My Letter to the Baltimore Sun

"Outrage by the Sun's obsession with nudity"

Dear Editor,

I want to express my anger and revulsion towards the article that Ms. McCauley wrote on August 24, 2008 entitled “A diamond in the buff”.

As a local theatre artist in Baltimore, I was outraged, I was appalled and most of all I was disappointed that the Sun would discredit a play that was nominated for a Pulitzer and is Tony award winning. It was made clear by the Sun that it does not have the time to cover "community" theatre productions. I was excited and hopeful that such a wonderful play had caught the attention of the Sun, at least until I read the article. The play is not about nudity, yet Ms. McCauley's article made that the main focus. The nudity is not gratuitous; it makes sense in the action of the play. If they were in the locker room and did not change, then you mess with the world of the play and would disconnect you with your audience.

By sensationalizing the small amount of nudity (only 10 minutes in Ms. McCauley's words), you discredit the work that these actors do. You do a disservice to the courage that these actors have to take on such themes and portray them with vigor and vulnerability. You cast a shadow on the Baltimore Theatre Community.

I appreciate that the Sun took the time to examine a "community" theatre piece, but I am also shocked that during an election year and right before the Democratic National Convention, that your writer would completely pass over the metaphor for American Democracy. You missed the chance to explore how theatre is a reflection society's feelings and how the racism and bigotry that are rampant in this piece play a role in American politics. We are on the verge of a new era in politics and this play discusses themes that will play out in this election more than they ever have before. America has the chance to have its first African American president and you brush over a play that uses the game of baseball to discuss those issues. In the future when you choose to grace community theatre with your presence, make it about the work we do, not about basic human anatomy.

From Take Me Out:
"Baseball is better than democracy -- or at least democracy as it's practiced in this country -- because, unlike democracy, baseball acknowledges loss" and "Democracy is lovely, but baseball is more mature."

Lynn Morton
Baltimore, MD