Spring Break
Playwright addresses homosexuality, homophobia in the Greek system
Sarah Salbu
Issue date: 11/3/09 Section: Campus
The Office of Diversity Affairs hosted solo performer Dan Bernitt Sunday afternoon, along with students from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., to discuss challenges that arise when confronted with the realities of homophobia and homosexuality.
Bernitt is a young solo performer who wrote an undergraduate thesis on how homophobia can destroy a community. He was interested in exploring issues of masculinity and homophobia and created four male characters to represent the relationship of brothers in a fraternity in his one-man play, "Phi Alpha Gamma."
Bernitt was not a member of a Greek organization during his time at the University of Kentucky, but he thought a fraternity would be a great setting to evaluate the issues he was studying for his thesis.
"I tried not to let (not being Greek) limit me by doing a lot of research," Bernitt said. "I grappled with the issue of not having been a member but this play is not just about fraternities. It's about the issues raised. The setting is not supposed to be the focus."
Bernitt gave voices to four members of the fraternity - one in jail for committing an act of violence against a homosexual, a deeply religious member, the chapter president and the confidant of one of the newly out gay members. None of these characters were victims of discrimination, which Bernitt did to give his presentation a new angle.
"I wanted to explore how oppression forms and the effects on an oppressor from oppressing," Bernitt said. "I thought there was already a lot out there about victimization and I wanted to look at it from a completely different angle."
He said his goal in performing this play throughout the country is to start the conversation about homosexuality and homophobia.
Junior John Folk, a manufacturing engineer major and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said he came out as gay at the beginning of the fall semester to all of his brothers.
"For some people it's hard to deal with and it's awkward," Folk said. "But a lot of brothers have been very accepting and make an effort to ask questions and bring it up in conversations."
Bernitt is a young solo performer who wrote an undergraduate thesis on how homophobia can destroy a community. He was interested in exploring issues of masculinity and homophobia and created four male characters to represent the relationship of brothers in a fraternity in his one-man play, "Phi Alpha Gamma."
Bernitt was not a member of a Greek organization during his time at the University of Kentucky, but he thought a fraternity would be a great setting to evaluate the issues he was studying for his thesis.
"I tried not to let (not being Greek) limit me by doing a lot of research," Bernitt said. "I grappled with the issue of not having been a member but this play is not just about fraternities. It's about the issues raised. The setting is not supposed to be the focus."
Bernitt gave voices to four members of the fraternity - one in jail for committing an act of violence against a homosexual, a deeply religious member, the chapter president and the confidant of one of the newly out gay members. None of these characters were victims of discrimination, which Bernitt did to give his presentation a new angle.
"I wanted to explore how oppression forms and the effects on an oppressor from oppressing," Bernitt said. "I thought there was already a lot out there about victimization and I wanted to look at it from a completely different angle."
He said his goal in performing this play throughout the country is to start the conversation about homosexuality and homophobia.
Junior John Folk, a manufacturing engineer major and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said he came out as gay at the beginning of the fall semester to all of his brothers.
"For some people it's hard to deal with and it's awkward," Folk said. "But a lot of brothers have been very accepting and make an effort to ask questions and bring it up in conversations."
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