Check Your P.C.-ness at the Door

Maybe the audience needs to prepare to squirm as they view Spinning Into Butter, a new play by Rebecca Gilman. The intense drama, directed by Cynthia Lammel and presented by the Department of Theatre Arts April 9­14, was chosen because it confronts racism at a small liberal arts college. The production “brings this topic home to where we all live, to a college campus where there are liberal and carefully politically correct folks,” said Sarah Blackstone, dean of Humanities and Fine Arts.

The play’s main character is Sarah Daniels, dean of students. When one of the few African American students on campus receives racist notes, Daniels finds herself at the center of a political and personal storm. She is forced to confront her own racism, and that of her students and colleagues.

“Gilman takes issue with political correctness and demands that we do more than get the words right,” said Lammel. “The real work must take place in our hearts and minds. Until that work is done, we continue to hide behind language.”

Daniels has the decency to admit to herself she is who she fears herself to be. “This opens the door to transformation,” said Lammel. “Until we come to terms with aspects of racism inside of us as individuals, we are not open to transformation.”

The London Sunday Times called Spinning Into Butter “a dangerous, searching, brilliant play, probing the self-inflicted wounds of a self-righteous civilization.” See calendar for ticket information.

Lisa Kirk