Last week, Jonathan Creighton created a stir by performing nude in The Dance of Darkness. While female nudity is not commonplace, it has occurred in the past. This was the first nude performance by a male actor on this campus. The campus has been abuzz since. We at the Daily asked Jonathan for an interview to explore how it felt break new ground.
Daily: You made quite a stir on campus with your part in The Dance of Darkness. How has your nude performance affected you?
Creighton: When I was first cast in the nude role, I was nervous. I had never performed nude before, and I was very nervous about taking my clothes off in front of everyone. It is hard to put into words. It was just a step beyond anything I had previous done. I mean, people would be looking at me, and at particular parts of me that I don't usually show. Maybe it was just that I didn't want people sizing me up. In any case, it called for some courage on my part. The cold air and a nervous attitude can make you shrink pretty small, and I worried about that was well. People tend to make judgment about you based on what you reveal downstairs. I did want to be judged inadequate. Maybe the guys in speedos on our swim team go through the same thing; they must, as not much is hidden in those suits. But for me, it was new.
Daily: Julie Cohen is a renowned Butoh instructor. How did she help you in your nude role?
Creighton: Julie had me rehearse nude right from the start. The others wore tights or shorts and t-shirts. If you were going to bare your breast, then you uncovered them in rehearsal as well. I was really the only one completely nude. My main dance partner, Miriam, was mostly clothed, and we had to get comfortable with that. I think it was the second or third rehearsal when Julie told Miriam to put her hands on me, and especially on a particular part of me. She had to overcome her apprehension about touching my sex as we were going to come into contact with each other. It was kind of cool. I also had to get use to her feeling free with my body.
I suppose that there was a CFNM dynamic that we both had to deal with (CFNM=Clothed Female=Nude Male). I was exposed and felt vulnerable. She played a role in that vulnerability as she was the one enjoying my naked body. We spent time talking about how she felt about her relationship to my maleness. Her initial response was to pretend that her eyes weren't drawn to it. But they were. She had to learn to embrace this part of herself.
Miriam and I lived in a small artist coop on campus. We decided that it would help if I spent as much time naked around her as we could manage. She wanted to learn the "ins and outs" of my body as if it were her own. This went beyond what the production called for, and we went overboard a bit. But it was fun. We marked off Saturday as our day. On many Saturdays, it was late afternoon before I put on any clothes. If I can speak frankly, she learned that my penis changes sizes and shapes throughout the day and not just if I have an erection. She also learned that it has a mind of its own. It can rise at some unexpected times. She will probably kill me, but she got several first-hand experiences of a male orgasm, if you catch my drift. This is probably enough on that. I think she is going to kill me.
Daily: To be honest, we did a provocative spread on you in which we published a page of pictures focused on your nudity. How did you feel about that?
Creighton: I felt a little exposed, to tell the truth. Several members of the case wanted to sell reprints to raise money for African relief. I had to put the axe to that, but I did like the idea. Maybe another time. Several women I didn't really know begged me to show them the real thing. To told them to come to a performance. Most did. I have to say that attendance improved quite dramatically after you ran that page spread.
Daily: Did the performance affect your relationships with students and faculty or other people you know?
Creighton: Yes. I couldn't go anywhere without people recognizing me. I became a hot item on the date scene. My advisor told me that I had performed well, and then she gave me a wink. It has calmed down now, and I don't hear much about it anymore. Besides, I have a girlfriend.
I felt most odd knowing that my mother was present opening night. She also brought my aunt. I don't know if you saw opening night, but I wasn't in, shall we say, a normal state most of the performance. It was a bit embarrassing being nude in front of your mother and aunt anyway. This made it harder. After the performance, everyone set off up the hill. We were still in costume or as, in my case, out of costume, and pictures were taken. My mother came to me smiling and said, "That was quite a performance. Why didn't you do an encore?" I can't really say what my aunt said to me, but I did turn red even with all that white paint. Nevertheless, I do have picture of my mother, my aunt, and me in my birthday suit.
Daily: What were some other problems you had to face, and did you call on help?
Creighton: There was the problem I alluded to earlier. Part of the problem was that the play revolved around my nudity. I was usually in the forefront, and the dances put my privates on center stage. They called for me to present myself fully to the audience. I knew this, and it was a challenge not to make it seem like some XXX scenes.
To put it plainly, I was aroused almost all the time during the first rehearsals. On the day I got my part, I wouldn't, at first, take my pants off. Julie asked if I was having second thoughts, and I said no. Then, she realized. She told the others to begin—most of the women had already taken their tops off—and asked me to join her in her office. She went to her computer and opened her browser to a video of Daniel Radcliffe, you know, Harry Potter, doing a nude scene in the play Equus. He clearly had an erection, and yet he played his role. She told me that it could always happen with male actors, particularly in a romantic scene, and these were always the best because of the sexual tension. She knew from the grapevine that Daniel was frequently erect in that scene. And yet he played the character. She told me to go slow and to keep my briefs on until I felt I could take it them off.
I went back and began rehearsal, but everyone could see what my problem was. About half way through the rehearsal, I felt I had things under control and I removed my briefs. My control lasted about two minutes, but I couldn't put them back on after I had taken them off.
I did call an older actor friend, Josh Morgenthau, for advice. He told me that he had been in three plays in which he had performed nude. The first time he appeared naked on stage was also at university performance. It was Equus. There was, at the time, a lot of hype about Daniel Radcliffe doing it in the buff, and so everyone knew that he was going to be naked in it. He said that he was really worried about appearing nude because he had a bit of a crush on the girl who was playing Jill. During rehearsals, he was allowed to keep his underwear on and she wore a pair of tights. The first time he was nude was doing it live. On the opening night he said he was so worried and was actually shaking at one point during intermission. Obviously, she didn't face the same worries. He said that it felt a bit unfair. There was a lot of kissing and caressing, and he did rise up. But he managed to get through it. The point he said was that I will be fine. Ironically, he said that not arousal but shrinkage was a much bigger concern for him now.
I told him that the problem was that I wasn't "fine." He told me to let an aroused guy be the character and to get into it. It didn't help much. What did help was Julie arranging for me to model nude at art classes. I began to think of being naked as something normal. I got used to walking into a class of mostly women students and letting them draw me. It took the edge off.
Soon, I had no problem with rehearsal. Come opening night however, and it was different. Julie told me that, if that was my character, then that was who I had to be. She then took a hard look and told me that said she like what she saw. I thought the first performance would never end, but my girlfriend liked it a lot. It was actually the first time that she had seen me naked. She said that I was cute, and it was too!
After the first couple of times, I lost my nervousness and began to enjoy performing. By this time, almost everyone in school, we are a small school, had seen me. There was one part that I found and still find erotic. I am dancing with Miriam. We move in unison. The CFNM thing is clearly present. There is some sexual tension in the scene – her looking at me fully. By the end, I was into it. One or two of the pictures you used were from that scene.
