Editor:
As a U student in the Actor Training Program, I am doubly sorry to hear that Christina Axson-Flynn and her lawyer Mr. McConkie are at it again. Not only does it turn an unwarranted eye of scrutiny toward the program that I love, but also it reinforces in the local psyche that all U students and even faculty are collectively anti-Mormon. And that is laughable.
I am a junior in the A.T.P., a return missionary and a temple worthy Mormon, and I have never once, not in any class, nor at any party or social gathering involving other U actors felt discriminated against because of my faith. True, as an active Mormon I am a minority amongst my colleagues, but in the Actor Training Program an anti-Mormon, or even anti religious sentiment simply does not exist.
There are those who in defense of the U say that an actor must swear at least a little to be successful one day. Not true. It is entirely possible to have a successful acting career, and by careful play selection never need to swear or take the Lord’s name in vain.
It is perfectly within Christina’s right to insist on not swearing. More power to her. I respect her conviction in that regard. But she knew before accepting her place in the A.T.P. that the theatre department’s policy was not to alter the work of a playwright.
Christina’s case is not absurd because she’s Mormon, or because she’s a naive drama queen, or because her lawyer is on a quixotic crusade against anti Mormon ogres that don’t exist. It is inane because she alone created the atmosphere that she eventually decided to leave. And to blame that on someone else, much less an entire institution in 100 percent preposterous.
Blake Barlow, Junior, Actor Training Program