New Life – A New Musical

ABOUT NEW LIFE

Synopsis

Set in 2010, this is a story about a woman rebuilding herself and her family after her abusive husband dies. Her family of three adult kids (Alexandra (Alex), oldest; Robert (Robbie), middle child; Stephanie (Steph), youngest) and her minister each bring lots of baggage on this trip. The story is set partly in the country and partly in the city, which is about one-to-two hours away. The story tackles topics of intimate-partner abuse, child abuse, family dysfunction, alcoholism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, cultural differences between rural and urban life, tradition vs. change, personal growth, spiritual faith, and the Easter resurrection analogy.

Character Back Stories

Mary (Mom) grew up in the suburbs and met Frank Smith when she was about 20. Frank was about 5–10 years older than her. She was generally quiet and insecure, and had started college studying English literature. Because Frank was interested in her and she was welcomed into his world in the country village, she abandoned her studies, overlooked his drawbacks, and got married. Her family wasn’t supportive of her choice to relocate and get married, Mary tried to keep everyone happy for a while, but Frank eventually convinces her that her family of origin was trying to destroy their marriage and told her to cut off ties with them. Mary was unfulfilled and mostly depressed in this time and used reading novels as her escape. When they have their first child Alexandra, Frank was disappointed that they didn’t have a boy and didn’t pay much attention to Alex. Their second child is Robert. Frank is happier about this and spends time with Robert playing catch and taking him to little league baseball. Robert didn’t actually enjoy baseball but did it to please his dad. Mary tries to give attention to both Alex and Robert but whenever Frank said something disparaging, Mary backed away. During this time Frank was drinking more and becoming more verbally abusive, which just caused Mary to disappear into the bedroom to read more often.

By the time the third child was born, Stephanie, Mary’s spirit is pretty much retreated. She occasionally got thoughts that she wanted av new life and to escape the loveless marriage but she couldn’t imagine what would happen to the children if she left Frank and the house. Over the next two decades, Frank starts to become physically abusive. He still went to Robert’s games, but didn’t take any interest in Stephanie’s activities, even though Steph actually liked baseball and outdoor activities like riding her bike. Mom always suspected Steph was a lesbian, and was fully accepting, but they never talked about it and Steph never comes out to her Dad.

Alex who is sick of living in this family moves out as soon as she can with her boyfriend. But Alex finds that her boyfriend Troy was also abusive so she comes home. Mary wants her safe and to stay there, but her Dad didn’t approve of her choices and kicked her out. Mary relented and let Frank kick Alex out, and since Alex felt guilty for leaving Troy, she went back to her boyfriend. This cycle happens again a few times, and each time Mary is troubled by it but gives in and Frank kicks Alex out to return to Troy. Alex nonetheless tries to look after herself and becomes skilled as an hair stylist.

When he finishes high school, Robert goes off to college in the suburbs. He studies in a technical field, where he doesn’t have to think about emotions; to the continue the hiding that he had done at home. He meets a woman there who treats him with a lot of loving attention, and eventually becomes his Wife. They become engaged even before he graduates. He gets a job in the suburbs and lives an unfulfilling life. His relationship with his wife becomes bad after the marriage as his wife is withdrawn and depressed; and he feels emotionally abandoned. Although even while excitement comes as they have two children, they lose intimacy in their lives while he immerses himself in his work and kids’ lives. A couple coworkers notice that he’s not happy, and Robert opens up to them, finding it cathartic to actually discuss his problems. He starts to develop friendships with them, but his wife disapproves of him spending time with them. She accuses him of having an emotional affair. From that point on she becomes far more controlling than before and emotionally abusive, particularly when Robert tries to stand up to her. Incidentally, Wife uses a noticeable wig, which the actor who plays Mildred then uses in the café.

Shortly after Robert left home, Steph decided that this truly dysfunctional family was unhealthy and leaves (“runs away”) at 16. Alex supports her leaving and invites Steph to stay with her and Troy near the village. But Steph sees the abuse first-hand and Troy doesn’t want her there so she leaves. Steph then goes to stay with her brother in the suburbs. He has already moved in with his fiancée. They put up with Steph for a while, but eventually the “wife” tells Steph to leave, and Robert doesn’t stand up for Steph. Steph now has no family members left to stay with so she couch-surfs with her friends and classmates. At one house, a guy tries to rape her, but she barely manages to fight him off. For a while, she lives unhoused without people knowing, but eventually graduates from high school. Empowered to take on the world, she goes to the city to try to get employment at homeless shelters, and meets Charlie who takes an interest in helping her. Although quite a bit older than Steph, they start dating. They don’t date for long (how long?), but they remain close. Charlie gives her a safe space to live and Steph starts going to university. She goes through periods of significant ups and downs but eventually graduates. On a few occasions, she finds work, but loses her job to due absenteeism; she finds herself returning to the woman’s shelter for shift work.

When Robert left, Mom moves into his old room and doesn’t sleep with Frank anymore. Frank’s health starts to decline. As it declines, he becomes more withdrawn; he stays ornery but isn’t physically abusive anymore. Mary, who went to church for several years when she moved to the village and took the kids when they were little (before the rebelled and said they didn’t want to go anymore), resumes attending church without Frank, as she is seeking a community. She serves on the search committee that calls Norah the minister who is a trans woman, as she secretly has more progressive values that she acquired from reading her novels. Not long after, Frank dies in his sleep, uneventfully. She plans the funeral with Norah.

Born male, Norah was raised in the suburbs and knew from an early age that her gender assignment was wrong. Her grandparents, who she loved dearly, lived in the country (near the country village where the musical is set) and she had many happy experiences there. She went to university for social work and discovered a supportive environment where she could transition. During this time she meets Charlie who is part of her Social Work student cohort. She has a strong faith and belief in God, but not with all traditional Christian values. She discovers a supportive community in the United Church of Canada (or if in the USA, the United Church of Christ), and she enters divinity school. While she encounters some resistance, she is supported enough to become one of the first ordained trans people. Norah seeks out a calling in the country village because she wanted to live in the rural area that brought her joy. The search committee is comprised of mostly progressive-minded people, which included Mom (Mary Smith), and Norah is called to the church. There is, of course, a negative reaction among the conservative and intolerant membership of the church, which eventually forces Norah out.

One of the people in the church is Mildred who has gone to the country church for her whole life. While membership has declined, she remains committed to maintaining the church traditions. She is like an aunt to Frank so Mary has known her since she moved to the country. She was raised to see homosexuality as a sin, and steadfastly holds on to her homophobia and transphobia. At times, she pretends to be accepting and progressive to keep up with changes in the mainstream church, but this country church is a good example of one which has an outwardly progressive stance while a large percentage still have non-inclusive values.

Mildred’s Son Gerald knew Frank from the mill where he had worked, although weren’t buddies. The mill shut down well before Frank died. It doesn’t look like Gerald has much of a life and is very much dominated by his mother, with whom he often lives in her basement as an adult. He is a rather obnoxious MAGA-type guy. There is a gag in the musical that the same character plays the gay Barista/Man-in-Bar (“Gerry”), and raises the question of whether Gerald is the Barista/Man-in-Bar or just the same actor. The story never discloses whether it is the same person, but it is wonderful poetic justice for Mildred that her son hides that he’s gay from his mom and maintains a double life.