Committed to infusing vitality into the D.C. Arts by producing exciting and
accessible alternative theatre to generate new and diverse audiences.
accessible alternative theatre to generate new and diverse audiences.
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OOOOOH... CONTROVERSY!
“He Who Turneth Water Into Wine”
Chris Shott, Washington City Paper
Sep. 17 - 23, 2004 (Vol. 24, #37)
Puff, puff, give? Or just keep puffing? What would Jesus do?
That’s merely one debate surrounding the Sept. 30 “world premiere” of Diamond Dead,
illustrator and special-effects artist Brian Cooper’s fantastically and comically horrifying—
and, arguably, very un-Christ-like—rock ’n’ roll musical at the District of Columbia Arts
Center (DCAC).
Directed by George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead). With songs by composer Richard
Hartley (The Rocky Horror Show). And starring shock-rocker Marilyn Manson (Jawbreaker)
as, yes, a Mary Jane–tokin’ Jesus Christ.
Wait. Make that “a stage adaptation” of Cooper’s twisted tale of zombie musicians and their
deal with the Devil. Minus Manson and Romero, too.
With independent film producer Andrew Gaty facing “all sorts of complications” in financing
the proposed $10 million flick, according to his Web site, you won’t see Diamond Dead on
the big screen until late 2005—at the earliest. Instead, Cooper’s vision will first play out on
the small stage at the DCAC, in a scaled-down and far cheaper production by D.C.’s
Landless Theatre Company.
For just $1, Landless Artistic Director Andrew Lloyd Baughman acquired the rights to adapt
Cooper’s screenplay. And renting out the tiny 45-seat black-box theater in Adams Morgan
will cost the theater troupe only $175 per night. All told, Baughman reports that the 16-night
production, performed by 13 area actors and a four-piece rock band, will require less than
$5,000 in funding.
And yet, for low-budget local theater, the play has attracted more than its fair share of
international outrage, drawing fiery criticism from conservative Christians as far away as the
United Kingdom.
Led by Aberdeenshire, Scotland, resident Scott Morrison, a group calling itself Christians
Against Diamond Dead has started an Internet-based petition drive to ban all Diamond Dead
performances—or, at least, to remove the scenes the group finds “highly offensive to our
faith, our beliefs, and the One we serve.” So far, the campaign has gathered more than
1,200 signatures.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of movie or stage play is being shown,” Morrison says via e-mail,
“any portrayal of Jesus Christ contrary to the Biblical portrait of Him is offensive.”
Most offensive to Morrison: “The scene where Jesus is portrayed smoking cannabis and
using profane language.” (“Don’t tell Dad,” the supposed Son of God quips.)
Baughman, who opted not to cut the stoner-savior scene from his adapted script, defends
the sequence as “a metaphor to show that Jesus understands and can relate to everyone
from every walk of life and background.”
But Morrison argues that the fictional portrayal just doesn’t jibe with religious text. “The Bible
is clear that Jesus is without sin,” he explains. “Taking drugs is sin”—albeit one listed
somewhere among Moses’ other Ten Commandments.
Even worse, the play portrays Jesus as something of a stingy pot-smoker: At one point in
the script, Christ is told, “Hey dude, don’t bogart the joint.”
The scene leaves Morrison simply stupefied. “OK, so I am not too sure on what ‘bogart the
joint’ actually means,” he e-mails. “I guess it is some sort of American slang??”
A good guess: According to the third revised edition of Richard A. Spears’ Slang and
Euphemism: “Bogart” means “to linger with a marijuana cigarette before passing it on to
another person; to get more than one’s share of marijuana smoke. From the proper name
‘Humphrey Bogart,’ who did this with a tobacco cigarette in a movie. [U.S. drug culture, mid
1900s–pres.]”
It’s a selfish act, seemingly uncharacteristic of the prophet who, according to scripture, told
his followers: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
“If he were to bogart the joint, I would say that would be un-Jesus-like,” admits Baughman,
himself a professed Presbyterian.
Baughman doesn’t dismiss such criticism. In fact, he’s openly encouraging it, having set up
an online message board for “Morrison and friends to post their arguments.” And “if anyone
in the Washington, D.C., area shares Scott’s views,” he adds, “we encourage you to come to
DCAC and exercise your right to peacefully protest and make your voice heard!”
Morrison denounces Baughman’s invitations as “an obvious attempt to gain dramatic
publicity.”
Still, the Scottish activist similarly requests that concerned Christians gather outside the
DCAC “not to protest, but to hand out tracts on the true character of Jesus, and to show His
love to the people who visit the theatre.”
Or, in the parlance of “U.S. drug culture, 1900s,” “spread the good news.”
“He Who Turneth Water Into Wine”
Chris Shott, Washington City Paper
Sep. 17 - 23, 2004 (Vol. 24, #37)
Puff, puff, give? Or just keep puffing? What would Jesus do?
That’s merely one debate surrounding the Sept. 30 “world premiere” of Diamond Dead,
illustrator and special-effects artist Brian Cooper’s fantastically and comically horrifying—
and, arguably, very un-Christ-like—rock ’n’ roll musical at the District of Columbia Arts
Center (DCAC).
Directed by George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead). With songs by composer Richard
Hartley (The Rocky Horror Show). And starring shock-rocker Marilyn Manson (Jawbreaker)
as, yes, a Mary Jane–tokin’ Jesus Christ.
Wait. Make that “a stage adaptation” of Cooper’s twisted tale of zombie musicians and their
deal with the Devil. Minus Manson and Romero, too.
With independent film producer Andrew Gaty facing “all sorts of complications” in financing
the proposed $10 million flick, according to his Web site, you won’t see Diamond Dead on
the big screen until late 2005—at the earliest. Instead, Cooper’s vision will first play out on
the small stage at the DCAC, in a scaled-down and far cheaper production by D.C.’s
Landless Theatre Company.
For just $1, Landless Artistic Director Andrew Lloyd Baughman acquired the rights to adapt
Cooper’s screenplay. And renting out the tiny 45-seat black-box theater in Adams Morgan
will cost the theater troupe only $175 per night. All told, Baughman reports that the 16-night
production, performed by 13 area actors and a four-piece rock band, will require less than
$5,000 in funding.
And yet, for low-budget local theater, the play has attracted more than its fair share of
international outrage, drawing fiery criticism from conservative Christians as far away as the
United Kingdom.
Led by Aberdeenshire, Scotland, resident Scott Morrison, a group calling itself Christians
Against Diamond Dead has started an Internet-based petition drive to ban all Diamond Dead
performances—or, at least, to remove the scenes the group finds “highly offensive to our
faith, our beliefs, and the One we serve.” So far, the campaign has gathered more than
1,200 signatures.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of movie or stage play is being shown,” Morrison says via e-mail,
“any portrayal of Jesus Christ contrary to the Biblical portrait of Him is offensive.”
Most offensive to Morrison: “The scene where Jesus is portrayed smoking cannabis and
using profane language.” (“Don’t tell Dad,” the supposed Son of God quips.)
Baughman, who opted not to cut the stoner-savior scene from his adapted script, defends
the sequence as “a metaphor to show that Jesus understands and can relate to everyone
from every walk of life and background.”
But Morrison argues that the fictional portrayal just doesn’t jibe with religious text. “The Bible
is clear that Jesus is without sin,” he explains. “Taking drugs is sin”—albeit one listed
somewhere among Moses’ other Ten Commandments.
Even worse, the play portrays Jesus as something of a stingy pot-smoker: At one point in
the script, Christ is told, “Hey dude, don’t bogart the joint.”
The scene leaves Morrison simply stupefied. “OK, so I am not too sure on what ‘bogart the
joint’ actually means,” he e-mails. “I guess it is some sort of American slang??”
A good guess: According to the third revised edition of Richard A. Spears’ Slang and
Euphemism: “Bogart” means “to linger with a marijuana cigarette before passing it on to
another person; to get more than one’s share of marijuana smoke. From the proper name
‘Humphrey Bogart,’ who did this with a tobacco cigarette in a movie. [U.S. drug culture, mid
1900s–pres.]”
It’s a selfish act, seemingly uncharacteristic of the prophet who, according to scripture, told
his followers: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
“If he were to bogart the joint, I would say that would be un-Jesus-like,” admits Baughman,
himself a professed Presbyterian.
Baughman doesn’t dismiss such criticism. In fact, he’s openly encouraging it, having set up
an online message board for “Morrison and friends to post their arguments.” And “if anyone
in the Washington, D.C., area shares Scott’s views,” he adds, “we encourage you to come to
DCAC and exercise your right to peacefully protest and make your voice heard!”
Morrison denounces Baughman’s invitations as “an obvious attempt to gain dramatic
publicity.”
Still, the Scottish activist similarly requests that concerned Christians gather outside the
DCAC “not to protest, but to hand out tracts on the true character of Jesus, and to show His
love to the people who visit the theatre.”
Or, in the parlance of “U.S. drug culture, 1900s,” “spread the good news.”
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