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Facing-East.jpg

Facing East

$11.95

Facing East

Carol Lynn Pearson

Facing East deals with a Mormon couple confronting the suicide of their gay son. The problems inherent in dealing with this emotional and ideological divide are universal to all humans, let alone any particular religious group. The three characters—father (Alex), mother (Ruth), and gay partner of the deceased (Marcus)—meet for the first time at Andrew’s grave following the funeral. The audience “becomes” the congregation in a new funeral the father is giving for his son, this time a funeral that speaks the truth. There are “memory moments” in which each parent relives important times in the past, during which the other parent speaks the son’s lines from the darkness. The only time we “see” the deceased son is toward the end when his partner “becomes” him in memory. These stylistic devices make us yearn to actually see and hear Andrew, but we cannot. Neither did most of us truly see or hear him when he was alive.

This book contains the script for Facing East.

paperback $11.95

Amazon

Facing East

Carol Lynn Pearson

Facing East deals with a Mormon couple confronting the suicide of their gay son. The problems inherent in dealing with this emotional and ideological divide are universal to all humans, let alone any particular religious group. The three characters—father (Alex), mother (Ruth), and gay partner of the deceased (Marcus)—meet for the first time at Andrew’s grave following the funeral. The audience “becomes” the congregation in a new funeral the father is giving for his son, this time a funeral that speaks the truth. There are “memory moments” in which each parent relives important times in the past, during which the other parent speaks the son’s lines from the darkness. The only time we “see” the deceased son is toward the end when his partner “becomes” him in memory. These stylistic devices make us yearn to actually see and hear Andrew, but we cannot. Neither did most of us truly see or hear him when he was alive.

This book contains the script for Facing East.

paperback $11.95

Amazon

Carol Lynn Pearson sees herself as a troublemaker and a problem solver. A fourth-generation Latter-day Saint who grew up in Utah and now lives in California, she loves the church that molded her into a spirited feminist and activist. Her first collection of poems, Beginnings, surprisingly put her on the map in 1967, and was followed by numerous books, lyrics and stage plays. Goodbye, I Love You, published in 1986, tells of her marriage to Gerald Pearson, their four children, their divorce due to his homosexuality, and his death from AIDS as she cared for him in the family home. This book impacted Americans’ understanding of HIV and was a turning point in Mormondom’s perception of our LGBTQ+ people. For decades, Carol Lynn has been a beloved figure within her church community and beyond.

Drama/Theatre
ISBN: 978-1-56085-543-9