When the crucible comes to campus

Christopher Demos-Brown’s “The Cancellation of Lauren Fein," now on stage at Florida Studio Theatre, is a well-written, intelligent play that deals with tough issues. The first act is a timely comedy about the foibles of 21st-century academia. The second act is also timely. It isn’t funny at all.

Lauren Fein (Rachel Moulton) is the eye of the play’s storm. She’s a tenured professor at a first-rank university. She’s Jewish and in a happy same-sex marriage to Paola (Ana Miramontes). Their household includes Dylan (Luke Brodersen), a Black teenager whom they’ve apparently adopted. The kid has the typical adolescent gripes, but he seems happy, too. 

Professionally, Lauren’s research into sickle cell anemia has put her on the fast track for the Nobel Prize. It’s a good life. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out, everything.

Rachel lives for pure research. But her academic life isn’t that pure. As part of her job, she’s got to teach a remedial class in evolutionary biology at the unnamed university. In an unguarded moment, Rachel describes accelerated evolution with an off-the-cuff metaphor. 

An angry student detects a racist implication in her statement. It’s a baseless accusation, but that’s beside the point. Many students now feel that Rachel is a racist. Their righteous anger is its own irrefutable argument. Who is she to deny it? 

Rachel hopes that the students’ outrage will blow over. It doesn’t. As the play unfolds, she is targeted by the 21st century equivalent of the Red Guard. These angry students start digging for more offenses — and find them, of course. 

Their anger turns into demands. The righteous students want Rachel censured, fired, punished and canceled. In a cynical calculation straight out of “The Game of Thrones,” the college’s dean (Tatiana Williams) starts to think that’s the right move.

FST Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins’ direction brings everything to a slow boil in the first act. When the mob mentality takes over in the second act, he turns up the heat.

The actors let you know the human cost of this crucible.

Moulton’s Lauren is the kind of academic nerd who thinks logic is the answer to everything. But she’s not an emotionless Spock. Baseless accusations against her character make her angry. Lauren's outbursts of rage lead to more accusations. High IQ or not, her character doesn’t know how to stop this vicious cycle. 

Miramontes is grounded and sympatico as Paola, Rachel’s Latinx wife and fellow professor. She’s loyal — and can’t imagine any other choice. Her character has no idea how much that choice will cost her. 

The couple’s foster son Dylan is a sympathetic character. He’s also damaged. His biological mother did a number on him. When Dylan impulsively acts out against Lauren, it’s understandable. But it damages everybody. 

Buddy McGovern (Howard Kaye) is the legal powerhouse who defends Lauren in her trial. (Officially, it’s a “disciplinary hearing.” But it’s a damn trial.) McGovern’s character could be James Carville’s long-lost twin. His fearless, incandescent wit is always a crowd-pleaser. 

Arguing for the prosecution, Amy Bodnar dials up the chill factor as Melanie — the play’s designated Torquemada. She aims to destroy Lauren’s life for all the right reasons. Williams’ Dean Whitney isn’t a true believer. Melanie has to work on her to make her sacrifice her friend. 

Freddie Bennett shows nuance as Lauren’s fundamentalist pal, “Chi” Nweze. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin. While his character believes it, he won’t let dogma kill his friendship. 

Kevin Leveque’s Evan is also Lauren’s friend. But his character follows in the footsteps of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Evan walks soft, keeps his head down and cracks smart jokes. But he won’t take sides when Lauren’s livelihood is at stake.

Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay’s set is imaginative and evocative. It’s framed in ruined columns, some chipped and patched, some fallen. It evokes the sense of an advanced culture in decline — the graves of academe.

Demos-Brown is a smart playwright. His play throws out references to Kant’s categorical imperative, Heidegger’s dasein, and Atticus Finch, the heroic lawyer of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” 

On top of that, the playwright has a keen grasp of legal theory and academic inside baseball. He’s got a lot to say. But there’s a lot he doesn’t say.

“Cancellation” is a highly distilled story. To keep it that way, the playwright ignores its realistic implications. If this were fact, not fiction, Lauren would be a conservative cause celebré. 

Various right-leaning foundations and individuals would take Lauren under their wing — and make her the poster child for the evils of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). But that would’ve muddied the story’s waters with complications. That’s not the story Demos-Brown wanted to tell.

The story the playwright told may be distilled. But it’s honest. And it defies expectations. Mine included.

David Mamet’s “Oleanna” (1992) took aim at the hypocrisy and bad faith of political correctness. I expected “The Cancellation of Lauren Fein” to be a 21st-century update of Mamet’s one-sided polemic. I was wrong.

Demos-Brown’s “Cancellation” is a political play with surprisingly little politics. Lauren is besieged by the supporters of diversity, equality and inclusion. But “Cancellation” throws no stones at DEI. If it’s against anything, it’s mob mentality. Here, it reminds me of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.”

Following in Miller’s footsteps, Demos-Brown’s perspective is simple.

Witch hunts from the left are wrong. Witch hunts from the right are wrong. Witch hunts are wrong, period. 

If you go hunting for witches, you’ll be sure to find them. And destroy innocent lives in the process.That’s the message of this play.

Sadly, it’s a timely one.