Production History of
SINCERITY FOREVER
The story of SINCERITY FOREVER began in 1990
when poet/playwright Mac Wellman (who had just won the Obie Award for Best
American Play for his works TRAGIC HIP and CROWBAR) received a
grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to develop his next play.
It just so happened that this was the very time when
right-wing Senator Jesse Helms was hammering through draconian legislation
requiring all recipients of NEA Grants to sign a pledge that they would not
use government funds to produce "impure or unwholesome"
artwork.
Suitably outraged, and with a delicious sense of
irony, Mac Wellman undertook to concoct the most blasphemous, obscene, and
inflammatory play he could imagine. Thus, SINCERITY FOREVER --
with its KKK robes, its screeching furballs, and it's foul-mouthed Black
female Jesus -- was born. Wellman was quick to dedicate his new play to
Jesse Helms for the "fine work you are doing of destroying civil
liberties in these United States."
SINCERITY FOREVER was first produced as
the winner of the 1990 Berkshire Theatre Festival Roger Nathan Hirschl Playwriting
Award. The play premiered at the Festival's Unicorn Theatre with the
following cast and crew:
Director . . . . . . . . . Richard Caliban
Sound Designer . . . . . . David Van Tieghem
Set Designer . . . . . . James Youmans
Costume Designer . . . . . . Mary Myers
Lighting Designer . . . . . . . . . Kenneth Posner
Judy . . . . . . . . Angie Phillips
Molly . . . . . . . . . Kate Forbes
Tom . . . . . . . Jason Duchin
Hank . . . . . . . . Tom Hildreth
George . . . . Ntare Mwine
Lloyd . . . . . . Mark Singale
Melvin . . . . . . . Tom Simpson
Furball One . . . . Luann Adams
Furball Two . . . . Theresa Kaplan
Jesus H. Christ . . . Ariane Brandt
Controversy was quick to follow as right-wing
Christian Crusader Reverend Donald E. Wildmon denounced the play in an article
for The Journal of the American Family Association with the provocative
title: "PLAYWRIGHT USES $15,500 GRANT TO WRITE PLAY DEPICTING JESUS AS
A FOUL-MOUTHED BIGOT."
Wellman wrote an impassioned letter to Rev.
Wildmon in which he responded: "It is you, Donald, who is the
foul-mouthed bigot... It is you and not Jesus -- neither the one of my play
nor the historical person -- who hates gays and lesbians, black people, Jews,
and everyone else who isn't lily-white, born-again, and xenophobic like
you."
The National Endowment for the Arts was quick to run from controversy and
urgently asked that Wellman remove any mention of NEA funding for his play. Wellman
politely complied. All copies of the script now begin with the
correction "I was wrong, SINCERITY FOREVER was NOT made
possible by the generous assistance of the NEA. I don't know what I was
thinking."
SINCERITY FOREVER then made it's New York City
debut at the Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association Downtown as part of the
1990 Fringe Series. It featured the following cast and crew:
Director . . . . . . . . . Jim Simpson
Sound Designer . . . . . . David Van Tieghem
Set & Lighting Designer . . . . . . Kyle Chepulis
Costume Designer . . . . . . Mary Myers
Lighting Designer . . . . . . . . . Claudia Brown
Judy . . . . . . . . Amy Brenneman (yes, the actress from JUDGING
AMY)
Molly . . . . . . . . . Jan Harding
Tom . . . . . . . Zach Grenier
Hank . . . . . . . . Patrick Kerr
George . . . . Steve Mellor
Lloyd . . . . . . Dan Moran
Melvin . . . . . . . David Van Tieghem
Furball One . . . . Leslie Nipkow
Furball Two . . . . Frank Deal
Jesus H. Christ . . . Kenya Scott
SINCERITY FOREVER went on to
win Mac Wellman his second consecutive Obie Award for Best New American Play.
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