“Fun Home” is a multi-layered story with something for anyone and everyone.
ShenanArts will present the Tony Award-winning play based on the 2006 graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel on October 11 to 13 and October 18 to 20, 2024.
The choice of “Fun Home” was made by director Rebekah Bradley Ray, who moved to Staunton in 2019. She had seen the show performed in Pennsylvania.
“It just blew my mind. It was so good,” Ray, who enjoys stories with depth, said. “This [musical] feels so authentic and I connect with it on so many different levels. I think many people can relate to the experience of getting older and having to revisit past grief or trauma. With time, we gain a new perspective that allows us to understand and process things in ways we couldn’t when we were younger.”
Ray, who was most recently a producer for ShenanArt’s production of “Cabaret,” has been seen by audiences in last year’s “Crimes of the Heart” by the Waynesboro Players, “Can’t Feel at Home” at the Valley Playhouse, and “Once” and “Double Wide” at ShenanArts.
“Fun Home” is also personal for Ray, who discovered a couple of years ago that she is bisexual. A self-confessed late bloomer, she realized in her early 20s and was concerned because of the many coming-out stories she had heard of that did not go well.
“What I love about this show is it does show that side of things for sure,” Ray said. Bechdel came out in the early 1980s.
But, “Fun Home” also shows “the sheer joy of finally understanding who you are and being free to be yourself.” “Changing My Major,” a song sung by the middle-aged version of Bechdel, portrayed by Cori McDaniel, when Bechdel is in college and discovers she is gay, best depicts that joy.
“I am personally hoping, especially because I’m thinking about this in terms of if my family came to see this show that are still very much within the Christian faith or like my friends who are still very conservative, I would hope that people who still have a certain mind set might be able to come in and realize that they connect a lot more with the story than they thought they would,” Ray said.
Ray grew up in Dayton where she felt she could not come out amid a Christian conservative group of friends and church family. She said Staunton has made her feel more welcomed about her sexuality.
“I feel a lot more sure about myself and I feel less shame than I used to surrounding who I am as a person. I’m very proud of who I am,” she said.
She said she feels that anyone can connect with any one of the themes in “Fun Home:” the father-daughter relationship between Bechdel and her father, “Bruce,” the relationships between Bechdel and her two brothers, coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and falling in love for the first time.
However, “Fun Home” is a show that is also “very loud and proud” of LGBTQ. Several members of the cast are members of the LGBTQ community and proud to bring the show to ShenanArts.
“So, this is for the people who don’t get to see that representation very much [on the stage],” Ray said.
Robb Zahm will bring Alison’s father, “Bruce,” to the ShenanArts stage. Most recently seen in “Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Something’s Afoot.” Zahm directed “Cabaret” in early August.
Within moments of the show’s beginning, Zahm said the audience is informed that “Bruce” later died by suicide. Bechdel’s father stepped in front of a truck and allegedly allowed the truck to hit him. The rest of the production is a view into Bechdel’s analysis of what happened to her father, how she and her father are similar and how they are different.
“It’s been challenging revisiting that mind set because it’s not exactly a comfortable one to acknowledge,” Zahm said of preparing for his role by remembering when he dealt with mental health illness as a teenager. However, “Bruce” has given him a perspective about mental health that he did not have before, but it was not always comfortable.
“Bruce” made choices which audience members might find easy to vilify him as a father, and that was a challenge for Zahm in preparing as an actor. “Bruce’s” actions impacted the lives of his three children and his wife, “Helen,” who is portrayed by Shenandoah Governor’s School drama teacher Cassy Maxton-Whitacre.
Essentially, “Bruce” was a gay man in the 1970s living as a married straight man and father.
“I don’t want to portray him as a monster or vilify him, but I need, in the process of this depiction, to show warts and all,” Zahm said.
Zahm said that he knows a risk exists that audience members will choose to vilify his character and be relieved to find out Bruce died in 1980.
“What I hope they can take away is that his inability to find acceptance outside himself influenced and drove his inability to accept himself,” Zahm said. “In a more tolerant society, I don’t think he would have become the man he does. I’m certain he would have lived a different life if he were able to live openly.”
Zahm said he also hopes audience members take away the great amount of joy depicted in the production of a family, especially the love among three siblings and the love parents have for their children.
Evie Culbertson, 14, brings the youngest version, at age 11, of Alison Bechdel to the stage in her first-ever stage production. Evie, a student at Staunton High School, performs with her mother, Hannah Pennington, who portrays the oldest version of Bechdel. Pennington was most recently seen by audiences in “Cabaret” as dancer “Rosie.”
Although “having a role this big is really stressful” as her first show, Evie said she cried tears of joy when she found out that she was chosen. She read Bechdel’s book, and practiced her lines and singing before every rehearsal with the cast. She said she wanted to make sure that she acts her age of 11 years old on stage and makes Bechdel authentic for audiences.
“I really hope that they can take away that it’s OK to be who you are,” Evie said of audience members who see the production.
She also hopes they learn that trauma may happen in our lives, and we must learn to handle it well. Ultimately, she hopes audience members are inspired by “Fun Home,” because she is excited to make them laugh, cry and have all the emotions.
Evie is taking a theater class at Staunton High and plans to pursue musical theater in college.
ShenanArts is at 300 Churchville Ave., Staunton. “Fun Home” will be performed Friday, October 11 to Sunday, October 13, 2024 and Friday, October 18 to Sunday, October 20, 2024. Tickets are available online.
Related stories:
‘Fun Home’ is story of family, identity, LGBTQ+ acceptance (augustafreepress.com)