It's a perfect match, at least on paper.
A university roiled by sexual assault allegations will host a play recalling the serial rapes that happened during the Oct. 7 attacks.
Here's betting campus activists won't see it that way. Heck, they might try to shut it down. It wouldn't be the first time.
Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney created "October 7" to honor those slaughtered by Hamas terrorists on that awful day. The duo flew to Israel following the attacks, interviewing survivors, first responders and witnesses. The theatrical production relies on testimonies and related documents to tell the harrowing story.
Previous productions from the couple also embraced "verbatim theater," including the play "Ferguson" and "FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers."
The Oct. 7 survivors proved brave enough to share their stories to make sure we not only never forget, we remember how savage the Hamas attacks truly were.
We all know those terrorists slaughtered more than a thousand civilians and captured hundreds more during that sneak attack. They shot video of some of those attacks, too.
They also sexually assaulted victims in the process. The 2024 documentary "Screams Before Silence" similarly let survivors share their shocking stories.
Ghoulish.
Except not everyone has been keen to let the "October 7" show go on. McAleer says he's had to hire security to keep the peace during the show's early off-Broadway run. More recently, someone pulled a fire alarm during a Northwestern University performance.
Will the next performance go off without a hitch? It's complicated. Why? Next up is a Dec. 8 showing at Cornell University.
Yes, that's the same Cornell embroiled in sexual assault allegations stemming back to a 2024 incident. "Jane Doe" says she was raped by several men at a fraternity house. The story didn't go national until recently, and text messages sent by the alleged victim after the incident complicate the narrative.
We don't know what really happened, but some Cornell students have risen up to protest rape culture. So have elements of the Left, seizing on the story for political gains.
Will those protesters rally behind "October 7?" Or will students pull a fire alarm stunt or otherwise disrupt the performance? Academia hasn't been kind to free speech over the last decade. And much of the pro-Palestinian rage has blossomed on universities across the country.
There's another factor in play.
The MeToo movement has been virtually silent on the sexual assaults tied to Oct. 7. The Hollywood feminists who rose up following Harvey Weinstein's fall couldn't spare a syllable about Hamas' sexualized brutality.
McAleer targeted Cornell for other reasons. He cited history professor Russell Rickford who called the Oct. 7 attacks "exhilarating." Earlier this year, anti-Israel protesters at the school intimidated the President Michael Kotlikoff, who is Jewish, by surrounding his car.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited Cornell in September, an event marked by chants of "from the river to the sea ..."
"Cornell really needs to hear the truth," McAleer said in an e-blast promoting the upcoming performance.
