By Eric George Tauber
CINCINNATI, Ohio — It is said that during the plague of 1606, when all public theatres were closed, Shakespeare wrote both Macbeth and King Lear. Producing theatre that is workable via Zoom has been the challenge of thespians in 2020-21. Playwright/Director Josh Ravetch of the Delaware Theatre Company has risen to the occasion, telling the stories of survivors of “Conversion Therapy” (CT) in Our American Sons. As a critic, I was privy to their first public reading via Zoom.
“Who will cry for the little boy who cries inside of me?” -Mike
The nine performers in Our American Sons didn’t know each other prior to Covid and half were not actors. They were people who met via the Conversion Therapy Dropout Network. Ravetch gave each of his characters moments to tell their stories piecemeal. It’s like a puzzle being filled in, first a little here, then a little there until it gradually comes together into one complex and provocative picture.
“The liberals got to you?! Why did you make that choice?!” -Alex
When a person comes out to their religiously conservative family, it doesn’t usually go well. Add right-wing media to the mix and you see how thoroughly indoctrinated your loved ones really are. Greg was subjected to ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy) and a priest was flown in from Greece to exorcise his gay demons. Roger, a middle-aged husband and father, was kicked out of the Mormon Church with instructions to never return. Alex (he/him) was sent to a prison-like “camp” in the wilderness surrounded by a barbed wire fence where they promised to change him back into the “feminine little girl” he was supposed to be.
Shlomo, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, had a pretty unique coming out story. At the Seder table, as they were reading the Four Questions, the Fourth Son fell to him. But instead of reading his paragraph, he asked, “If I was gay and had a boyfriend, would you still love me?” His mother’s response: “Is your boyfriend Jewish?” A rabbi tried to “fix” him, but of course it didn’t work.
Mike (they/them) kept coming back to the idea that they chose to be different. They chose to become non-binary. They chose to be ostracized and abused. They chose, at the tender age of thirteen, to upset the only apple cart they had ever known… How could anyone think this was simply a matter of choice?
“My God, what have we done?” -Amelia
Amelia plays a mother who sent her son to a CT camp. She watches in anguish as he looks gaunt from not eating. His soul is slowly dying inside him and yet he still fronts to spare her feelings.
“Years later, you spend thousands on real therapy trying to repair the therapy.” -Curtis
Practitioners of CT justify their methods as “tough love,” but the experience of CT is often traumatizing and can last a lifetime. Acts of self-harm such as skin-cutting and suicidal ideation are all too common. There is no “closure.” Survivors just learn to live with it. Many are speaking out and some brave souls are taking legal action. Curtis Galloway, one of the performers and the founder of the Conversion Therapy Dropout Network, has filed a complaint with the Kentucky Board of Social Work against Joseph A Williams, a licensed clinical social worker who subjected him to the unethical and discredited practices of CT causing him serious and lasting harm. (www.conversiontherapydropout.org)
I have written before about CT in my review of the documentary Pray Away, which you can read here.
I asked Delaware Theatre Company about a link to watch the virtual performance. Unfortunately, it was presented as a one-time, live event, but as this subject is so topical, this train will surely come around again. When it does, I’ll let you know.
And that’s Show-Biz!
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Eric George Tauber, formerly of San Diego where he acted and wrote freelance theater reviews, now lives in Cincinnati. Plays produced online remain his beat for San Diego Jewish World.