19th Play - fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life by Sarah Gubbins
Another play I stumbled upon rabbit-holing around New Play Exchange … (Yes, they had me at “Carson McCullers,” not, ironically, “fml.” Picking a play by its title again, but this one will yield good scenes for students!!!)
Summary: "Jo's junior year of high school in suburban LaGrange, Illinois started off just fine-not that it's ever easy being queer at 16. Thankfully, a new English teacher assigns Carson McCullers' famed novel The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Jo discovers an unshakable kinship to McCullers' central character John Singer. Like Singer, Jo is forever the listener, definitively the outsider, perpetually misunderstood and filled with unrequited love...A story about isolation, fitting in and finding oneself, fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life is a play about surviving high school and how literature still has the power to transform how we see the world." (Dramatic Publishing)
Loved: I loved that the main character in this play is an out lesbian in high school. That doesn't seem to be a big deal now, but it was in 2012, when this play was written, and certainly when I was in high school. I’m dating myself a bit, but I had never met a lesbian (that I was aware of) when I was in high school, and didn’t really even think about it. Jo is quite an interesting character. She's quiet, has the usual anxieties of a high school student, in addition to the extra challenges of being gay and being bullied, but she is just trying to stay under the radar and not be noticed. I loved that her best friend Mickey is also gay and out - I really enjoyed their relationship. They are each other’s family - sometimes they bicker, they have routines together, sometimes they accuse each other of being overbearing, but when shit gets tough they are there for each other. I think their relationship was one of my favorites in the play. Mrs. Delaney is the English teacher who reads Carson McCullers out loud in class and inspires Jo. There's also a little crush happening on Jo's side and Mrs. D is a fascinating and mysterious character. Even though it is much more common for kids to be queer (or be out, I guess) in high school, it's certainly not easy, and this show depicts those challenges well. Living in my liberal bubble here in Chicago, I can't imagine kids being bullied for being queer nowadays, as it seems to be a much "cooler" thing for students in the ‘20s. However, I am sure that there are definitely places in the US, even in blue state Illinois, where that happens. And with all the trans-bashing coming from conservatives these days, maybe this play has a new modern relevance.
What I didn’t Love: First of all, this play seems a little dated. If it were set in the 2020's, Jo would probably be nonbinary. Bullying gay women seems less realistic currently, but it could certainly happen, and probably is happening, sigh. Other than Jo and Mickey, the characters are interesting, but we don't know much about them. Emma, the only other student we see in the play, which makes her obviously important, clearly has attraction for Jo, but is dating a popular football player who is only present via his texts. There are hints about a depth to Emma, but the writer doesn't really use this character well. She does have an interesting response to something that Mickey says to Emma about what "you people" (straight people) do. From a 2023 perspective, Emma sounds like very Karen-esque in her reply: "I’m not asking for you to be thankful. But you’re just a moron to insult me. That’s like self-sabotage. I don’t make the rules, but you got to have better instincts about these things and not be coming after people like me. People who are nice. OK? The nice ones." Did the playwright mean for this to be a poke at straight people in 2012 when the play was written? I don't know, but it feels like it. However, despite the “Karen” parallels, it does feel weird to constantly be bashing Emma, who is clearly having issues about her own sexuality. I guess she should have told the football player to take a hike, but we don't KNOW that he's actually a bully, just a bit homophobic (yeah, that’s a problem), jealous and worried (*** SPOILER *** for good reason) about something happening with Emma and Jo. His first texts to Emma are about Jo: "cuz im a dude" and Mickey: "dude looks like a lady," which do set him up as homophobic, and later he texts "don't let her get all lesbo on you... unless i cann watch... 4 real, ill kill her if she touches u." Clearly we're supposed to believe that he's responsible for *** BIGGER SPOILER *** Jo's locker being tagged with the word "faggot" and later Jo being beat up in the locker room. He's definitely a stupid privileged high school kid, but ... I'm not opposed to him completely being a villain, but it makes this fairly nuanced play take a turn into an 80's teen movie. He’s so two-dimensional we literally do not get to see him in the play. I was interested in, but didn't love the fact that there's so much going on via text messages and shots of Jo's drawings for her graphic novel, both of which we see in projections. I read a review that said in the Steppenwolf production that those were kind of distracting. Clearly this part of the play (set up by the playwright) would have to be done very carefully. On one hand, the text culture is huge, even more now, so that's such a part of teen life that it could be interesting. On the other hand, we only see texts between Tyler and Emma with any substance. There are a couple of texts between Jo & Emma, but they mostly are logistical - Emma asking Jo to come and pick her up, or asking her when she's coming home. Why doesn't Mickey text at all? If the play is going to do the text thing, I feel like it should DO it, with everyone (at least the students) or not do it at all. Also, Mrs. Delaney is an incredibly fascinating character and we see SO LITTLE of her. Lots of hints, but ... I think this play could benefit from taking time to go deeper into these interesting characters. And then one day *** SPOILER *** Mrs. D is "no longer teaching at St. Paul’s" because of “irreconcilable differences.” ???!!! No explanation. Is this because she visited Jo in the hospital? Is it because she's a lesbian? No answers. That sort of thing always bothers me. Overall, I just wasn't totally engaged by this story, which is too bad, because Jo’s story is worth telling and being heard.
Overall: This play is a little dated, but the hatred being given to trans folk right now makes it potentially more relevant. High school is a hard time for everyone, but certainly harder if you're queer. Those struggles are real, and for high school kids to see themselves represented on stage would be powerful. However, there were some things in this play that kept me from fully engaging with it, on a read. The villain is only represented via text, and I think both he and the other main characters Emma, Mickey and the pivotal English teacher, Mrs. Delaney, deserve more exploration. I also had a problem with the villainization of Emma as someone dating the "bad guy" football player. Emma is a transfer student, so new to this school, and also having some questions about her own sexuality. In a school where bad things happen to queer people, is it so strange that she wants to keep up a relationship with a "popular" guy? For safety, or an attempt to fit in? I don't know. I think that's part of the story that seems to be ripe for exploration but it's not in this play, although it seems to be teased and unrealized. This is not a bad play, at all; Hubbins has an interesting story to tell and writes well, but I just didn't get sucked into it, and I really wanted to. Perhaps seeing it would be different ...
Here’s a link to Google Sheets with more info about the play: Play a Day Sheet
Want to read more about the play? Here’s an interview with, Fiona Robert, the actor who played Jo in the Steppenwolf production: https://www.steppenwolf.org/articles/these-times-they-are-a-changin/