(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Arguendo, a dramatic staging of the 1991 Supreme Court case Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc., which debated the legality of nude dancing, will be brought to life by Elevator Repair Service (ERS) at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance at Williams College on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 8pm. Arguendo is a staging of Barnes v. Glen’s entire oral argument, verbatim, interspersed with bits of real interviews with the justices, the lawyers, and an exotic dancer who traveled all the way from the Déja Vu Club in Saginaw, Mich., to listen to the argument at the Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

The production design features a swirl of animated text projections by video artist Ben Rubin and a re-imagined Supreme Court on rolling chairs. The drama that emerges is by turns absurd, provocative, and hilarious. The production contains nudity; parental discretion is advised.

Starting from the question, “Does a state prohibition against complete nudity in public violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of Freedom of Expression?” ERS tackles Barnes v. Glen Theatre. Brought by a group of go-go dancers who claimed a First Amendment right to dance totally nude, the case examines an Indiana law that banned public nudity. At oral argument, the justices attempt to define dance, ponder nudity in opera houses vs. strip-clubs, and ask whether naked erotic dancing is artistic expression or immoral conduct.

Founded in 1991 by artistic director John Collins, Elevator Repair Service creates original works with an ongoing ensemble. ERS’s theater pieces are built around a broad range of subject matter and literary forms; they combine elements of slapstick comedy, hi-tech and lo-tech design, both literary and found text, and the group’s own highly developed style of choreography. The troupe is perhaps best known for its trilogy of plays based on American novels from the mid to late 1920s: Gatz, based on the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (first published 1929); and The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (first published 1927).

For tickets, visit the Williams ’62 Center Box Office Tues-Sat, 1-5 pm or call (413) 597-2425.