Public play in German Village’s Schiller Park forced to cancel due to homophobic slurs and insults

Shakespeare’s famous romantic comedy, Twelfth Night, explores the ambiguity of traditional gender roles and traditional heteronormative romance. The Actor’s Theatre of Columbus has been putting on free Shakespeare plays in Schiller Park for years, but at their showing of Twelfth Night last weekend, a person created an “unsafe environment,” forcing the play to cancel early.

The Actor’s Theatre posted on their social media that during the play, an individual yelled “homophobic, transphobic, and violent insults and slurs.” 

Attendees of the show remarked that the actors were able to stay in character the entire time the incident was occurring. “The courage and level-headedness of the entire cast and crew to continue the performance as long as they could during this incident was extraordinary,” emphasized The Actor’s Theatre.

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Some attendees expressed on social media that the situation was very scary. Although there was not any direct physical violence towards anyone, only verbal, the individual threatened violence to others and himself. He told the audience that he was armed. One attendee told 614Now that the cops were called by dozens of people, but they didn’t show up for at least 45 minutes. A man in the audience eventually helped diffuse the situation, but the show couldn’t go on after that.

If you would like to extend your support, Twelfth Night is still performing until August 11, Thursday through Sunday! After that, they’ll be putting on An Iliad from August 15-September 1.

This situation comes after two other incidents 614Now reported on this month involving homophobic slurs. An OSU student was charged for trespassing onto a family’s porch, peeing on a Pride Flag, and yelling a homophobic remark, and a local LGBTQ+ bar was a victim of an alleged hate crime last week.

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