playbill vip

Setting

     Regarding location, I always imagined Loren Academy existing about a half hour drive outside Atlanta, Georgia. However, most of the characters and events in the musical are inspired by and based off of people and experiences surrounding Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Both happen to have conservative Christian schools and communities in some areas making the setting viable in both regions. The setting of Loren Academy is specifically vague in the musical to make it more relatable. I also chose to imagine it in the South because BYU has been a fairly toxic environment for me, that imagining the story somewhere else helped me tell the story more authentically.

      The initial time frame for the story was from late August to mid-December 2016. This time period was inspired by the scandals regarding the BYU Honor Code Office punishing victims of rape for years and having those issues come to a more public light in 2016. In October 2016 the school announced an amnesty clause for victims of sexual assault. I am grateful for the amazing women who came forward and helped inspire the change that brought protection for so many. I also noticed that not many have told the gay side of the story. Even after late 2016, many gay and queer students still get raped and do not seek help because they do not trust BYU to help them. They feel they might get expelled or have their education compromised since it would come to light that they were in some fashion, interested at one point or another, in someone of the same sex. Even if Title IX can help gay students at BYU, there is immense fear and distrust between school administrators and the queer community of BYU.

       Currently, if a church leader at BYU believes a student is unworthy, the leader can withdraw the student’s ecclesiastical endorsement, which in effect would freeze the students transcript and make it impossible for them to transfer records to any school making their education void. Essentially they would be academically dismissed without technically being expelled. There are no checks and balances on this. It is true that the Honor Code and student Bishops and other church leaders are not allowed to contact each other anymore unless I am mistaken. Even so, church leaders abusing power by using fear tactics to try to force students to “be righteous” exacerbates the already existing culture of shame and fear in the community. I am writing this to explain that though the initial idea was for the setting to take place in Fall 2016, this story is still fairly current. As I was writing the musical, specifically Elliot’s plotline, I realized it reflected a lot of things that happened in my personal life Winter and Fall 2019, which may make then a more accurate time period of the show.