Last week, Emerson College students put on a production of the show “FML: How Carson McCullers Saved my Life.” The show is about a girl who is a lesbian in a private school. The storyline follows her struggles as she is bullied, tormented, disrespected and supported, all while finding strength within herself. The moving and eye-opening performance was put on by Emerson’s Kidding Around comedy group. With Bean Nelson acting as the lead of Jo, Khyati Sehgal, Madison Gerringer, Jack Nixon, and Connor Abeles played the supporting character roles of Jo’s friend Emma, her English teacher, her best friend Mickey and her brother Reed.
Jenni Chapman Photography
Directed by Daniel Begin, the show thrived at Emerson, and was nearly sold out almost every night. In the Cabaret, the black box theater was set up with a somewhat interactive set, allowing the audience to feel as if they were there, with Jo, as she went through her life. The well placed humor of the show lightened the mood frequently throughout, however the depth of the serious moments were extremely moving. The show provided an effective combination of the two.
The show was written by Sarah Gubbins. She is a Chicago Playwright, and has written plays such as Fair Use, In Loco Parentis, The Water Play, The Kid Thing (Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award), fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life and I am Bradley Manning. She identifies as gay herself and based the story largely around her struggles in finding herself.
The show brought forth the circumstances that many struggle with in finding themselves. Jo encounters people who don’t accept her as who she is, and people who are less than understanding towards her. Throughout, we see the friendship between Jo and Emma, a girl who is dating a boy on the football team. Her boyfriend frequently insults Jo over text, to Emma while she is with Jo. Emma lies about her boyfriend’s opinions on Jo, eventually leading to the climax of the storyline: Jo gets severely beaten up after she and Emma kiss.
The show is extremely highly reviewed.
“Gubbins…has captured the high school lingo and attitudes ideally, often to fine comic effect, with the element of adolescent sexual confusion, as well as certainty, deftly suggested here.” —Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times.
Emerson students are extremely grateful for the show being put on here on campus.