The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixion

After hearing on the radio an advertisement for this show, something along the lines of "Sister Dottie S. Dixon, bridging the gap between the LDS and gay communities one casserole at a time", I knew this was a show I could not miss! I promptly got tickets and enjoyed "The Passion" today, along with a healthy dose of poorly played primary songs, hymns and patriotic tunes, thanks to Dottie's friend Dartsey FoxMoreland.

This show is a one woman (er...man?) show with Dottie played by Charles Lynn Frost. It depicts her journey growing up as a 10th generation Mormon, marrying in the LDS temple, raising their child Donny (who comes out to his parents at age 16), and ultimately dealing with her deep alliances to and love of both her gay son and the LDS church. She believes she has received a calling from the Lord to bring together the LDS and gay communities by the year 2012 and promptly begins in the only way she knows how (by cooking a casserole for each of the Apostles and the First Presidency of course!). The show was equal parts humerous, sincere and serious with one of my favorite moments being her depiction of driving to Nevada to play the nickle slots with her friend Dartsey only to have the car breakdown on the way there. Of course they knelt down and prayed for help, first asking for forgiveness (although they hadn't really sinned yet and they were, after all, only going to play nickels) and then asking for the Lord to start their car so she could complete her newly found calling.

In the end the message of the show really was that every person's journey to God is a deeply personal one and that no one can follow the same path as another. You could tell that most of the audience members connected to the show on a very personal level and could easily relate to the experiences of this mother. The show gave each person there the recipe to living an authentic life with the key ingredients being to be true to themselves, stand up for what they believe is right, be courageous in the fight and finally to add in a can of Cream of Mushroom soup!

I loved this quote that she continually referred to as well:

"Well behaved women seldom make history."

I also about died when she was wondering how her son could be gay, after all he had grown up doing all the right LDS things and singing all the LDS songs, including "I'm a Mormon, yes I am".

In honor of this fantastic show and my childhood memories growing up LDS, here's a link to all those great songs on the "I'm a Mormon" record by Janeen Brady! Go ahead, sing along...I won't tell! =)