When Diversionary Theatre’s Artistic Director Dan Kirsch selected Brian Christopher Williams’ dramedy, Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins, six or so months ago as one of this season’s plays it is unlikely that he did so because a rash of suicides of young men who were presumed to be gay had hit the nation. But, such a rash has occurred in the last few weeks, one that has been alarming enough that newspaper columnist Dan Savage started the It Gets Better Project to bring messages of hope to gay youth. Thousands of videos, from ordinary people, celebrities and even President Obama have been posted to the site in an outpouring of support for young people who may be bullied or scared to tell their families what they know to be true about themselves.

And while Anita Bryant, as its title implies, is set in the 1970s it could well be Diversionary’s contribution to the It Gets Better Project. For that reason alone, I hope that as many gay and questioning youth as possible will get to see this production before it closes on November 21.

Tyler Herdklotz and Dylan Hoffinger

Photo by Ken Jacques

Not that the play rises all that far above what might be standard fare on LOGO, the gay cable channel. The Poore family are country dwellers in the Adirondack region of upstate New York. Dad (Don Pugh) and Mom (Dana Hooley) have factory jobs and little formal education, older brother Chaz (Dylan Seaton) has been expelled from high school and is concerned about being drafted, and younger brother Horace (Dylan Hoffinger) has secretly developed crushes on Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz and Coach Spencer (Tyler Herdklotz), a teacher at his school who bears some resemblance to Mr. Spitz. News and entertainment media are also continual influences (Tony Houck and Jacque Wilke play a variety of media figures), but the family also has the standard sets of prejudices commonly associated with rednecks, including looking down on their Polish neighbors, particularly their retarded daughter (Beth Gallagher).

Shana Wride’s detailed and fluid production saves the day, however. Taking advantage of the wide Diversionary stage, Daniel E. Grodecki II’s scenic design creates several playing spaces that manage to be separate, except when Ms. Wride’s staging wants to connect them. Costumes (Valerie Henderson), Lighting (Michelle Caron), Sound (Omar Ramos), and Properties (David Medina) all support the visual concept well.

Ms. Wride's casting is as good as her staging. Ms. Hooley is Diversionary’s go-to-Mom, and she comes through with a performance that exists on multiple levels simultaneously. Mr. Pugh looks and acts rough but also demonstrates a sensitive and loving side. Mr. Seaton has an easy and relaxed way about him as prodigal son Chaz, Mr. Herdklotz surprises after a stereotypical beginning as the coach, Ms. Gallagher deftly avoids being completely annoying as the retarded neighbor girl, and Mr. Houck and Ms. Wilke are appropriately smarmy as the media figures. Ms. Wilke even manages a pretty fair imitation of Anita Bryant.

The evening belongs to Mr. Hoffinger’s Horace, however. It is always dangerous to tell a story through the eyes of an adolescent actor, but Neil Simon pulled it off in Brighton Beach Memoirs, now playing down the road at the Old Globe. Mr. Williams also pulls it off, though in the wrong hands the device could have been disastrous. Mr. Hoffinger, a first year theatre student at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, not only plays 15 credibly (even though he's only 14) but he gives the Globe’s more experienced Austyn Myers a run for his money as a wiseacre with a sensitive side.

Anita Bryant had a villainous role to play in the gay liberation movement, and the arguments she used to succeed are still being offered, though usually in more coded language than Ms. Bryant used. Mr. Williams’ play illustrates the power of media messages to affect the lives of gay and questioning youth, as well as how family love and support can provide hope. When Horace's parents are despairing after he has come out to them, Chaz reminds them that their emotional reactions give Horace only two choices--and they’d be a lot happier if he chose to run away. Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins is right on the money on this point, and Diversionary’s production is right on the money as well.

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