Married actors Todd Weeks and Kate Blumberg rehearse a scene from \"Kingdom City\" at La Jolla Playhouse.<\/p>\n
In 1953, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible a story set amid the 17th-century Salem witch trials as a response to attacks on intellectual freedom under the guise of rooting out Communism. <\/p>\n
In 2006, a school district in Fulton, Mo., canceled a planned production of the Miller play which had long since become a classic and a staple of student reading lists because of worries over a plot thread of an extramarital affair. <\/p>\n
Sheri Wilner. David Brooks <\/p>\n
Controversies over banned school productions, of course, have been around forever, and they continue today, sometimes involving even innocuous-seeming shows: Witness the recent dust-up in Pennsylvania over a canceled staging of the comedy Monty Pythons Spamalot, apparently because of a scene in which two men discover their love for each other. <\/p>\n
But the Missouri cancellation, which earned press in The New York Times and elsewhere, felt particularly alarming because it was The Crucible it was the irony of a play that was written to condemn censorship (itself) being censored, says playwright Sheri Wilner. <\/p>\n
And because its such an esteemed work, adds Wilner, if a play such as that was up for debate, then really all of literature felt up for debate. <\/p>\n
The event prompted Wilner to write her own play one thats about to receive its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. <\/p>\n
Kingdom City, which begins performances today, was born partly out of anger, but also out of fear, says Wilner, who has been working on the piece for some seven years. <\/p>\n
Yet while her play takes a critical look at censorship, Wilner also says its meant to be much more than a polemic. <\/p>\n
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Continue reading here: Married actors Todd Weeks and Kate Blumberg rehearse a scene from \"Kingdom City\" at La Jolla Playhouse. In 1953, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible a story set amid the 17th-century Salem witch trials as a response to attacks on intellectual freedom under the guise of rooting out Communism Continue reading
\n'Kingdom' explores dramatic censorship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"