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For local theaters, presenting an original
work of theater - a work without brand-name buzz generated from
Broadway or other regional companies - is always a risk.
For Plan-B Theatre Company, known for intellectually heady
dramas about social issues, developing "Facing East," a new play
by inspirational LDS writer Carol Lynn Pearson, was another kind
of experiment.
The company has long produced work with gay themes, from
introducing "The Laramie Project" and "Hedwig and the Angry
Inch" to local audiences, to its plans next spring to reprise
"Alienation Effekt," an experimental play by Plan-B co-founder
Tobin Atkinson about the effort to legally ban gay clubs from
Utah high schools.
"I've never been involved in a play that's emotionally
driven before," says director Jerry Rapier. "My eye,
artistically, is drawn toward restraint, and while this play has
that in it, it's explosively emotional. This is a play written
from one gut to another."
"Facing East" focuses on the fresh grief of one couple, Ruth
and Alex McCormick, committed members of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the aftermath of the suicide of
their gay son. An encounter in a cemetery, when they meet their
son's boyfriend, Marcus, causes the parents to reconsider their
faith and what they know about their son's life.
That the play's premiere is being produced in Utah, where
theatergoers are more used to seeing family-friendly passion
plays than searingly passionate dramas, seems either bold or
subversive, in a crossing-cultural-boundaries sort of way.
Rapier hopes Pearson's name-brand status among Mormons will
attract a new crowd to Plan-B, at the same time exposing the
company's politically progressive arts patrons to a play that
creates a complicated portrait of members of the state's
dominant religion.
"Generally, the hope is that we stimulate a discussion about
themes," says Rapier, a gay man and former LDS missionary who
has wrestled with similar issues in his own life. "And I hope
that this play generates a discussion about feelings, because
this is a culture where a short list of feelings are
appropriate, and a longer list are not."
Pressing concern: The work's focus seems especially relevant
in a state where the suicide rate has remained among the highest
in the nation for more than two decades, with one suicide every
28 hours, according to Utah Department of Health statistics.
Utah's suicide rate is 13.74 per 100,000 residents, in
comparison to 10.66 nationally. At greatest risk are male teens,
age 15-19, with a suicide rate of 22.49 per 100,000.
The issue is believed to be even more pressing among gay and
lesbian teens, who are likely to attempt suicide more than three
times as often as other youth, according to national studies.
Beyond anecdotal evidence, it's difficult to tell how
significantly sexuality factors into Utah's explosive suicide
rates, as that statistic is complicated to track.
The timing of the play seems significant to Valerie Larabee,
executive director of the Utah Pride Center, who is focused on
making local schools safer for all youth, including gays,
lesbians and bisexuals. "This play gets to the heart of talking
about truth," says Larabee, who attended a staged reading of the
work last February. "It talks about how families can isolate
members of their own family by the language they use, and by
their inability to empathize with each other. I hope all of our
legislators are listening to the dialogue that this piece of
theater is creating."
Even the work's funding sets it apart as an artistic cause.
In recent years, the B.W. Bastian Foundation has made annual
contributions of $10,000 to $15,000 to the small theater
company, but to bring "Facing East" to the stage, Bruce Bastian,
co-founder of Word Perfect, made a personal donation of $50,000.
Pearson became something of a cultural godmother to Bastian and
other gay Mormons after the publication in 1986 of her book
Goodbye, I Love You, about the death of her ex-husband,
Gerald, of AIDS.
To mark the play's premiere, the writer will lead talkback
discussions and sell copies of a 20th-anniversary edition of
Goodbye, I Love You, as well as her new book, No More
Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones, a
collection of stories from Mormons and former Mormons, including
Bastian's, at the theater.
Straight talk: Content issues aside, the Utah actors
originating Pearson's characters are committed to creating a
local work that talks honestly about contemporary Mormons.
"This is the kind of play that you don't often get the
chance to do," says Jay Perry, who plays Marcus, the dead man's
boyfriend. "I think the context of the play, in the environment
here in Utah, it's not something that a lot of theaters are
willing to put up."
"The first time I read this play, I was very moved by it,"
says Jayne Luke, a well-known local actor, director and
choreographer, who plays Ruth. "I am not this person, but many,
many women that I love are this person. I have to keep reminding
myself that this woman is absolutely sincere about what she is
saying. I have no right to judge her, but have to present her
argument as sincerely and as honestly as I can."
Charles Lynn Frost is drawing upon his experience as a
father of four adult children to create the play's father
figure. In a six-month period during 1994, Frost left the LDS
Church and his job in academia, got divorced after nearly 20
years of marriage, came out as a gay man and grieved his
mother's death.
"What's most interesting to me about playing Alex McCormick
is he's on the near side of a complexity curve that I, Charles
Frost, am on the far side of," the actor says. "And that
complexity curve is about the authenticity of love."
That the themes of sexuality and grieving in "Facing East"
will affect local audiences is a given. More complicated is
finding the art in the play's emotion.
"As I'm watching three actors create this play together, I
see that they're so committed to being honest with it, and not
make it precious or maudlin," Rapier says. "What frees them up
to flesh out the roles is the immense honesty that grows out of
grief. You lose your fear through speaking your mind. It's
affecting us all more than we expected it to."
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* ELLEN FAGG welcomes comments at ellenf@sltrib.com or
801-257-8621. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
The dramatic power of grief
* "FACING EAST," an original work by Carol Lynn Pearson,
plays Thursday through Nov. 26 at the Rose Wagner Performing
Arts Center's Black Box Theatre, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake
City. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, with 2
and 5:30 p.m. shows on Sundays. (No performance on
Thanksgiving.)
* TICKETS are $15 ($10 students), available by calling
801-355-ARTS or visiting http://www.planbtheatrecompany.org.
* PEARSON will read from her new book, No More Goodbyes:
Circling The Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones, at 6 p.m.
Friday at Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore, 254 S. Main St., Salt
Lake City, and noon on Saturday at Borders Books, 132 E.
Winchester, Murray.
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