Plan-B Theatre's 20th anniversary production of Carol Lynn Pearson's play about a Mormon couple grieving their gay son, in the Studio Theatre at The Rose.
Plan-B Theatre is bringing back Facing East at The Rose starting Thursday, October 22, and running through Sunday, November 8. It's a 20th anniversary production of one of their oldest plays, and it's playing in the Studio Theatre at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 Broadway in Salt Lake City.
Written by Carol Lynn Pearson, Facing East follows Ruth and Alex, a Mormon couple grieving their son Andrew, a gay man who was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and died by suicide at 24. The play centers on their first meeting with his partner, Marcus. Pearson drew on her own life for the story: her then-fiancé came out as gay, they married and later divorced, and he eventually died of AIDS.
This production is dedicated to the memories of Bruce Bastian and Charles Lynn Frost, the original Alex. It also brings back Jay Perry, who played Marcus in the original run and now plays the father. The cast features Christy Summerhays as Ruth, Jay Perry as Alex, and Kaplan Keener as Marcus.
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Facing East premiered at Plan-B in November 2006 and May 2007, then went off-Broadway at Atlantic Stage 2 in New York and to Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco. It won Best Drama from the Deseret News and Best Original Play from the Salt Lake City Weekly. This run sold out, with added performances brought in to meet the demand.
The show runs from Thursday, October 22, through Sunday, November 8, with multiple showtimes throughout. It's 70 minutes long with no intermission, and there's no late seating, so you'll want to be in your seat before it starts.
