Kennesaw State students protest nudity in theater production

KENNESAW - A student production of ``The Grapes of Wrath&#39;&#39; that features nudity has sparked a protest from offended students at Kennesaw State University in Cobb County. <br> <br> About 500 students petitioned the school&#39;s theater department for a ban on nudity in all productions. But the university president has backed the theater department and supported the play, which opens tonight. <br> <br> ``The Grapes of Wrath&#39;&#39; is an adaptation of John Steinbeck&#39;s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It chronicles the journey of the Joad family from Oklahoma to the migrant camps of California during the Great Depression. <br> <br> In the first act, Al Joad strips and jumps into a pool of water to bathe. At the end, Rose of Sharon breast-feeds a starving man after her child is stillborn. Both scenes are described by school officials as ``brief moments of nudity.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Assistant theater professor Laurence Ruth says nudity is essential to the story, but NOT the primary concern. <br> <br> Kennesaw State student 26-year-old Rachel Brooker organized the campaign against nudity and says she thinks nudity is inappropriate in the production. <br> <br> College President Betty Siegel met with Brooker and other students but says she supports the department&#39;s choice. <br> <br> This will be the first play with nudity ever produced at the 14,000-student school.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/4/195938