NCAC participating organizations the Dramatists Guild and the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund have sent a letter (PDF embed below) to Theater J in Washington DC in support of the venue’s staging of Motti Lerner’s The Admission. A group called Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art has waged a smear campaign to vilify the play as anti-Israel.
The reason we dramatists feel so strongly about this is that COPMA’s actions strike at the very heart of the function of art and culture. While the arts may sometimes inspire us to support our social institutions, they may unsettle and challenge us and makes us question our values and assumptions. It must never be dangerous to encourage people to think.