“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”– Leonardo Da Vinci

This sentiment is a favorite of playwright Brian Christopher Williams. He has a new play that premiered at the Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota and he hasn’t abandoned it since.

It’s called Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins.  Catchy title for a comedy, you think?  The West Coast Ensemble thought so and “Anita” has her West Coast coming out party at the El Centro Theatre this Friday, August 21.

Picture Anita Bryant. Do you see a beauty queen, a singer, an orange juice pitchwoman or an anti-gay activist? Well, this is theatre and a playwright with something on his mind so, on a guess, it’s probably not about orange juice.

What Williams has on his mind is “Family” and, in particular, how gays fit in a family whether it’s the one they were born into, the one they create or the one that surrounds them politically.

Brian Christopher Williams

“I have no desire to write strictly for a gay audience but being gay is often an accelerant in my writing,” says Williams. “If you’re going to spend so much time alone in a world you are creating, you need to have enough emotional drive to last not only through the writing but the rewriting.”

For him, that accelerant is “disenfranchised people, people pushed to the outside” which is where he found himself right after the 2000 Presidential election. “We were coming out of the Clinton era, and the political discussion went from the economy, foreign relations and other front burner items to morality and homosexuality.”

“I felt caught in the crossfire, being told I was not a patriot, or an American or part of the larger collective.” That made him sad. Then angry, and fueled as a playwright. “Anita” was born. And, so was 15 year old Horace Poore, its main character, struggling to come out to his upstate New York family in 1977.

It was another period of pushing people to the outside. Scary times for the gay teachers, and others, who were targeted by Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” crusade. Scary times too for Horace who needed to share his secret against this larger national backdrop.  Poor kid.  Poor family.

Through their fears and destructive behavior, the Poores circle around their problems but eventually find solutions through inclusion and opening their hearts. “The family has to overcome obstacles to remain family,” says Williams, “fighting for its identity as it evolves and changes.  It is a microcosm of society.”

Much of the fun in the play comes from that fight for identity. “It’s definitely a comedy that plays best with dramatic undertones,” says Williams. “The humor arises from this rather sophisticated child born into an unsophisticated working class family and the family’s reactions to his struggle to fit in.”

The playwright feels that in many ways today bears a remarkable reflection of the life and times of Horace Poore. But, conversely, he offers that “we have come a long way since 1977 and Horace would find many things unfathomable.” For Williams though, we still have a long way to go in understanding that “your rights only extend to the nose on my face.”

Like many playwrights, he uses himself as a springboard. The play is “emotionally autobiographical, like being frightened and insecure. But a lot of what happens didn’t happen to me. What I needed to do was explore why I felt I was an American, so I searched my roots to find where I got my morality.”

In life, his roots brought him from upstate New York, through a stint in New York City to Los Angeles for 20 years. Like many others, he was an actor at first but felt conflicted since he was “more in my head than my heart.” Writing proved much more rewarding. “Though the rewards of playwriting are rarely financial,” he says.

“I’m probably pushier than most playwrights.” He markets himself and submits his works all over the country. “I’m very organized and good at mass mailings-something I learned from my actor days, sending out all those pictures and resumes.” He made a cold submission of a play synopsis to the Graham Agency in New York and landed himself Earl Graham as an agent. “That helps.”

These days, he’s also splitting his time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas where he’s teaching and studying for his MFA in Screenwriting. And, he’s having a busy time working on Anita for its West Coast premiere. Williams revels in the rehearsal process of a play, welcoming opinions and suggested revisions to the story.

“I’m having a great time at West Coast Ensemble. The director Richard Israel gave me excellent notes, and one on timeline. To incorporate it, I had to bring back characters I had cut in Florida. Sometimes you have to throw your children out. But, sometimes you want them back.” Israel is a major reason Anita is coming to town. Williams admires his direction a lot and sent him the script.

About 27 years ago, the playwright met one of his other favorite directors-Glenn Casale. They have been partners for 22 years. Casale has directed stage readings of Williams’ work and two of his plays at the Whitefire Theatre. He has also directed all over the world, including the Tony-nominated Peter Pan on Broadway. Nice family.

So…Los Angeles has been good to this playwright. Among the many other productions of his works, Daniel Henning premiered Williams’ first full-length In Stitches at the Blank Theatre. Again, it was a play about people refusing to be left behind-survivors who formed a sewing bee to fashion an AIDS epidemic quilt. It went on to win a Back Stage West Garland Award. An auspicious start for the then young playwright.

On a final note, Theatre Geo produced his Ain’t Missin’ You almost a dozen years ago. Since then, not a month goes by that I haven’t remembered some character or scene from the play, and smiled big inside. Now that’s a playwright worth watching…and supporting.

Okay Anita, your turn to sing.

Feature image by Ty Donaldson. Story image of Wyatt Fenner as Horace Poore and Nick Niven as Chaz Poore by Ty Donaldson