Florida City Council Rules In Favor Of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and Burlesque Show

The City Council of Ocala, Florida has ruled that a production of Eve Ensler's THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and a burlesque show, THE MARION AT MIDNIGHT, may both go on as scheduled despite complaints that their performances in city-owned venues violate a lease that states, "Tenant shall not use the Building (by, without limitation, presenting performances or other entertainment), or permit others to use the Building, in a manner that City, in its reasonable discretion, deems inappropriate or objectionable."

As reported last week by BroadwayWorld, the matter was presented to the city council by local businessman Brad Dinkins. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES is schedule to be performed on March 18th at the city-owned Reilly Arts Center, which is leased to and operated by the Ocala Symphony, and THE MARION AT MIDNIGHT is set to perform on March 26th at another city owned and subleased venue, The Marion Theatre.

In addition to green-lighting the performances, the city council also asked city council lawyer Pat Gilligan to review whether the terms of the lease that limits productions was even enforceable or if it violated the First Amendment's protection of free speech.

With more than 100 people attending the meeting in the standing-room-only council chambers, Council Chairman Jim Hilty took quickly determined that none of the members objected to the performances.

"We don't feel (we want) to ban this," Hilty tells the Ocala Star-Banner. "We're definitely not looking to ban anyone's free speech. I believe at this point we have to allow the shows to go on."

"My main goal was that the productions went on and that the language in the contracts be looked at and made more clear," said Chad Taylor, the director of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES. "The second you don't fight (for free speech) is the second that voices are silenced."

Taylor's website petition in favor of allowing his production to go on received 7,000 signatures in six days.

"I was really surprised and happy the community came together," says Mekaella Lord, who produces and performs in THE MARION AT MIDNIGHT. "I was very concerned because (Ocala) is not as forward thinking as some other cities."

Lord offered all five council members and Ocala's Mayor Kent Guinn, free tickets to her show and said that if all found it objectionable, she would shut it down.

"It is my opinion ... restricting the performance of this play would violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," attorney Lori Cotton told the council.

Cotton cited a similar case involving a production of HAIR that was refused rental of a municipal theater in 1973. The municipality said that the auditorium's policy was to encourage "clean, healthy" productions for a better citizenship but the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the production company.

Former city councilwoman Suzy Heinbockel said that banning productions like THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES would help drive women's sexual issues "in the shadows" and only serve to strengthen those who abuse women.

Rev. Don Curran, who supported removing the productions from municipal venues, warned that without guidelines there would be "absolutely no standard" and "there would be no line you couldn't cross. You can go down that road a long way."

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