Plan-B Theatre Company'Facing East'
Faith, family revisited before play moves
By Ellen Fagg
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 04/16/2007 12:05:48 AM MDT
"Facing East" actors Jayne Luke, Charles Lynn Frost and Jay... (Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune)
When
Plan-B Theatre Company revives its production of "Facing East" next
week, Salt Lake City audiences will have the rare opportunity to help
the play's cast prepare for a New York run. "It's hard to recreate
something that had a certain magic to it," said director Jerry Rapier.
"But we need the energy of the audience more than ever."
The play, by LDS writer Carol Lynn Pearson, will play at the Rose
Wagner Performing Arts Center's Studio Theater Thursday through May 6,
just five months after its 10-show premiere production in November.
Three of the opening-weekend shows are already sold-out, Rapier said.
The emotional drama tells the story of a Mormon couple (Jayne Luke
and Charles Lynn Frost), grappling with their faith in the wake of their
gay son's suicide. At Andrew's graveside, the grieving parents meet
their son's lover, Marcus (Jay Perry).
"The actors are so respectful of their characters, even though
everyone is an opposite of who they're playing," Rapier said. "All three
really own the characters, and they fight for them in rehearsal. All of
us feel a real responsibility to the story, because for the majority of
the New York audience, it will be their first exposure to Mormonism and
what culture in Utah is."
"Facing East" will play at the off-Broadway Atlantic Theatre May
25-June 17, and then transfer to San Francisco's Theatre Rhinoceros for
an Aug. 10-26 run. To mark the second Utah production, we asked Rapier
for an update on the show.
What's the advantage of another local run?
Jerry Rapier: It's a luxury to do this show again. Each of the
actors had things they didn't feel they got to in creating these
characters. Not only do they have the luxury of looking back and looking
forward, they've really become emotionally attached to their characters.
And I've been able to look at the choices I made as a director and see
what did work and what didn't.
What's working?
We already know the show and have done the homework, and hopefully
we're stepping it up a notch. It's a rare thing to go into rehearsal and
on the first day have the show lit and no scripts in the actors' hands.
Jay said it best, on the first day of rehearsal, when he said: "It's
like coming home."
Why do you believe this play is poised for national attention?
We certainly know it's a very specific play, but people - both the
New York press and theatergoers - seem to want to talk about the
intersection of faith and sexuality. Since the last run of this show,
Mitt Romney has become the leading candidate for the Republican
presidential nomination. Getting to the bottom of what it means to be a
Mormon is a news story now for voters, in general; Mormonism is no
longer just a sideline fascination.
Any changes in the play?
We did a lot of tinkering at the line level. Carol Lynn was very
generous and open as a writer to listening to these particular actors,
who after all will be living with these characters for nearly a year.
She was sensitive to what they said worked or didn't work, in terms of
trimming clumsy language or spoken subtext. We've also added a memory
scene of Alex, the father, and his son on a family deer-hunting trip.
The method of suicide has also changed.
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* ELLEN FAGG can be contacted at ellenf@sltrib.com or 801-257-8621.
Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
Imaginative fires
* "FACING EAST"
plays at 8 p.m. Thursday through May 6 at the Rose Wagner
Performing Arts Center's Studio Theater, 138 W. Broadway (300 South),
Salt Lake City.
* TICKETS ARE
$20 ($10 for students) are available by calling
801-355-2787 or visiting
www.arttix.org.