UMW Theatre musical “Fun Home” based on controversial memoir

By CHRISTOPHER FOLS

Staff Writer

“Welcome to our house on Maple Avenue.” This is the song the Bechdel family sings as the musical “Fun Home” brings you into the life of Alison Bechdel.

“Fun Home” is based on the graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel depicting her discovery of her sexuality and the relationship she has with her father. The play focuses between two key time periods in her life.

The first is small Alison, portrayed by Madison Neilson, who embodies the innocence all children have when they are that age. Through her actions on stage, the joy Alison has when spending time with her father is evident, but also the disappointment that comes with his disapproval and rejection.

Next, Alison appears as a freshman in college, exploring her identity and her sexuality. Lydia Hundley develops this character well, starting off very awkward and unsure of who she is. As the play continues, she becomes more confident until she goes home to see her family where you can feel the tension in the room.

Adult Alison, played by Olivia Whicheloe, is observing her memories while she is trying to draw the graphic novel and think of the perfect captions.

Bruce, Alison’s father, is probably the second most important character in the musical. The memories Alison has with her father are split between good memories and traumatic ones. Max Kingston captures the struggles Bruce is having in his life, and switches from loving to angry in a way that keeps the audience guessing how he will react in every scene.

Adult Alison was in the center of her studio drawing her memories while surrounding her were the places in her memories. The whole set revolved to switch the setting from her childhood home to her dorm in college. This allowed adult Alison an omniscient view of her memoirs and allowed the audience to see her reactions.

Although the musical was well-received on Broadway, the memoir it was based on has a history of controversy.

The first instance was in 2006 when it was the recommended read for all incoming freshmen at Duke University. Brian Grasso, who was an incoming freshman at Duke, said that as a Christian he would not read the book because he objected to the book’s visual depiction of sexuality and pornographic content.

In 2008, a student at the University of Utah objected to the content of the book and was given an alternate assignment, but also helped start a petition that tried to get the book removed, ultimately failing.

In 2014, the College of Charleston in South Carolina faced a greater challenge. The South Carolina legislature debated punitive budget cuts against the College of Charleston because it incorporated “Fun Home” into a voluntary summer reading program for incoming freshmen. The budget cuts ended up being rejected by the Senate Finance Committee.

Similar incidents have occurred at high schools as well.

“Fun Home” will run through Nov. 24 in Klein Theatre.