[12 August 3072: Outback Lightspeed Dispatcher]HALVERSON, ANAHEIM -- Patrons of the famed Kitty Etheridge Memorial Theatre in downtown Halverson erupted into a frenzy of outraged violence last night during the debut performance of Balázs Nagy's latest opus, Our Holy Mission. Police were called to the scene but were too late to prevent the death of the playwright himself, who was found hung from a lamppost twenty yards from the theatre entrance. No arrests have been made in Nagy's death and police spokespersons will only say that the investigation is ongoing.
Balázs Nagy had a history of controversial and provocative work during the thirty years he was in the public eye. As one of the founding members of the Transgressive Realism movement, Nagy first gained widespread attention in 3042 while still a student at the NAIS with his film The Rape of Capella, which juxtaposed newly declassified footage from the Fourth Succession War and interviews with rape survivors to comment on what he called "the unabashed militarism and degenerate brutality of the corrupt Davionista war machine". Nagy and his circle of peers followed up this public debut with a series of staged protests against everything from ComStar's monopoly of interstellar communication to Melissa Steiner-Davion's latest hairstyle.
Though the Transgressive Realism movement lost some steam during the years after the coming of the Clans, it had experienced a resurgence in recent years when the attacks of the Word of Blake provided rich material for the shocking antics of Nagy and his compatriots. His latest play, Our Holy Mission, was billed as "the truth behind the Jihad and the Inner Sphere nobility's complicity in the bloodshed" and had already gained a measure of controversy before it ever opened.
Two months ago, the watchdog group People for the Preservation of Public Decency filed a formal protest with the Halverson city council to stop Nagy's play from opening on Anaheim. The group claimed that to allow the play would undermine the war effort in the Federated Suns and provide moral support to the Word of Blake. Though many on the council agreed with this assessment, the majority refused to block Nagy from presenting his play.
Though police have so far refused to comment on last night's riot, witnesses report that it was triggered by a lengthy obscene joke told at the expense of Precentor Martial Davion and his family, including Princess Regent. Allegedly, this joke contained copious references to incest, necrophilia and various illegal acts before culminating in a punchline vile enough to cause one hundred and fifty people to storm the stage and assault the actors and playwright.
Meredith Snow, celebrated local actress, released a statement to the press this morning in which she expressed her deepest sorrow for the play and her performance in it. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Ms. Snow spent several hours in hospital after the riot but her injuries were not considered major and she was released after a short stay.