Alum Mario El Caponi Mendoza Claims Censorship of His Production

IOWA CITY PRESS-CITIZEN -- The director of a controversial play at the University of Iowa says he thought he had received all the required permission to include an explicit video in the pre-show portion of a production that already featured adult language, full nudity and simulated drug use, sexual activity and graphic violence. The play opened last week, and is scheduled for performances this week on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Children under 17 must be accompanied by an adult. Mario El Caponi Mendoza said Tuesday that he had notified his cast and crew of his intention to include the video — which shows a consensual sex act between two men — long before the video was shown during the technical rehearsals for "Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (a rave fable)." Mendoza already earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (playwriting) from San Francisco State University. His M.F.A. at Iowa would be in theatre (directing).