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Verfasser: Gunar Datum: Dienstag, den 10. September 2002, um 17:44 Uhr Betrifft: âBashâ bringt LaBute vor Kirchengericht
Ich verstehe schon, worauf du hinaus willst: Ein echter Exmormone kann nur derjenige sein, der die Organisation aus eigener Entscheidung heraus verlassen hat.
Um genau zu wissen, woran wir bei LaBute sind, habe ich ein wenig über die Person recherchiert.
Der heute 39-jährige wurde in Detroit geboren. Seine Familie zog an die Westküste nach Washington. Zu den dortigen HLTs zählte auch sein Vertrauenslehrer, und so geriet LaBute an ein BYU-Stipendium für Nichtmormonen. [1]
Neil LaBute An der BYU kann man sein auÃergewöhnliches Talent zwar nicht leugnen, seine Stücke werden aber als unpassend angesehen. Mit seinem selbstfinanzierten Film âIn the Company of Menâ erlangt LaBute 1997 erstmals internationale Aufmerksamkeit, auch in Deutschland findet er Erwähnung.
1998 fragt man nun auch öffentlich über Zensur oder einen möglichen Ausschluss: âShould LaBute worry about being censured by the church or even excommunicated?â und führt dann weiter aus:
âMost who know LaBute and his relationship with the church seem to think hes not likely to be excommunicated any time soon. But Slover admits that certain doors close to those who break with church rules. "A former chair [of the BYU theater department] went to see In the Company of Men as a movie, and he was really shaken. And his comment was, I thought Neil wanted to teach here. But now Im not so sure. "
LaBute says hes gotten absolutely no heat from the church. He even wrote a series of plays critical of Mormonism. The title of the trilogy, "A Gaggle of Saints," hinted at an image he expands in one of the pieces: geese playing in a field with their young, looking beautiful and innocent at a distance. But up close, you see that the field in which theyve been frolicking is covered in dung.
"Theres been no official reprimand," LaBute says, laughing. He jokes that maybe he can look forward to the gates of heaven slamming shut as he walks blithely toward them. He says he has to cope more with "unofficial worry from my family and the people close to me," who are concerned that the church will be uncomfortable with his work. Their trepidation, LaBute admits, is sometimes an indirect way for his friends and, um, neighbors to tell him that they are rankled by his plays â and has less to do with Mormonism than with the fact that his plays and movies give nearly everybody the creeps.
â [2]Doch LaBute ist noch viel direkter: âWhile at BYU, he wrote a play called Gaggle of Saints, which dealt with Mormon subjects. "I got the idea from the beauty of a flock of geese, " he said. "When you see them from afar in a field, they look great, but if you go out in the field, its covered with shit. The geese are looking at that shit saying, where did that come from? There is a lot of absurdity sometimes, not just in Mormonism but often in other religions that want to pretend that no bad happens in their church, rather than taking care of what bad does happen. I think there has to be that willingness to say, Hey, thats our mess. Now what can we do with it. Theyre just people."â [1] Und es ist klar, dass das für HLTs nur schwer zu schlucken ist.
Kontrovers war LaBute also bereits, doch dann schrieb er âBash - Stücke der letzten Tageâ, das ihm weltweite Berühmheit einbrachte, aber auch ein mormonisches Kirchengerichtsverfahren. Zunächst spricht LaBute nicht darüber, so dass Gerüchte in die Welt kommen, Mormone oder Exmormone, so genau war das nicht mehr klar. In einem Interview sagte er letzte Woche: âIm still a Mormon. I had some difficulty with a play I wrote called "Bash," and I was dis-fellowshipped from the church because of that play, which is not like being excommunicated. One is still in the church, and can go to services, but cant take the sacrament -- theres a certain set of things that come with that. As long as I dont write bad things again, I might get back into their good graces.â [3]
Damit steht also fest, dass LaBute Gemeinschaftsentzug wegen dieses Theaterstücks von der HLT-Kirche bekam. Und offensichtlich fühlt er sich noch immer als HLT und hat scheinbar den Wunsch, wieder als vollwertiges Mitglied anerkannt zu werden.
Dass das Kirchengericht etwas Traumatisches für LaBute gahbt haben muss, kann man auch diesen seinen Worten entnehmen: âIn âBush,â [sic] Mormons are depicted as homophobes, which led to his being called before a Church committee. âI had to go in front of these fifteen guys in suits and I was disfellowshipped â not excommunicated, which is the next stage,â recalls LaBute.â [4] So funktioniert die Einschüchterungstaktik der HLT-Mormonen.
Inzwischen sagt man, LaBute würde in seinen Stücken weichere Töne anschlagen. Es wird sich auf jeden Fall lohnen, die weitere Entwicklung dieses auÃergewöhnlichen Autors zu verfolgen.
[1] http://weeklywire.com/ww/09-21-98/slc_story.html
[2] http://www.dallasobserver.com/extra/labute-4.html
[3] http://entertainment.yahoo.com/entnews/sal/20020904/103117818103.html
[4] http://www.theaterpro.com/whatshotwhatsnot.html© 2002 Gunar Werner