Two weeks ago the Catholic Diocese pulled the plug on plans to run the Lansing Civic Players’ “Breaking the Code” at Lansing Catholic Central High School auditorium.
“Breaking the Code” tells the story of 1940s mathematician Alan Turing, who was convicted of homosexuality and committed suicide at 42. Turing graduated from Cambridge University and received a doctorate from Princeton University. He worked for Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School during World War II.
The decision to cancel the showing of “Breaking the Code” at the high school was content-based, officials said.
“They canceled the show within four weeks of its opening,” director Todd Heywood said. “They were notified in April about the play’s content and decided to cancel it on Dec. 21. That’s the unusual element to me.”
Michael Diebold, the diocese director of communications, said he was not aware of the play’s content and if he was, it would have never been scheduled to show.
“Primarily the content is not in keeping with the Catholic Church and its teachings,” Diebold said. “I was not aware of the content of the play until Dec. 19, and that’s when the decision was made.”
Diebold said the Lansing Civic Players also leased its dress rehearsal time to the Michigan Triangle Foundation, a gay-activist group that used the event to sell tickets for a fund-raiser.
Beverly Gross, president of the Lansing Civic Players, said the group did lease time to the foundation, but was not aware of its fund-raising tactics.
“Clearly there has been a misunderstanding and miscommunication among all parties,” Gross said. “But occasionally we have leased our dress rehearsal time to other groups, and this group just happen to be a gay-activist group.”
Heywood said arrangements are being made to find a home for “Breaking the Code.”
“The entire show’s stage arrangements are up in the air, but negotiations are going on for another place to host the show,” he said.
“We’ll do this show in the middle of the street if we have to. That’s how much I care about this play and people learning a piece of important history.”
Henry Silverman, president of the Lansing chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and an MSU history professor, said the case is clearly censorship, but private institutions have that right.
“Alan Turing is a part of history and I’m assuming this would be a good play,” he said. “If this was a public school we would be completely against this.”
