College Officials Allegedly Ordered Last-Minute Set Change Over Political Concerns

by Chris Peterson

Administrators at Cape Fear Community College in NC are getting heat after reportedly ordering theatre students to change part of the set for The Bacchae just a couple of hours before opening night, objecting specifically to the phrase “No Kings.” 

According to local news, the set floor included several protest slogans, and while students say administrators initially wanted much more removed, most of it was ultimately allowed to stay. “No Kings,” though, had to go. It was painted over and replaced before the show went on.

The college later defended the move, saying that, as a publicly funded institution, it has an obligation to maintain political neutrality in its official activities, including theatrical productions presented under the college’s name.

(Photo: John Holohan)

Honestly, this is ridiculous.

Not because colleges never have to make hard calls. They do. But because this particular call feels so deeply unserious and so aggressively afraid of what theatre actually is.

The Bacchae, by Euripides, is not some random title where students dragged current events into a text that had nothing to do with them. The play is about Dionysus returning to Thebes after his divinity is denied, and about King Pentheus trying to control, suppress, and outmaneuver a force he neither understands nor respects.

It ends(spoiler alert) in chaos, punishment, and the total collapse of Pentheus’ authority. This is a story about power, ego, denial, control, and what happens when a ruler becomes so obsessed with maintaining order that he helps create his own destruction.

So, of course, a student design team might look at that and build a visual world around protest language.

WHQR reported that the set floor included phrases like “Say Her Name,” “No Justice No Peace,” “Silence = Violence,” “Liberty for All,” and “No Kings.” Students said those choices were meant to connect the themes of the play to historic and contemporary struggles over power and oppression. And that is not some wild reach; that is called interpretation.

In fact, “No Kings” is probably the least confusing choice of the bunch. Pentheus is not just a character with a crown. He is the embodiment of rigid civic authority in the play, a ruler who delights in control and tries to crush what unsettles him. If you are staging The Bacchae through a modern lens, anti-authoritarian imagery is not some random political add-on. It is a very clear visual shorthand for the exact conflict sitting at the center of the text. That is why this administrative pearl-clutching feels so absurd. 

What really gets me is the timing. If administrators had concerns, then where were they earlier in the process? Waiting until a couple of hours before curtain to suddenly decide a phrase is too dangerous for public consumption is not thoughtful leadership. It sends the message that student artists are free to explore big ideas right up until somebody in an office gets nervous about how it might look.

And can we please stop pretending “political neutrality” is some noble shield in situations like this? Because it usually is not about neutrality. It is institutional cowardice dressed up in administrative language. 

This is the part colleges never seem to understand. They love to market arts programs as places for bold thinking, brave choices, and real-world relevance. But the second students actually make a choice that feels pointed, contemporary, or a little uncomfortable, suddenly everybody starts reaching for the fire extinguisher.

If your production of The Bacchae cannot survive the words “No Kings,” then the problem is not the students. The problem is that the adults in charge want theatre to look alive without ever actually being dangerous, messy, or meaningful.

And that is a much bigger problem than anything painted on a set floor.