Comments About the Play, Facing East


   I just wanted to thank you for working with Plan-B Theater Company to bring Facing East to the stage. I found it moving, thought-provoking, raw, honest, and well acted. Like a true artist, you raise many questions without forcing anyone's agenda--just tell an engaging story.  I loved every heartbreaking minute of Facing East. Thanks again for this remarkable play.  -J.  (Salt Lake City)

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     "When I told my husband we would be going to the play, he told me he wasn't comfortable with the idea, and I acknowledged that I already knew that without him saying so.  He went out of respect for you and for me.  His first words as we left the theatre were, 'It will be a very long time before we see something that powerful again.'  He compared it to 'Raisin in the Sun' for emotional impact.  Kudos to you, Carol Lynn."  -S.

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     "Thank you for the update. I was deeply moved by your play. I attended with my mother and two sisters. The discussion in our family has not stopped since we went.  Throughout the play the fellow behind me actually spoke out loud to the characters (especially the mother) when he was angered by something that had been said. Initially I was uncomfortable with him being so angry and vocal during the play. At the end (through my own tears) I could hear the same man weeping.  -J.

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 I saw your play twice while it played here in SLC...We were all very moved by it and we're still talking about it to all who will listen. 
   ...I read your book...It is all I had expected and more....I truly believe the book has the potential to make a real difference in our community.  I'm recommending it everywhere that I can.  -P, Utah

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     The evening at your play was so wonderfully different than I had expected....I was profoundly touched...._____ wept at the end. He is the most stoic of all people. It was highly unusual. “Now I know what happened to you,” he said. He’s reading one of the few books he’s ever read in his life, it’s called, “Goodbye, I Love You.” You have deepened our relationship in a way that only art can do.  -D. Utah

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     Just had to share some fantastic thoughts about "Facing East" and the incredible work that you are doing... My whole group was so incredibly moved by "Facing East," not just because of me, but for all gay people everywhere...My sister, who just returned from a mission with her husband -- who was my bishop when I was 12 years old -- said to me the next day that "we need to do something." She has always accepted me, but now realizes just how deep the problem of non-tolerance is. My friend, _____, who also cautioned me that she remains "dyed in the wool" LDS, also said that people need to be more tolerant....  And my friend, _____, who is currently serving as a bishop and who has already caught the concept of being empathetic and Christ-like to others, was profoundly moved by the play.
     The real miracle, though, was the effect that it had on me. While you have inspired me to remain on the team, Facing East has made me "want" to stay on the team, not just remain by default.  Carol Lynn, the play, as _____ seemed to also say, validated every single feeling that I had as a child, a missionary, a newlywed, and a father of four: all of the guilt, the confusion, the disillusionment, the frustration, etc.
     But the real message for me hit me like nothing has ever hit me before.  When Marcus tried to explain to the parents the frustration he felt at not being able to understand how someone who loved God could hate himself so
much, I knew that feeling from my own experience.  I, too, loved God with all my heart and wanted to serve Him completely; but I also felt that I had betrayed Him, from the time I "gave in" to the kids who forced me to masturbate at Scout camp, to the times that I continued to desire men while on my mission, to the time that I married a beautiful daughter of God under what I worried was false pretenses, to the times that I wanted to end my life for having brought children into the world when perhaps I should have never married in the first place.
     Your beautiful words, however, couched in Marcus' optimistic effort to get Andy to realize that God loved Him no matter what -- God loves me and I'm gay -- finally, in some miraculous way, touched my heart, and I have
come to know in recent weeks that I, too, am loved by God, and that I did everything I possibly could to save my marriage. In other words, I can be saved by grace, because I did "all that I could do" (although I am also coming to understand that grace comes just as a gift without that superhuman effort that I used to believe it required).
     No one can tell me that you are not doing God's work in saving souls, because you have saved mine. You literally have saved my soul from the depths of a hell that I created for myself. Is that not the work of God?  Is that not what Christ asked us to do -- to bear one another's burdens, to strengthen one another, to love one another?  Carol Lynn, I love you so much, and now I love life and I love my life.  Words alone are inadequate in expressing all that, but I know that you know how lives can be transformed.  Whatever I can do to help this important work continue to fill the Church and the world, let me know.  With all my love,  -R.

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     I just wanted to tell you how much I loved your play.  You know the phrase, "you had me at Hello"?  I don't think I was thirty seconds into the play before I was bawling like a baby.  In the first place, the room was packed with so much emotion you could cut it with a knife.  Every one there, I'm sure,  had a story, a story of pain, a story of betrayal, of confusion, of sacrifice and the struggle for love.  And so many there were aching to hear their story on the stage.  They were looking to find redemption, hope, and searing honesty, no matter what the cost.  Thank you for holding nothing back. 
     Watching the play from the upper corner was very interesting.  I could watch a great deal of the audience.  So many there were weeping and holding hands and squeezing each other for comfort.... After the play, many were embracing each other and then embracing complete strangers (if there is such a thing).  There was a shared compassion that held us in a place beyond words.  It was an amazing experience to be part of. 
     I don't know quite what I brought to the table, but so many afterwards came up to me to hug or share.  Even when I was returning to my car a man ran after me and asked me if we could talk.  Three of his friends were LDS and, again, the stories, the pain and then the gift of connection.  I cried all the way home. 
     Maybe you remember that my brother (31) committed suicide in my home 15 years ago?  He was in a lot of physical (back) and emotional (divorce) pain and drank himself into a place where he ended his life with a rifle. 
There is so much pain in this world.  Mostly, I can take it on, register it at the deepest level, and then see it as the illusion as it is and move into grace.  I absolutely know this is all smoke and mirrors.  I know that God really did create us and that he is incapable of creating anything less than perfection, ergo,  we are incapable of being anything less than the bright, divine miracles that we are.   But, like a play, we get caught up in the drama and forget that we can turn off the lights, send the audience home and choose another way of traveling through life.  I am so glad I know people like you who can hold our drama up to a mirror and, in a profound way, ask us to choose again, and this time with love and compassion and understanding.  -Love you!  J.
 

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            My boyfriend and I saw your play in Salt Lake somewhat recently.  I really did not want to go.  I have made great efforts in figuring out my relationship with the Church and have made a concerted effort to put my past behind me.  The freedom and truths I have discovered since leaving the fold and meeting my boyfriend have only strengthened my desire to really put my Mormon past to rest for good!  In spite of not wanting to go, I want you to know that we both loved your play!!  The story you shared is incredibly important.  I cried more during that play and later that night than I had since I was first kicked out of my parent's home for being gay! 

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I don't know how my family will take it when they learn the truth about me, but your writing has given me strength to more actively pursue the journey toward understanding.
            I was so moved by your play Facing East, I plan on taking my sister and perhaps other members of my family to it when it returns to Plan B in Salt Lake in April.  
Thank you for being there. Words cannot express my gratitude for you.  –S. Utah

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          "FACING EAST reaches into the complex psyche that is every American family.  I was particularly struck by the depth of emotion and the raw honesty of Alex and Ruth, parents struggling with the harsh realities of the gay son they never fully knew.  As the Executive Director of PFLAG, I draw tremendous hope and inspiration from Carol Lynn Pearson's play, knowing that millions of people struggle with issues of faith, family and acceptance every day.  FACING EAST is a compelling must see for everyone seeking to understand the challenging intersections of faith and family, and the undeniable bond that love must provide along the way."
        --Jody Huckaby, Executive Director, PFLAG

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          My brother from Colorado, and 2 other siblings and their spouses saw the show.  They were as moved as I was - it had a very powerful impact on each of them.  We had dinner before the show with 5 of the 6 of our sibs, sent them off to the show, and then had a great discussion about the play and our family around the fire pit after. It was a book-mark moment for our family - full of love and acceptance, and understanding. We each bought copies of all three of Carol Lynn's books, including my parents in Colorado. It was the perfect way for my family to understand the depth of this issue without hearing it from me! 
           A million thanks to Carol Lynn Pearson for writing such a progressive and inspired play, and to Jerry for making it possible for my family to see it.   BIG LOVE,   -M

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          My partner and I attended "Facing East" in Salt Lake....She had been struggling so much with our religion and being a lesbian and was close to taking her life over it. Your play, hug and kind words brought a new light and hope into her life. I just wanted to thank you... for saving the person I love!  Eternally grateful, -H.


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          "FACING EAST is an inspiring work that challenges religious and societal boundaries with grace and honesty. I encourage everyone to see this courageous and moving play."  -Joe Solmonese, president Human Rights Campaign

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          I spoke to [my friend] last night. He attended the play recently...in San Francisco. It has just been miraculous the changes he sees in some of his family after seeing the play. His bishop brother-in-law will change everything he does and thinks to be more in line with the truth from here on out.
          He just seems so happy now, things going well for him at work. What a truly beautiful (well literally, too) man with SO much to offer. He told about how he and his friends went through a period of 'suicide watch' for each other ... but thankfully they seem to be past all of that now.
          Have a wonderful day! -B

 

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