It’s About Moral Agency

In 2012, when I relocated to a small Utah town from New York City by way of Los Angeles, I thought I was giving up seeing and performing in theatre. But I soon realized that I had landed by serendipity in arguably the theatre capital of the country: Cedar City, home of the world-renowned Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Neil Simon Festival (now reconceived as the ardent American Crossroads Theatre), and many accomplished theatre and film professionals.

Now having lived in southern Utah, central Utah, and Utah County in the north, and having seen and performed theatre in all three regions, I know that Cedar City is no fluke. Theatre in Utah is great. Everyone here knows it.

But does anyone know why? Some might say it’s because early leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supported the arts, including theatre. Some might say it’s because Mormons go on missions and learn to speak with sincere and persuasive poise, or because Mormons start singing and performing in Church at a young age and develop great voices. Some might say it’s the tradition of story-telling cultivated in cohesive, loving families that spend time together and communicate without mediating gadgets.

As a Utah transplant and a non-Mormon (and an atheist), I offer an outsider’s perspective on this question.

The single most important element of good theatre is an ingenious plot—which depicts individuals revealing character by making strong, sustained moral choices in the face of conflict. A plot is more than a story. A plot is a story driven by the logic of each person’s moral choices.

To this outside observer, the single most important and distinctive tenet of Mormon scripture and culture is individual moral agency. According to the Mormon Church,

Agency was one of the principal issues to arise in the premortal Council in Heaven. It was one of the main causes of the conflict between the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan.

As the sacred story goes, Satan wanted salvation for everyone. One might say that the Satan of Mormon scripture was the first communist. But Christ agreed with God’s plan to offer salvation only to those who would choose well in their earthly life.

Consistent with their emphasis on individual agency, Mormons even reject the conventional Christian doctrine of original sin. The Church states,

we are not condemned by what many call the “original sin.” In other words, we are not accountable for Adam’s transgression in the Garden of Eden. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”

So there it is. Good theatre is about moral choices, and Mormon culture is about moral choices.

Indeed, all aspects of the theatrical arts are about choices, about selectivity. The story teller has only two hours to tell life stories. There is time only for the essential chosen actions, the essential elements of set and costume, the essential words and gestures.

Every work of good theatre, like every work of good art, is a symphony of selectivity, an integrated body of choices in service of some single theme, some high purpose. Amen.

But theatre, even in Utah, is in danger of succumbing to the world’s cultural decline, a decline disguised in words such as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (“DEI”), and “anti-racism.”  Fortunately, the acronym “DEI” is being exposed as really standing for something like “Didn’t Earn It,” and “anti-racism” is being exposed as racism. But theatre, one of the first domains to embrace “DEI” and “anti-racism,” is one of the last to question these notions—which persist on once-venerable stages and in public statements of mission and values of theatre companies.

My love for my adoptive home state and its theatre impels me to make my own choice—to defend what I love. In that spirit, I offer the following statement of mission and values that I hope some theatres and theatre lovers might take to mind and heart.

Mission

Present plays that are well-plotted—that is, plays that depict men and women who express their moral agency through the values they choose to pursue with conviction and passion in the face of conflict.

Values

1. Theatre should depict individuals with moral agency, not passive victims.

2. Theatre should seek and uphold truth and virtue, not just protest and tear down.

3. Theatre is a dignified place for beauty and wholesome humor, not the trite or vulgar.

4. Theatre requires high standards of artistic integrity and merit.

5. Theatre should offer the opportunity for cathartic experiences that foster understanding of and gratitude for fundamental life-affirming values.

You don’t have to be Mormon to love theatre in Utah, but you do have to love what Mormons love—moral agency—to make theatre great again.