On Sept. 3, two UCO juniors were told they no longer had the university’s support to put on a play they were set to direct, Boy My Greatness.

Earlier this year, Maggie Lawson and Liberty Welch, both theatre performance majors, were given the opportunity to direct a show at UCO. Welch found Boy My Greatness in February and says they were instantly drawn to the emotionally vulnerable story it told.

“It is so heartbreaking but also so heartwarming to see these people who are exactly like you, but it’s 1606,” Welch said.

The play depicts the experiences of the boys who played Shakespeare’s female characters in the early 1600s, when it was not socially acceptable for women to take those roles. Playwright and director Zoe Senese-Grossberg wrote the play to represent these boys and their experiences instead of letting them be forgotten.

“It feels like this huge part of theater history we choose to ignore because it makes us uncomfortable but is baked into the DNA of Western theater,” Senese-Grossberg said.

Just hours before their first rehearsal, the head of the theatre department approached Lawson and Welch and told them the university would no longer fund the show due to Senate Bill 796. The bill prohibits higher education activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion. They were given the choices of producing a different play under the oversight of the university’s legal counsel, or move forward on their own without university support. Lawson and Welch chose to continue independently. That night, Lawson and Welch posted videos on social media explaining their situation and launched a GoFundMe with a goal of $2,000.

“We thought we were going to get a couple hundred bucks and a pat on the back,” Welch said.

They were shocked when, overnight, their GoFundMe and social media videos started rapidly gaining traction. One TikTok alone has drawn more than 85,000 views and 22,000 likes. They have raised nearly $10,000 and drawn coverage from major outlets such as Playbill. Support from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. That support has also been clear within the cast, with all actors choosing to stay and work hard to make the production happen.

“I’m glad that it’s actually getting traction because it just shows that other people, if they ever face a similar issue, hopefully it’s not going to be swept under the rug,” Lawson said.

Although the bill took effect in early July, the students were not informed of the university’s decision until two months later. No information was given to them about who made the executive call or why the decision was delayed. In an interview with KFOR, a university spokesperson issued the following statement:

“After a review of the requirements outlined in the contract from the national production company with legal counsel, the university’s theater department decided not to support the local production of the show with university resources at this time.”

Upon further investigation, in a statement to The Independent View, UCO spokesperson Adrienne Nobles said:

“After a review of the requirements outlined in the contract from the national production company with legal counsel, the university decided not to move forward with the local production of the show with university resources at this time. Federal and state laws were both considered in the review of the contract. UCO legal counsel offered the national production company amendments to the contract that would have allowed the production to proceed at UCO; however, the national production company did not respond. We wish the students the best with their independent production.”

Nobles’ statement confirms the decision came from the university’s upper administration rather than the theatre department.

Lawson and Welch say they both view the decision as direct censorship. 

“We’re trying to erase everything so that we can pick and choose what we need and what we don’t need,” Lawson said. “But in reality, we need all of it.”

Performances of Boy My Greatness staged at Upstage Theatre in Edmond, Oct. 23-26. 

Maggie Lawson and Liberty Welch talk to their cast after rehearsal. 

 (From left to right) Bella Shiplett, Trevor Pratt, Kynzee Terrell, Leah Rule, Jett King, Jenni Dibler, Madison Hoover, and Tristan Idleman find new places to rehearse.