Oh, hi.  It’s us.

Did you hear?  We’re producing this amazingly funny and heartbreaking play called “Jack’s Precious Moment“.  It’s by Sam Hunter — you may remember him as one of the participants of last year’s Yale residency.  Also, it’s being directed by Kip Fagan, who was up at Yale with us that summer too.  And it stars the amazing Tom Bloom, Lucas Papaelias, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Karen Walsh.  Who are the designers, you ask?  Lee Savage, Matt Frey, Jessica Ford and Bart Fasbender.  You remember Matt: He did our lights for “Creature“.  He’s great.  And you’ll love Lee, Jess and Bart.  They’re ridiculously talented.

So what’s “Jack’s Precious Moment” about?   It’s about Bib, his sister-in-law Karen and his father Jim.  Then there’s Chuck.  Bib, Karen and Jim go to the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, MO after Bib’s twin is beheaded by Muslim insurgents.

We g-chatted with Sam Hunter the other day and asked him some questions about the Precious Moments Chapel (he was there last weekend).  Here’s how our g-chat went:

Precious Moments Angel

PAGE 73: Let’s talk Precious Moments.  How did you first discover them?
SAMUEL HUNTER: In my experience, if you grew up anywhere but the East Coast, you know what they are. Growing up in Idaho, I always knew what Precious Moments were–my family wasn’t into them, but I was definitely familiar with them.  Some friends of the family even had a Precious Moments wedding when I was in high school.  I didn’t really know what they were all about, I just recognized them as hyper-saccharine Hallmark images–but a few years ago, a friend of mine who had visited the Precious Moments Chapel told me about their fundamentalist Christian content.  I’ve always been really interested by fundamentalism–I went to a fundamentalist Christian high school in Idaho for many years before leaving under awkward circumstances–and religion always filters into my writing somehow.  The amazing thing about Precious Moments is that they’re at once really ridiculous and really heartbreaking. They’re cartoony, but they’re also a really meaningful vehicle for grief and spirituality for thousands of people.

P73: It’s amazing that something so saccharine-looking commemorates such a tragedy.  There’s nothing remotely ironic or cheesy about them –
SH: Exactly.  When I went to the chapel, there was an entire room in the back with book after book where people could write stories about loved ones–most often children–who had died. And as I entered the visitor center, one of the first things you see is a large Precious Moments fireman holding something–and when you notice that it’s labeled “Oklahoma City 1995″ you realize that it’s holding a dead child.

P73: Did you talk to any other visitors when you went to the Chapel?
SH: Not to the visitors–I talked to the tour guide for a bit.  Honestly a part of me felt a little guilty being there, taking some too-cool-for-school pleasure out of the whole experience.  But, whenever I got snarky, I would turn around and see a picture of a child who died at age 10 and be totally crushed.

P73: Do they hold services in there?
SH: As far as I can tell it’s not an actual chapel–more of a museum styled like a chapel. Samuel Butcher (the creator) was inspired to build it after visiting the Sistine Chapel.  It’s really amazing–and it sort of defies classification.  It’s not folk art because Samuel Butcher went to art school, it’s not completely commercial because the chapel itself is not-for-profit and doesn’t charge admission, and it’s obviously not museum art.  It’s really pretty unique and incredible.

A Fresco

P73: I want to go back to this idea though (which is so much part of JACK’S PRECIOUS MOMENT): there’s so much comedy (absurd comedy) in JACK’S PRECIOUS MOMENT and yet you never make fun of these characters — we may find their situations absurd and their obsession with these figurines ridiculous — but you have the utmost respect, empathy and (dare I say?) love for them. This really comes through in the writing.
SH: Really the last thing in the world that I want to do is be the sort of writer who makes fun of the sort of people he grew up with.  As strange as my relationship was with fundamentalist Christianity (especially growing up gay in northern Idaho), I still have a lot of empathy for these people.  Fundamentalism is something that I’m continually angered by, but something that I’m continually drawn to.  Right now I think there’s a tendency to paint religious people in theater and film in these broad strokes of mindless devotion and annoying simplicity.  The play is not only about how Precious Moments are sort of silly, but also about how they’re incredibly meaningful.  In a way, I think the play sort of comes out in defense of Precious Moments, which for me is the more interesting thing to consider.  It’s really easy to laugh at them, it’s a lot harder to ask why they mean so much to so many people.  When I was at the chapel, there was story after story of how these figurines and the culture surrounding them gave people such peace.  It’s hard to be completely ironic and cynical about Precious Moments after hearing the story of a mother who was finally able to grieve after her dead daughter was made into a figurine.

P73: What did people write in the book in the Chapel?  Did they talk about how the Precious Moments figurines have helped them cope?  Did they describe the death of their loved ones? It’s amazing to me…
SH: For the most part it was describing the death of a loved one–in some cases asking Samuel Butcher to make them into a figurine.  I spent an hour or so looking through the books, a few that I remember off-hand said things like: “for my aunt, she died by the current in the ocean”, “in memory of my cousin who died of a drug overdose”, and perhaps the strangest, “sorry for my brother killing you, peace to her family, his sister”.

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