The Salt Lake Acting Company recently put on a production of Melissa Leilani Larson's short play, Little Happy Secrets, which I caught Friday night. The play tells the story of a young woman named Claire, a good little Mormon girl who served a faithful mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, studied at BYU, and fell in love with her female roommate.
So, yeah, it's not exactly another fluffy Mormon show.
The LDS church has a difficult history with its gay and lesbian members (and, if that's news to you, you may want a stronger sunscreen to keep your skin all pasty pale after all those years living under rocks). The church does not support same-sex marriage and teaches that a homosexual lifestyle is sinful. As a result, homosexuality is a difficult subject to talk about among members of the church.
Going in to Little Happy Secrets, I expected some discomfort during the show. After all, I consider myself a faithful, almost-orthodox Mormon - one who loves bawdy humor a bit too much, maybe, but practicing nonetheless. I did find the play a LITTLE uncomfortable, but not for the reason I expected.
See, I could RELATE to Claire on all of the little things she spoke about during the play. Boiled down to its simplest element, Little Happy Secrets is a story about a girl in love with someone who does not love her back, and that's something I, like most people, know too well. And, really, how hard is that to sympathize with?
Little Happy Secrets wisely avoids the political tangles surrounding homosexuality and focuses on the human side of things. The story doesn't seek to change people's minds or convert them to a particular point of view. Rather, it simply presents a human story and invites us to be compassionate for the person. Whatever your opinions on same-sex attraction (and, please, keep them to yourself - my blog is NOT the forum for this discussion), can you really say that there's a single person undeserving of some compassion?
And that's the great thing about art: it's non-judgmental. The rest of the evening, I kept having this line running through my head - a modification of 1 Corinthians 13: "Art suffereth long, and is kind... seeketh not her own... but rejoiceth in the truth."
I was also dwelling on that line from Hamlet: "I say, we will have no more marriages. Those that are married already—all but
one—shall live; the rest shall keep as they are." Not quite sure why.
Since you may be wondering, the aspect of the play that made me uncomforable was the presentation. Little Happy Secrets is written as an extended monologue/flashback - thus, a good 90% of the dialogue comes from one person, whose inner turmoil is reflected so well in the text that the entire play comes out in a near emotional monotone. There's a bit of a shouting match towards the end, and the last five minutes or so contain an emotional gutpunch that make the rest of the show worth it, but the rest of the show felt a bit too bland in comparison.
It's also a very talky production - most of the feelings are described to us rather than shown to us. That's not NECESSARILY a bad thing, but I've always been a "show-don't-tell" kind of guy (a phrase which, in this context, contains unfortunate echoes of "don't ask, don't tell").
In the end, though, I'm glad I saw Little Happy Secrets. It's not quite Living Scriptures, but it's not The Book of Mormon musical, either.
3 comments:
I was introduced to "Little Happy Secrets" when I met the playwright at an AML conference two years ago. Curious about this play she said "begged to be written," I downloaded the podcast and listened to it on a drive from Provo to SLC (how appropriate).
Like you, the raw, personal presentation of the play made me more uncomfortable than the subject matter itself. Still, I found it well-done overall and I'm glad it has been produced on the stage. It's just unfortunate that those who will most likely watch this play aren't necessarily the ones who need the "non-judgmental art" the most.
But what can we do? At least it's not a musical.
Sounds like a play I want to go see.
Also I thing The Book Of Mormom Musical is one of the best musicals ever written...just sayin'
I read a blog post from someone who wrote a very similar play. She was very relieved at the response it received when reading a scene aloud in her BYU class. So, regardless of LDS people's opinions on GLBT topics, it seems that for the most part the educated and open-minded can appreciate the art and talent behind such a work. I'm glad you did too.
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