“As I come out: this action I now go on
Is for my better grace.”
The Winter’s Tale, Act 2, Scene 1

Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins, making its West Coast premiere at The El Centro Theatre, is a lighthearted, yet tender story of a boy coming of age – and out – in the 1970’s.

The play begins with 15-year old Horace Poore (Wyatt Fenner) sitting in his tree house chronicling his life story on a manual typewriter. As he does so, the action comes to life around him: his prototypically cool older brother (Nick Niven), his prototypically distant father (Tony Pandolfo), and his prototypically domineering mother (Jan Sheldrick), along with the other prototypical characters in his life. While the prototypical Poore family goes about their Poore lives and their Poore business in their Poore town, Horace waxes eloquent with his take on the whole Poore experience.

He recounts celebrating while watching Walter Cronkite (Sean Owens) call his brother’s draft number because isn’t winning lotteries always a good thing? He recalls watching Mark Spitz win seven gold medals in Munich and that strange feeling he felt that wasn’t exactly patriotism. And he remembers being confused by what a crazy woman (Sara J. Stuckey) would scream from across the street and what a crazier woman named Anita Bryant (Madelynn Fattibene) would preach from the television. But most of all, he relates his feelings when Mr. Spencer (Nick Ballard), Mark Spitz’s incarnation on this earth, showed up in his life, with his toned body, easy-going style and that moustache (oh, that mustache!), first as his health teacher, then his gym teacher, then his co-worker. Both drawn to and simultaneously terrified by this paragon of masculinity, Horace starts to come to terms with who he is and what is going on inside of him.

In an interesting dramatic technique by playwright Brian Christopher Williams, Horace’s narration reads like rich polished literary prose next to the everyday, almost comically simple, conversational tone of the other characters. The contrast between the narration and the dialogue adds humor to the telling of the story and underscores Horace’s feeling, from his early youth, that somehow he did not belong, in this family, this school, this town. And not only because his favorite part of gym class was watching the coach shower. He also read books. He didn’t like sports. He liked going to the library. And, if he could ever manage to survive junior high, he might just get into college. Horace’s story is one of coming out, but it is a universal theme. Who among us hasn’t at some time been absolutely certain that everyone around them has their act together while they alone were different. When Mr. Spencer tries to explain this to Horace, he is incredulous. “Don’t be silly,” he says dismissively, “jocks are born ‘in’.”

As usual, the West Coast Ensemble puts on a thoroughly professional production. Ballard is picture perfect as Mr. Spencer, in looks, manners and speech. Niven, likewise, is perfectly cast as older brother Chaz. But by far, the soul of the production is Wyatt Fenner who plays young Horace with amazing nuance, subtly conveying pain, vulnerability, anger, guilt and perhaps a little condescension. He is so believable as a 15-year old, one wonders how he could have already attained his BFA from USC.

Special kudos to Stephen Gifford for his set design which, despite being limited by a very small stage area, still manages to accommodate the two primary settings for the action by beautifully combining Horace’s amazingly realistic tree house with the family’s 70’s style kitchen, while leaving enough room in front and around the edges for other assorted action.

Whether or not it gets you thinking about your own coming out story or some other “fish out of water” experience, Anita Bryant will almost certainly keep you laughing out loud at someone else’s. Unless you happen to be someone like, well, Anita Bryant.

Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins is performed Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm through October 4, 2009.

The El Centro Theater is located at 800 N. El Centro Ave. in Hollywood (one block east of Vine between Melrose and Santa Monica).

Ticket prices: $20.00 (Seniors, Students, Union: $18.00)

Reservations online at www.westcoastensemble.org or by phone at (323) 460-4443