SHORT TAKES : Actress Defends Play at College

Actress Tess Harper returned to her alma mater to support a play about homosexuals and AIDS under attack by a local group.

Southwest Missouri State University’s theater department is staging Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart,” which won praise in New York and elsewhere but is being denounced as obscene by the Citizens Demanding Standards.

About 1,200 opponents of the play packed a hall Monday with gospel songs and fiery speeches. The group objects to state money being used to produce a play portraying a homosexual life style.

University administrators said the play will go on as scheduled beginning Wednesday.

Harper, a 1972 graduate, said opponents had a right to complain about the play, which attacks society’s slow response to the AIDS epidemic, but no right to stop it from being shown. Kathleen Turner and John Goodman, fellow actors and SMSU alumni, also have expressed support for the play.