c. 2007 Religion News Service

NEW YORK _ Not many theater productions include a glossary of Mormon theological and ecclesiastical terms in the program. Then again, Carol Lynn Pearson’s play, “Facing East,” defies a number of expectations.

Pearson’s somber but compassionate one-act portrayal of a Mormon family’s struggle to come to terms with the suicide of their gay son treats, as some reviewers have noted, both church traditionalists and critics with humanity and empathy. It’s one reason the play had a much-feted premiere in Salt Lake City last November.

The play has now started to premiere in major U.S. cities with large gay and lesbian populations. “Facing East” recently completed a successful off-Broadway run in New York, dovetailing the city’s June Gay Pride festivities. The play now moves on to San Francisco for a two-week run in August and there is talk of the play moving to Boston.

Pearson is uniquely qualified to write the drama: her memoir “Goodbye, I Love You,” chronicled her experiences caring for her former husband, Gerald, a gay man who died of AIDS in 1984. Her former son-in-law, Steven Fales, turned out to be gay and wrote the one-man play, “Confessions of a Mormon Boy.”

Pearson’s latest book, “No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Loved Ones,” explores the experiences of Mormon families supporting their gay children.

Ivan Lincoln, the theater critic for the Deseret Morning News, a church-owned Salt Lake City newspaper, praised “Facing East” as possibly “the best thing Carol Lynn Pearson has ever written, at least for the stage.”

Lincoln disagrees with Pearson on the issue of homosexuality _ unlike Pearson, Lincoln believes homosexuals can change their sexual orientation _ but in an interview said Pearson has crafted a work that “was straight down the middle.”

“It was good theater because it raises questions and doesn’t give you pat answers,” he said.

Judging from the knowing nods and laughter at “insider” gay and Mormon references alike during the recent run at New York’s Atlantic Stage 2, “Facing East” appeals to several audiences with a stake in the play’s themes: gay, Mormon, gay Mormon and ex-Mormon, for example.

However, the play is also striking for its examination of the ways a religious “world view” is integrated into everyday, contemporary American life.

In a recent interview, Pearson said the lived religious experience of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is something that “permeates an entire life. It’s not just something you show up for on a Sunday.”

That characteristic is well-displayed in “Facing East,” which takes its title from the position of Mormon graves in preparation for “resurrection morning.” In the quiet of the cemetery, the two Mormon parents, Alex and Ruth, ruminate about the suicide of their gay son, Andrew, a classical musician. They are later joined by their son’s surviving partner, Marcus.

The play suggests that Andrew took his life because of his inability to fully accept himself as gay, and the central tension between the parents is in exploring their church’s stance on homosexuality. Alex is willing to question the religious tenets; Ruth is not, even suggesting that the suicide was welcome.

“He’s with his Heavenly Father now. Free from sin,” she says at one point.

Toward the end of the play, she acknowledges that Alex’s suggestion that they were wrong threatens her very outlook on life itself. “If were we wrong,” she says, “then my whole life is a waste and I would wish to be in that grave with my son. And I would hope there is no resurrection morning.”

Pearson, 67, said she wants audiences to feel compassion toward Ruth because Ruth’s experience as a Mormon woman has “put her into a box” _ in much the same way that gay people are put into a box, she said.

Pearson, who grew up in Utah and now resides in Walnut Creek, Calif., is a well-known and respected figure within some LDS circles. She says, at a minimum, that Mormons are “not where we need to be” on clarifying the issue of homosexuality and the church.

Pearson prefaces her script with statistics indicating that up to one-third of U.S. suicides are committed by gay and lesbian youth, and that Utah leads the nation in the rate of suicides of young men aged 15-24. At the same time, “Facing East” displays respect for the love and warmth that Pearson believes infuses Mormon culture and religious practice.

She finds hope in increasing numbers of Mormon families embracing their gay and lesbian children _ not accidentally linking them to a long Mormon tradition of pioneering and risk-taking.

“I have a lot of confidence in the Mormon people,” Pearson said. “They want to do the right thing.”

As for her own role, Pearson said she wants gay and lesbian Mormons “to find a place at the table.”

“I’m simply showing the need,” she said, “and telling the story.”

KRE/CM END HERLINGER825 words

Photos of Pearson and “Facing East” are available via https://religionnews.com.