Editorial: County comedy of errors

Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006 | 8:06 a.m.

Certainly, the Las Vegas Little Theatre is no stranger to irony. But typically it plays out onstage, rather than in the theater's business office.

The Las Vegas Sun reported Friday that Clark County Business License officials cited the theater in December for presenting a gay-themed comedy that included glimpses of male nudity. It's a tragic sort of comedy in a city where sex and nudity in many forms and configurations are hawked on everything from taxicab placards to billboards in full view of a public that may or may not want to see it.

The play, "Making Porn," has been performed successfully and without citations in such places as New York, Chicago and Atlanta. It revolves around a straight actor who is desperate for a job and turns to gay pornography productions. Its scenes of male nudity are brief. No one younger than 18 was admitted to the shows.

It is not the first play to bare flesh at Las Vegas Little Theatre. It is, however, the first to be cited by county authorities, who issued the violation notice under regulations that prohibit "the showing of human male or female genitals" at establishments that serve liquor. But theater President Walter Niejadlik said caffeinated drinks are "the hardest stuff" served there.

The play was scheduled for only one more performance after the citation was issued, so the theater's board decided the last show would go on in spite of the citation. After inquiries by the Sun on Thursday, County Manager Thom Reilly called the incident a mistake and promised to revoke the violation notice. But theater officials say they still have received a conflicting report from County Commissioner Rory Reid's staff about what will be allowed for future plays.

Artistic content decisions lie solely with the artists creating the work. Allowing county business license officials or anyone else to prohibit the performance of art -- with or without nudity -- is wildly inappropriate and is censorship in its most naked form.