Lanny Langston and family (2009)

A fantastic email response to the Script-In-Hand Series reading of “8″ this past weekend, sent to Mark & April Fossen (who played David Boies and Sandy Stier, respectively).

Hey Mark and April:

I saw “8″ tonight, and was really moved.  As an active Mormon for the last 7 or so years I’ve had a HUGE swing in beliefs to the gay marriage issue. When I first re-found Jesus, I sounded just like the villains of the play tonight, believing that it was going to ruin families, redefine marriage, threaten churches, etc. But, luckily, through my involvement in the theatre world and association with LGBT individuals I slowly started warming up to the idea.  And although I thought I was completely on the right side of the issue, I found I was changed again tonight.

For the last few years my belief has been to just get rid of “marriage” and give everyone (gay and straight couples) civil unions and all the benefits associated with that.  The show tonight showed me how important it is for the dignity and respect of all involved that they can have a marriage, with the titles associated.  I’m not sure how I thought I was being a Christian several years ago by denying basic human happiness and dignity to others, but am proud now to hopefully be a pioneer in the LDS community in helping others to come to the same conclusions I have.

Thanks for a transformative night of theatre. My heart was truly touched.

Lanny Langston

Click here for a photo slideshow of  Plan-B Theatre Company’s Script-In-Hand Series Reading of “8″ held on August 4-5.