Body of Faith

These are program notes from "Body of Faith," a play presented by Cornerstone Theater Company and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in Los Angeles, Calif., February 20-March 22, 2003. Written by Luis Alfaro. Directed by Christopher Liam Moore. This production focused on the Los Angeles gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community’s complex and dynamic relationship between faith and identity. The play was created through story circles with community members. "Body of Faith" was part of Cornerstone’s "Faith-based Theater Cycle, 2001-2005."

Luis Alfaro. Photo by Bruce Botnick, courtesy of Ojai Playwrights Conference

Here is one for the history books –

I always wanted to try my hand at some form of docudrama, but I was haunted by the ghosts of Emily Mann’s "Execution of Justice," James Carroll Pickett & Michael Kearns’ "AIDS US" and a great show I saw once at the old Celebration Theater on Hoover that was written by Robin Podolsky, among others, that gave a beautiful new face to the GLBT community in ways that I had not previously seen.

So, what the heck do I know about faith and the GLBT community? I pretty much thought I had been kicked out of the gay community when I ran the literary series at A Different Light Bookstore and started doing Drag Queen Manifesto nights… As for religion, I was raised a strict Catholic altar boy (Dad’s side) and a Pentecostal Apostolic tambourine Christian (Mom’s side) and doubt that either side would have a bidding war over my return. Maybe Camile Paglia is right, “The altar, as in prehistory, is anywhere you kneel.”

Then I met the incredible people in our community who so bravely shared the details of their journeys in the Story Circles that soon became Town Hall meetings and that finally turned into auditions. I have to say I love the Cornerstone audition process. A multitude of fearless people. And boy, who knew we had so many retired porn stars yearning to do Equity-Waiver [theater] in Los Angeles…

I believe one needs a bit of arrogance to even attempt to tell the story of a community that is as spiritually and sexually diverse as ours is. So, this is meant to be an incomplete tale about a search for authenticity, which I have come to realize over the last few months is one of the most active and urgent journeys facing the GLBT community today.

This is our final closet isn’t it? How we love and where we get the strength to show that love is what Harry Hay meant when he said, “We are most like straight people in our sexuality, we are most unique in our spirituality.”

The testimonies tonight are not told by their authors, but they will be witness to them, as hopefully all of us are a witness to seeing a little bit of god in each other.

This play is about a body. Yours, mine, ours. But also about a body of work and spirit. The only way I could find the language of how the body manifests was to go to poetry. So, tonight this body is a poem. I thank Ntozake Shange for creating a model long ago in "for colored girls…" that I could work from.

I thank the subjects of the stories for letting me write poems about their lives. Sam Combs and Jim Curtain for offering the depth of their faith. The company for their patience in letting a story unfold. Chris Moore, whose vision I am in service of, for deep belly laughs and honest thinking. Rachel Hauck for friendship and artistic collaboration. Nathan Birnbaum & Ken Roht for being so game and full of heart. Paula Donnelly for cel phone therapy. Gordon Davidson and the Mark Taper Forum, which let me do this work and produce Alec Mapa’s solo shows at the same time. I want to remember Jim Pickett for making it look so easy and Michael Kearns for continuing Jim’s legacy with his own extraordinary work. But mostly, I want to recognize the docudramas about our lives and others, and humbly hope that we fall somewhere in that long line of stories that are waiting to be told.

Yours in Spirit (whatever that means…)

Luis Alfaro is a playwright and the associate producer of New Play Development at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Calif., where he is also co-director of the Taper’s Latino Theatre Initiative. He is an associate artist of Cornerstone Theater Company and has received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship, among others.

Visit the Web for more about Cornerstone Theater Company and its "Faith-based Theater cycle, 2001-2005": http://www.cornerstonetheater.org

Original CAN/API publication: March 2005