Category Archives: On-stage

Justifying the Cut: The Plays of Saints on Stage

With the publication of Saints on Stage: An Anthology of Mormon Drama, I’ve been thinking a lot about Mormon drama and how it currently stands as it own niche genre. The whole reason I pitched the idea of the anthology … Continue reading

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Literary Darwinism: Melissa Leilani Larson and Adapting Characters Into a Dramatic Medium

Melissa Leilani Larson is a literature fiend. Before she was roped into the world of theatre by taking playwriting courses from Elizabeth Hansen and Eric Samuelsen,[1] she was firmly entrenched in BYU’s English department. Before the playwriting bug bit her, … Continue reading

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“Upon the Stage of a Theatre”: Reflecting on Mormon Drama at the Advent of the Saints on Stage Anthology

Christopher Bigelow (publisher), Ben Crowder (layout), and I (chief editor) have been pounding out the last minor details of the upcoming Saints on Stage: An Anthology of Mormon Drama being put out by Zarahemla Books. Considering that I pitched this … Continue reading

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Needful Opposition: Addressing Conflict and Controversy in Mormon History Plays

How to present Mormon History has often been a sensitive thing within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Especially with the understandable impulse to protect the faith and culture of an entire people, it can be tempting to … Continue reading

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in verse # 23 : mighty line versus ordered speech

It was Kit Marlowe who awakened in Will Shakespeare a hunger for a dramatic speech more nearly reflecting ordinary English speech.  It was Will Shakespeare who made it possible for Kris Kristofferson to write and sing the following lyrics as … Continue reading

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Old Problems, New Opportunities: Looking Towards the Future of Mormon Drama

We recently completed the last leg work for the editing of Saints on Stage: An Anthology for Mormon Drama, which I’ve been spearheading for Zarahemla Books. It includes important plays from some of Mormonism’s best playwrights… Robert Elliott, Thomas Rogers, … Continue reading

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in verse # 22 : back to blank verse

It is one of the guiding principles of in verse that verse should always be read aloud.  This includes Shakespeare and Isaiah, Dante and Jeremiah, Milton and John of Patmos.  It includes Pope and Chaucer, Beowulf and Homer, Dryden and … Continue reading

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Zion Theatre Company: The Agony, the Ecstasy and the Spirituality in Trying to Push Forward a Religious Theatre Company

A little less than two years ago I created Zion Theatre Company. The venture was born out of necessity, as the theatre group I was collaborating with previous to that suddenly dropped a re-mount of my play Farewell to Eden, … Continue reading

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The Book of Mormon: a Biography

One of my favorite books of Bible scholarship, and a terrific dip-your-toes-in-the-water first book for people interested in the subject is Karen Armstrong’s The Bible: A Biography.  It was part of a series called Books That Changed the World, and … Continue reading

Posted in Literary Views of Scripture, On-screen, On-stage, The Past through Literature | 2 Comments

The Divine Feminine, Mormon Style: Carol Lynn Pearson’s _Mother Wove the Morning_, Joanna Brooks, and Faithful Mormon Feminism

Feminist. It’s a divisive word among Mormons. When I’ve told people that I consider myself a Mormon feminist it gets a wide range of reactions, from pleasant surprise from my more secular friends and peers who have a firm idea … Continue reading

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