IRVINE : Proposed Nudity Ban Angers Arts Officials

A proposal designed to keep the city free from social ills brought by sex-oriented businesses includes a ban on nudity that could result in censorship of mainstream theater, arts administrators said Friday.

“I am incensed by such an ordinance,” said Stephen Barker, chairman of the UC Irvine drama department. Although UCI rarely stages performances with nudity, banning nudity would restrict artistic exploration of legitimate social themes, Barker said.

A law against public nudity could force the Irvine Barclay Theatre to change future performances, Theater Director Douglas Rankin said. Although the Barclay rarely books performances featuring nudity, the theater did host a dance troupe from Senegal last year that performed an African cultural dance with bare-breasted women.

“It would be unimaginable to me that that (performance) would be considered a misdemeanor,” Rankin said.

The proposed law would require adult bookstores, peep shows, bars with erotic entertainment and other sex-oriented businesses to open only in Irvine’s eastern industrial areas. The purpose is to keep Irvine free from the crime, lowered property values and complaints those businesses bring when they open near homes, schools and churches.

Planning Commissioner Kate Clark said she probably would not support an outright ban on nudity in the city because of its impact on the arts. The commission began reviewing the proposed law Thursday night and expects to hold another public hearing Oct. 1. The commission will later make a recommendation on the law to the City Council.

Irvine began considering an adult-entertainment law after receiving inquiries from people interested in opening restaurants and bars featuring bikini-clad dancers and waitresses. Two shops that sell sexual toys and lingerie have also recently opened.

The city has no special restriction that applies to businesses with sexually oriented merchandise or entertainment, although it does ban nude entertainment everywhere except theaters.

The proposed adult-entertainment ordinance removes the theatrical exemption from the law to prevent an adult business from claiming it was a theater.

“I certainly understand what they’re trying to get at in (proposing) such a law, but I have great reservations with censorship,” said James W. Penrod, chairman of the UCI dance department.