By YUNG LY
yung@du2.byu.edu
A group of single LDS people with different backgrounds come together in the comedy performance, 'The Way We're Wired,' in the Margetts Arena Theater at BYU.
Eric Samuelson, a BYU theater professor, was inspired by one of his single friends to write the play. The play depicts seven single LDS people who are in their 30s and 40s that go through changes in their lives together.
AdreAnn Sundrud, the director of the play, and Samuelson interviewed many single LDS adults to make the script as real as possible.
'It was very interesting to talk to the single women,' Sundrud said.
'The Way We're Wired' focuses on the unique situations that every individual goes through -- it just happens that they are all single. Because being single is a taboo subject when you're older in the LDS culture, the play emphasizes it is okay to be single if it just so happens that you're not married by a certain time or if you're divorced.
Susan Keller, 23, a junior from Houston, majoring in theater, plays a character that is a 44-year-old divorced single mom with three children.
'I learned a lot about the single life and have a whole new appreciation for the single life after performing my character,' Keller said.
Sundrud believes the play is about being accepting and non-judgmental to people with different circumstances within the LDS environment.
'Life doesn't always turn out exactly the way you hope it to,' Sundrud said.
Although the play is a comedy, there are serious circumstances that the characters portray. The play also points out that each character progresses in different ways.
'Hopefully the play will start a conversation and lets people share feelings and experiences,' Sundrud said.
The cast members are Jeremy Selim, Christina Davis, Susan Keller, Susan Kimberly Davis, Alexa Scharman, Phoebe Candand, Emily Hutchison, Chris Stout and Jared Stull.
'The Way We're Wired' opens Friday in the Margetts Arena Theater and will run Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. until May 29, with a matinee at 2 p.m. on May 22. Tickets are $7 for BYU students and faculty and $9 for general admission. Half-price preview performances will be showing on May 12 and 13. For more information to or to purchase tickets call the Fine Arts Ticket Office, 378-4322.