If your definition of "censorship" is limited to padlocking the doors of the theatre by government decree, then I suppose there's no censorship in America.
But ponder that statement for a second: "There is no censorship in America." Does this really square with our experience? Or, more pointedly, with the experiences of writers and artists in this country who choose to confront sacred cows or upset political and religious orthodoxies?
Because we have a First Amendment (as of today, anyway) we thankfully are spared the full Soviet-style slash and burn techniques. Also, unlike Britain, we have not had to inherit an antiquated Royal appointment like the Lord Chamberlain, who still had the power in London to license (or not) all plays until the 1960s!
But, of course, artists at all times in all places have been free to create whatever they wanted. Getting your work shown is where censors get interested. And I would argue there are still in our society plenty of potential factors that have the power to function as de facto Lord Chamberlains, First Amendment or not. In other words--the experience on the artist's end is sometimes not much different.
Some might say we are blessed not to have a "state theatre" because such institutions are prey to overt government censorship. No doubt, if we had a true "National Theatre" in this country it would be painfully prone to the same controversies our meager NEA has to deal with whenever they give, say, an openly gay artist a thousand-dollar grant. Cries of "taxpayer money" would trump all. So that leaves the American artist is at the whim of private and corporate sector dollars. (Small grants do their part, but always make up less than half the pie of any theatre or arts institution's budget.)
The good news about that system is that if you're a billionaire with money to waste, you can write or produce a play about any subject you choose. If not, you are dependent (I do not use the word lightly) upon the willingness of people with money to take a chance. So, no, it's not just about the money in the end. It's about guts.
In other words, the steadfastness and commitment of arts institutions (and, if we expand the circle into commercial entertainment, publishing houses, movie studios, communications conglomerates....) are all that's keeping us from true censorship. When they fail in that department--when they abrogate their inevitable responsibilities as guardians and exemplars of free speech--don't we get at least a taste of what living under censorship is like?
I'm open to coming up with another word, if that's what it takes to get incidents like the attempted shutdowns of plays like Corpus Christi recognized for what they are: dangerous precedents of intimidation and fear that truly threaten the freedom of our theatres.
In that spirit, here are some common objections to the use of the 'c' word to describe New York Theatre Workshop's handling of Rachel Corrie, along with my attempts to rebut them:
Why does a theatre have to do a play they don't want to do?
They don't. The problem here is that NYTW has repeatedly (to this day) insisted they do want to produce it! So ask them what's stopping them. Please. We all really want to know.
Theatres reject plays for all kinds of reasons. Is that always censorship?
No, of course not. We can probably all think of cases of plays people would like to do, out of support for the political beliefs stated, but drop it when they decide the play just isn't any good. What's funny is that NYTW has done exactly the opposite. By Jim Nicola's own account, he fell in love with the script first only for the abstract themes of its story (idealism, etc) and the aesthetic quality of Rachel Corrie's writing. It's the politics (Corrie's actually positions, both true and alleged) that then got him concerned.
So how's this for a "rule": Censorship involves the withdrawing of a work for its political content alone.
NYTW's only sin was in letting this get out. They never publicly announced the play in the first place, so what's wrong with privately considering the play and then deciding against it? It's not fair to interfere in their decision making process.
True, if they kept a tighter lid on this we would never know. But considering there was another party in this affair, the Royal Court Theatre, as well as a movie star (Alan Rickman), what were the odds of that? Also, the play was a known quantity--in London, at least, a pretty important epicenter of the English-speaking theatre. Sooner or later people would wonder (as did even Alan Rickman fans obsessively on their websites) when it was coming to New York, as people do with all London hits.
Now if you think that all this is fine as long as it happens privately, then I suppose you also think it's fine for a President's staff to go around exposing and trashing the name of a CIA agent for political purposes--just as long as it doesn't get in the papers?
The exposure of this story is worth paying attention to since it provides a window on an important kind of decision making process. While NYTW may be a private institution, I think we in the theatre community think of such theatres as having a "public trust" and do owe their wider audience and artists some transparency and openness about how they operate. After all, they're the only "national theatre" we've got!
Also, don't forget, the story has mostly been self-exposed. Jim Nicola may still be withholding key details, but he has given plenty of interviews and openly admitted backing down from this play due to displeasure from others over its political content. Again, that's his story.
This isn't censorship. Just a bad PR problem. They were concerned about the play for legitimate reasons but bungled how they announced it and fell into merely a rhetorical trap.
I will admit this: if Jim Nicola told the New York Times on February 28 that while he had been making preparations to produce the play in a month's time, after more research and learning about the play's issues he no longer believes as strongly in it...I would actually somewhat respect that. Especially if he really made clear that he personally changed his mind and could not commit to the play any longer, or that he had either misread it originally or just educated himself in the process. We could all then yell at him for changing his mind. Or we could debate with him the finer points of the " '67 Borders" and whether the International Solidarity Movement is a front for Hamas. But at least that would be an open and honest debate.
Note that neither Jim Nicola nor anyone representing NYTW has ever made such a statement. Instead they have continued to say they believe in the play and that it is only others who object. Implicitly, then, it's anxiety over these others that's stopping them from producing it. And the objections are expressly over political content. Smell like censorship yet?
What difference does it make whether a theatre changes its mind about a play or never chose it to begin with? Would you have shut up, Playgoer, if Jim Nicola just never sat down with Alan Rickman in the first place and led him on? Is that all this is about?
Simple point: what distinguishes all classic censorship cases is that the work is clearly intended and headed for production/publication and then stopped. No, I don't think it's censorship when a writer sends off a manuscript accusing the government of war crimes and it is simply not accepted for publication, for whatever reason. The publisher in that case even has the right to say "we don't publish controversial material."
But I do think it's a quite different scenario--with much more disturbing implications--when the publisher's first response is "Yes! We want to publish this" and then some other force intervenes and pulls the plug. And not because they don't like the writing style, or don't like the author personally, but expressly over political content.
Doesn't it make a difference that this has been voluntary. Again, doesn't NYTW have the right to have this debate privately and internally amongst themselves. If the objection is coming from within the institution, then where's the sinister outside censorship?
Indeed, who is functioning as the "Lord Chamberlain" here? That's actually one of the last remaining mysteries surrounding the case. A powerful board member? A "generous" donor? Jim Nicola's Jewish childhood friend from summer camp? There simply is not enough information to make this claim. Of course, NYTW could help--maybe even help themselves!--by filling us in on this.
I suppose you could let Nicola off the hook by saying the buck stops with him, that no matter who he may have consulted, he has the right to decide, "voluntarily"not to do the play. In that case, I ask you to comb the transcripts of all his interviews and show me, where does he take such authoritative responsibility? Or do his words sound more like those of a man in a corner?
And lastly..."Postponement" does not equal "cancellation."
Oh please. We're four weeks into this already.
That's all I have in me for now. I welcome more challenges in Comments. And perhaps readers can offer more rebuttals there as well.