At A Loss

For my Stage and Studio Lighting class I am currently working on a project. We are supposed to light a piece of classical music. My partner and I decided upon Mozart's Dies Irae http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxr84zacOfY. We were also allowed to design a minimalist set.

The song is about judgement so my partner's and my vision was of a person standing in front of St. Peter at the gates of Heaven not knowing if they would be admitted or sent to Hell. Our set consists of a mannequin behind a podium surrounded by stacks of books, this representing St. Peter; A model of a church, representing the standards placed upon us by God and man; and finally a white mannequin hanging by a noose behind a white cyc, representing the fate of humanity.

It's a very powerful piece.

What left me at a loss, however, was how offended one person got. This person insisted that we were promoting lynching.

1. My partner and I are NOT racist

2. My partner and I did this ONLY to symbolize how humanity is going to hell in a hand basket.

3. It's a WHITE mannequin