Worth Returning To

I knew the plot of “The Prodigal Son” before I read it. And yet John Goldberg managed to surprise me with it.

The play only contains three characters: a father, a son, and the son’s girlfriend. It begins when the teenaged son, Dan, first meets and asks out his future girlfriend, Christy. Goldberg introduces the meat of the play soon after: the unique father-son relationship that (rightly) dominates the story. I’m not sure how Goldberg does it in so few words, but it’s artful. Soon, Dan chooses to investigate Christy’s church: the LDS or Mormon church. His father, reasonable with a capital “R”, had once been a member of but left the church, and he’s extremely unhappy with Dan’s choice. Despite the tension and arguments, Dan gets baptized and eventually goes on a mission. His father refuses to have contact with Dan until about a year into the mission, but the conversation they have at that point shows that their relationship isn’t completely dead. This sense of promise lasts through the ending, which finds Dan home from his mission and eating dinner with his dad.

No, it wasn’t really the plot that surprised me (although it was refreshing to read a Mormon story without a cookie-cutter ending). What got me were Goldberg’s choices in style and how they affected the play.

First of all, it surprised me a bit that this play was formatted as such. A large portion of it was monologues directed at the audience, which made me wonder if it would’ve been effective as an essay or short story. However, then Goldberg would’ve had to find a way to have the essay or story written from two distinct points of view; I suppose avoiding that could’ve been reason enough to write “The Prodigal Son” as a play.

I loved the voices of Dan and his father—very relatable and engaging. I did feel that Dan’s voice was too old for him, though—definitely not 18-year-old material. And I would like to have seen more distinctions between their voices. I felt most of the differences between their monologues were of content instead of style.  

Still, though—the play was an enjoyable read and a relevant one. I may pull a prodigal and return to it one day. 

Happy Little Disclosures

Homosexuality is a sensitive issue everywhere in the United States right now, but perhaps nowhere else is the tension so high as it is with the LDS Church. In an attempt to take a stance backing a religious conviction, the general public has largely misinterpreted Mormonism’s complicated relationship with the subject of homosexuality. While the Church characteristically handles its response to criticism on a broad, public level, perhaps art has a better chance of helping those unfamiliar with the church understand the complicated issue of homosexuality from the perspective of someone within the church trying to understand their own attraction to the same sex. Melissa Leilani Larson’s short play “Happy Little Secrets” humanizes the conflict and sheds light on a culture that is largely misunderstood.
 In a previous review of Larson’s play, the critic remarked, “You make homosexuality not an ISSUE (with all its inevitable dangers) but a subject--a reason for authentic art, not a pretext for divisive politics.” Homosexuality is the backdrop of this analysis of a girl’s struggle to reason with her religious beliefs and her contrary sexual nature. The play becomes a platform on which a good person struggles with being misunderstood within a culture that does not know how to address a sensitive issue while holding to its religious convictions. So it does what good art always tries to do: humanize an issue that is hard to understand from the perspective of someone who does not understand their own situation perfectly.
 While this play was valiant in its efforts and commendable for the content it humanizes, the language and feelings often feel cheap and adolescent. More than a look inside the mind of a conflicted young women, it became a commentary on the issues the author had with the culture of Brigham Young University, For example, when Claire, the main character struggling with homosexual attraction to her best friend, agrees to look over her friend’s boyfriend’s paper, she exclaims, “Sorry there is bile in my mouth right now.” Maybe the intent is to further humanize the characters by expressing their imperfect emotions, opinions, and personalities, but it feels a little shallow at times. While the play itself is interesting in its depiction of the conflict within a Mormon context, the delivery lacks in power and conviction.

Common Topic, New Perspective

The compilation of plays Out of the Mount contains multiple scenarios that occur in the lives of the Mormon characters.  Some of the plays touch on sensitive subjects that aren't often written about like same-sex attraction while others touch on common topics in Mormon literature like the fall of Adam and Eve.  Gaia, written by Eric Samuelson, depicts a scene in the Pre-Earth life, a place where we dwelled as intelligences preparing to go to earth.  A woman named Gaia has a conversation with Lucifer and their views strongly differ regarding their Father's (God's) plan: Lucifer finds it unfair and condemning while Gaia sees it as a way to become like God.

Many Mormon authors write about their musings and perspective of our pre-earth existence.  However, Samuelson did so in a more personal, one-on-one way.  As Mormons, we often hear that Lucifer fought against God's plan but don't touch as much as to why he did.  The dialogue between Lucifer and Gaia shows that his contempt was not simply out of desire for power; He was scared, unsure and felt human beings should be judged the same as other beings such as animals.  He shares his desire to be a shark, only abiding by instinct and not being judged at the end of his journey.  I was more intrigued by his character than that of Gaia's.  As most know, Adam and Eve were the first on the earth yet Samuelson provides an interesting perspective on this knowledge as well.  Could Lucifer been one of the first but because of his decision he lost that privilege?  Lucifer is always portrayed as a tyrant yet in this play he is portrayed as confused and struggling to see the happiness in God's plan. Overall, Samuelson provides interesting perspective on Lucifer's thoughts and actions.

I will admit, the writing itself was rather flat.  It appeared that the playwright only focused on the content of the play rather than the stylistic choices. At times, the writing seemed to detract from the interesting concepts.  However, what if Samuelson did this on purpose?  Many of us have had to have a heartbreaking conversation with people we love and it can go a multitude of ways.  Perhaps Samuelson chose to use flat conventions and at times dull dialogue (though interesting perspectives) to allow the reader to personally take on the conversation and place themselves in the shoes of Gaia. Or even the shoes of Lucifer.  In this way,  Samuelson allows a more personal reading for the reader.

all-types-of-people-friendly.

A Burning in the Bosom, a play written by Melissa Leilani Larson, is a depiction of a single woman attending a meeting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She bumbles in, arms filled with supplies for the meetings, late, flustered, tired. The entire play is a stream of consciousness, her thoughts meandering from one subject to another. The main gist of what her thoughts are leading to is her questioning her ability to feel the Holy Ghost, the Spirit that the LDS people associate with a ‘burning in the bosom,’ among other descriptions. The depth to this feeling is that it is a confirmation of the truthfulness of the gospel taught by the Latter-day Saint religion. She more or less explains through her personal thoughts, acted through a voice-over as she sits quietly in her pew, how she is unsure if she’s ever had the ‘burning in the bosom’ feeling that so many of her peers and fellow members seem to experience. The play ends with her thoughts interrupted by the implication that she does in fact feel this ‘burning in the bosom’ and her acceptance and recognition of the feeling. The entirety of the play is voice-over, leaving little room for acting.

This play holds a lot of truth and relatability factors, but really only for those familiar with the Latter-day Saint vernacular, customs, and general teachings. Unless one is accustomed to this church, then they might very well get lost with frequent references to; hymns in the very first few lines (most of which are only in an LDS hymnbook); her talk about Sunbeams (small children, not rays of light); the ‘G.A’ Bruce R. McConkie (one of the leaders of the Church, a ‘General Authority’); her mention of Nephi (an ancient prophet who contributed writing in the Book of Mormon), and various other ‘Mormon’ references. This is all great—so long as the LDS community wants to keep their art and plays within only their community. This use of vernacular is off-putting to anyone who is not familiar with the LDS culture and religion. If these play-writes want to expand their audience and really get some recognition? Either those missionaries better pick up their pace or the plays need to be more all-types-of-people-friendly.

Exploring BYU Culture...Again.

The success of the play Así Es by Lyvia Martinez depends on the audiences familiarity with the culture of Brigham Young University. Ideally, the audience would have a "sweet spot" understanding of BYU; either they are familiar but did not personally attend or they're still relatively new to the university.Those too distant or already too immersed in the BYU's culture may not be as appreciative of this play.

The play itself is short and simple. No plot twists or major action scenes. Instead a total of two characters, Javier and Monserrate, speak together during a few different scenes. Monserrate and Javier are cousin who have both moved to the United States to attend BYU discovering the differing in both American culture and Mormon culture. Monserratte moved from Puerto Rico to the US before the play starts and is coaching Javier who has just recently arrived and is slightly disillusioned by the challenging adjustments he must make.

The play successfully captures Javier's feelings of uncertainly and self-consciousness that can be universal to anyone who has found themselves in a new place, surrounded by new customs. And more specifically, this play can really hit home for those who have experienced these feelings of inadequacy or confusion at BYU. Audience members who are experiencing major culture shock will find this play comforting and relateable.

However, because of the particular cultural terms and practices (DTR, singles' wards, pre-mie, etc.) that Javier discusses, the play narrows its audience considerably. First of all, it's of course geared toward a LDS audience because while it explains singles' wards and FHE, it assumes the audience already understands what wards and family home evening are. But the jokes surrounding terms like FHE and DTR at BYU have become cliche for those of us who have been at BYU for awhile. It seems were not afraid to make fun of ourselves here, but we have little creativity in doing so. I've read, watched, listened one to many parodies of these BYU customs, as have many others of my peers. This doesn't mean that this shouldn't be attempted at all, but exploring fresh angles amid the over-done angles would be nice.

On the other hand, if an LDS audience member has no experience with terms like DTR, they aren't explored or explained enough for someone not in on the cliche inside joke. And more thing makes this already ideal audience even smaller--the mixture of Spanish in the play. In many ways, Spanish is the plays strength. It shows other cultural complexities besides merely the new-to-BYU component, and reading the play with the provided translation works well. However, a production of this play may not work as well with a non-Spanish speaking audience who don't realize what the miss and who may imagine missing a lot when Spanish is spoken on stage.

None of these factors in the play are failures in and of themselves. They all work well in their own right, but the mixture makes a challenge for finding the perfect, appreciative audience.

The Hope of the Prodigal Sons

Courtesy of Creative Commons

James Goldberg's play "Prodigal Son" enraptures audiences in a new spin on the classic Biblical parable. In the Bible, we read of a young man who abandons his father and everything he's been taught in pursuit of selfish pleasures. In Goldberg's play, a young man, Daniel, joins the church that his father left in his youth. Right from the start, the question is presented: Who is the prodigal son? Is it the son that was baptized against the warnings of his father and then abandoned his father for Thailand? Or is it the father that rejected the teachings of his own parents many years before?

A few years after joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Daniel decides he would like to serve a full-time mission for two years. Naturally, his father's reaction is anything but positive. They would have little-to-no opportunity to communicate for two years. In the father's eyes, saying goodbye for two years was akin to saying goodbye at a funeral. As such, for the first part of Daniel's mission, he lacked support from home as his father refused to answer calls and letters. By using common themes of loneliness and longing, this scene connects readers and viewers of every background to Daniel and his father. Nearly everyone has someone that they miss at one point or another, but this play instills hope that all is not lost. Throughout his mission, Daniel hoped that his father would find joy in his life again by returning to the Church of his youth. Likewise, Daniel's father had hope that his son would return to him and that they would be able to resume the friendship they found during Daniel's college years.

"Prodigal Son" may have been written by a Mormon playwright, but the hope depicted by the characters is not limited in who it may reach.

Gaia? More like goodbye-a!

A few days ago, my friend and I performed Eric Samuelsen’s one-act play, called Gaia. Our “performance” was really just a cold read of the play—I thought it would be more fun to read the play out loud with someone than inwardly by myself—and our “acting” was obscured by the first-time discovery of what we were reading. We tried to hide our emotions as we told the story of Lucifer and Eve in the preexistence, of Lucifer’s disgust with the unfairness of God’s plan, of Eve trying to persuade Lucifer to come to Earth with her, and of God’s own life as a mortal before all of this happened.

          In the grand tradition of Mormon literature, Samuelsen himself has amazingly recorded what he himself thinks the preexistence was like! His additions to the concept include ideas about Lucifer could have been the first man on earth, or how God's own mortality was provincial and short. I’m not going to criticize how stale of an idea this whole play is; sure, it’s been done, but people should write about what they want to write about. I don’t know why so many authors think that their Mormonism only extends as far as The Fall of Adam and Eve, but hey—Milton’s Paradise Lost didn’t go any further. Maybe someday we’ll have a Milton who can tell that story in a new, permanent way.

          What instead bothers me about Gaia is its total ignorance of technique, form, irony, and gravity. My friend and I reveled in the chance to ham up the play’s two emotions: scorn (Lucifer) and lachrymosity (Eve). That one-dimensionality combined with total sincerity made lines like “Engage with me!” and “It could have been you” ring with bathos. (Our audience was keeled over for most of the play.) Could Samuelsen not have come up with less operatic dialogue?

          And why is this story even a play at all? Reading it out loud made me realize how much this story doesn’t need a theater, a stage, props, or a congregation. It could have worked just as well (and appeared less ludicrous) as a short story, or—goodness me—an essay! But this inattention to aesthetic is Samuelsen’s plague; it’s clear that Gaia is not interested in creating art, but in serving as a vehicle for Samuelsen’s own ideological convictions.
          In short: I'd give it a 24%, a lead medal, a 2 out of 10 iPods. Go see it only if there is no other play showing in your city.

Adam and Eve: Dating 101

In his play, Adam and Eve, Mormon playwright Davey Morrison explores the moments immediately following Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden. As the play opens Eve sits on a tree stump examining an apple while Adam attempts to gauge her feelings about the fact that the two of them are now expected to multiply and replenish the earth.
The short play is filled with humor as Adam attempts holding hands for the first time, Eve tries to understand her emotions, and the two of them try to determine if they actually love each other or if they are only interested in each other because they're the only two people on planet earth. In short, it resembles the first awkward moments of dating for your average couple.
This play adds humor and personality to the biblical characters of Adam and Eve. Instead of referring to them as the far removed, distant parents of all humanity, it shows them as real people trying to get to know each other as they date and work towards forming a family of their own.
I found the dialogue between the two characters a bit abrupt and choppy, but believable. It showed their youth and ignorance as they navigated this new world. The word choice was a bit more modern than I would have expected from Adam and Eve, but I can understand the author's choice to use modern language in hopes of connecting more with the audience.
The most insightful part of the play for me, however, was how Morrison depicted Adam and Eve's relationship to God. Morrison showed that they missed Him and regretted no longer being in His presence, but Morrison also showed that, though they could no longer see God, He had not left them alone. In the play they say that they can still feel Him with them, which is a key part of Mormon doctrine, the doctrine that God is our Heavenly Father and loves us.

Picture from Pixabay.com

The Immediateness of Eternity

Photo by NASA

The Latter-day Saint community has begun to put to stage some of the most unique doctrines we have, adding to their possibilities by characterizing undefined moments within our eternal chronology. In Eric Samuelson's Gaia, we take a glimpse into the final moments before Adam and Eve are put on Earth. In a simple conversation between Gaia (eventually Eve) and Lucifer (eventually Satan), we are shown the LDS belief in the preexistence, divine parentage, divine potential, the fallen angel, agency, female role and influence, and the creation.

So how can so many theological concepts be placed within one conversation, in one play? Samuelson achieves it by having the conversation between Lucifer and Gaia. One of the first thing Gaia says is that she is the lead engineer of Earth. Wait . . . a woman helped with the creation? She wasn't ex-nihilo? A woman? Some might find even these implications shocking, but to an LDS audience, these concepts are familiar. But even so, Samuelson provides a reality and closeness to his characters that is very rarely felt, even among LDS communities.

Gaia and Lucifer talk like a brother and sister, appropriate since they are. But what is truly startling, is that Lucifer is frustrated, frightened, logical. He feels unjustly dealt with and while we expected all of those characteristics in Satan, he doesn't yet know he will be the devil. This puts him in an interesting position, especially in relation to our perspective on him since he is currently exercising his agency, not just trying to destroy us with ours.

At one point in the play, Lucifer references "Father's" mortal sojourn, alluding to one of the most unique and deep LDS doctrine's best summed up in Lorenzo Snow's couplet of our divine potential and eternal progression: "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be." The moment in which Samuelson projects the type of person God may have been, we feel an immediateness of eternity, a reality to our doctrines. Gaia is truly a fascinating experience, whether LDS or not, showcasing our beliefs in a very palpable way.