Renowned author and rabbi Harold Kushner acclaims Pearson and her latest work “for reminding us that the task of any religion is to teach us whom we’re required to love, not whom we’re entitled to hate.” The potent Facing East also succeeds in this regard.
Reverend’s Interview: Facing East with Playwright Carol Lynn Pearson
By Rev. Chris Carpenter
Movie Dearest, June 9, 2009
http://moviedearest.blogspot.com/2009/06/reverends-interview-facing-east-with.html
Pearson makes her case, often even eloquently – but her polemical, black-and-white, no-subtle-shadings script often rings of artifice, with lines that may be poetic on paper but which lack realism when spoken.
What happens when Mormon parents have a gay son?
Despite its overly polemical nature, ‘Facing East’ poses some valid points.
By ERIC MARCHESE, Special to the Register
Orange Co CA Register, June 17, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/alex-ruth-andrew-2465523-marcus-east
Pearson, a fourth-generation Mormon, deftly sketches a world in which ritual and propriety are all. Alex hosts a popular radio segment, “One-Minute Dad,” and has been offered a promotion. This means getting even cozier with the same Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officials who ex-communicated his son. Meanwhile, Ruth has bought into the notion that preservation of family is everything, even if it means thwarting individual happiness. The play doesn’t condemn Mormonism, but openly questions whether the religion’s strict dogma really stays true to its message of love and community. That critique isn’t news, but it is deeply felt.
Review: ‘Facing East’ at International City Theatre
By Charlotte Stoudt
Los Angeles Times Culture Monster Blog, June 16, 2009
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/06/review-facing-east-at-international-city-theatre.html
Pearson, a Mormon, drew from the death of her gay husband who died of AIDS, and young gay Mormon men she knew who took their lives. She calls the play “an indictment and an invitation.” This, in itself, is tricky business. It would be easy for the play to become just another screed against religion. At times, it teeters. At one point, Alex preaches that Utah is “a flaming red state” then points at the grave and says “here is the collateral damage.” But the play self-corrects and is at its best when Mormonism is subtext to the human relationships.
Emotions run high in angst-ridden `Facing East’
By Greg Mellen Staff Writer
Long Beach CA Daily Breeze, June 17, 2009.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_12603590
Carol Lynn Pearson’s three-hander is an often-searing indictment of rigid values integral to monolithic systems like organized religion, as well as the impact such systems have on Ruth and Alex, a Mormon couple mourning the suicide of their gay son Andrew.
Facing East
at International City Theatre
Reviewed by Eric Marchese
Backstage, June 17, 2009
http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-la-theatre/facing-east-1003985114.story
In spite of unspeakable pain from three diverse points of view, Pearson leaves us with a bright shining glimmer of hope. Ruth may hold on to generations of beliefs that are un-reconcilable, but Alex and Marcus reach out to each other. They even make a date to have dinner — and maybe, just maybe, they’ll come to realize the shared loss and grief that binds them together. Slowly but surely, change is in the air over the next horizon.
Playwright’s Experiences, Insight In “Facing East”
By Shirle Gottlieb
Long Beach CA Gazettes, June 17, 2009.
http://www.gazettes.com/articles/2009/06/17/lifestyle/on_with_the_show/doc4a3978291784a079104793.txt
