassed [volunteers at] the Visitors Center and called the members of the Chamber of Commerce Board because the Center is selling tickets for the production," says James Pate, Executive Director of CTD. "The attack was organized, taken off the shelf and implemented the day tickets went on sale. This [attack] is aimed right where it hurts most, our sponsors," Pate added.

CTD Board Chair Michele Kyle points out that most of the residents of Grants Pass are not supporting the campaign against Connect the Dots. "Connect the Dots has received many letters of praise for the quality and relevancy of its productions." It is the "alarming level of hate" that is part of the current campaign against CTD and The Vagina Monologues that is a great cause for concern. "Their intent is to close us down."

If the current hate campaign succeeds in shutting CTD down, the community will lose not only the company's very popular theatrical productions, but also the CTD mentorship and scholarship programs that have benefited local youth who are interested in pursuing careers in theatre. Connect the Dots is reaching out to the community and to "all people of reason" to fight back against the campaign to silence the theatre company. If you would like to learn more about Connect the Dots or to join in the company's dedication to promote and present diversity in theatre, visit their website at www.toconnectthedots.org or contact the company by e-mail at connectthis@toconnectthedots.org.

e-mail:: connectthis@toconnectthedots.org
Homepage:: http://www.toconnectthedots.org

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connect the dots 09.02.2005 - 05:50 must be a non-christian group that is harassing the theater, christ did not teach hate, but he did teach understanding and tolerance! any company that bows to the will of those hate groups is a company i would not trust. karl roenfanz ( rosey )> e-mail:: k_rosey48@hotmail.com