BYU verbatim theater project aims to highlight stories of people who return to their faith

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PROVO — Researchers for a project at Brigham Young University are seeking to interview people from all faith backgrounds, including local Catholics, who have returned to their faith after leaving it for a time. They are hoping to interview people from several religions about their experience. This project aims to represent that experience in what is called Verbatim Theater, where playwrights interview people connected to the subject matter of the play and then use their words to create a performance.

Although this undertaking is being done through the Department of Theatre & Media Arts, its value is much greater than simply producing a theater piece, said assistant professor Alexandra Mackenzie Johns, PhD, who is co-directing the project.

“If we never hear stories of people from different faith backgrounds where faith is a central part of their lives and their journeys and their relationships, then we’re doing ourselves a disservice as a society, and our artists are doing us a disservice because faith is fundamental to so many of us,” she said. “If our artwork doesn’t reflect our believers in society and their authentic journeys, then we’re diminished as a people.”

This project was initially based on a study by Dr. Jessica Zurcher and her colleagues in BYU’s School of Communications, which explored the journey of returning to faith. The study’s findings were published in the October 2023 issue of Pastoral Psychology. Zurcher found there was a dearth of research that explored the diverse ways in which faith can be restored. She thought what she discovered through her work was so valuable that it needed to reach a broader audience than academics, so she contacted Johns and dramatist Shelley Graham.

“We started to talk about ways that a theatrical performance could embody and amplify their findings, and we got really excited talking to Jessica more about creating a piece of theater grounded in verbatim theater that embodies the stories of returning to faith on stage,” Johns said, describing how the Return to Faith project was born.

The project will use interviews from Zurcher’s research, but Johns and Graham are hoping to include more stories of local Utahns of faith for the production. “So it would be really wonderful to have some of our Catholic friends here in this area, Utah Valley area and beyond, reach out to us as well,” Johns said.

This experience is sacred to both of the co-directors, they said.  

“We see it as a gift, the privilege of sitting down and talking with people about their faith journey, because that’s such sacred ground for believers,” Johns said.

Those who choose to participate will be interviewed sometime this year by BYU students in a one- to two-hour interview that can be conducted in person, by Zoom or by phone. Participants will have complete editorial control over the material and can choose for it to be used anonymously, or to have their first name or another name they choose used with their words.

Not all the transcripts of those who are interviewed will be incorporated into the final script. Instead, Return to Faith will share narratives that reflect the common experiences among them.

The initial researchers “found that in that return-to-faith journey, there are different pathways for people, but they saw patterns, and I think we would like to make sure in our final version of the script and public performance, that both the range of patterns and ways that we reconnect to God’s love in our life is honored,” Johns said.

After the interviews are completed, Johns and Graham will work with students in their classes to produce a script for Return to Faith that will be performed in Fall 2026 in a one- to two-week production. The venue has not yet been determined but will likely be at BYU or in Salt Lake City. All those who are interviewed will be invited to the premier performance.

Both women hope that these performances will be just the beginning and that the message of their work will reach many people across the world. Johns would like the production to go on tour, both in the United States and internationally, and hopes to make the script available to other communities and theater companies.

“I feel like the gift of hope is one of the greatest gifts that this piece will offer,” Graham said. “One of the greatest feelings that I’ve had as I’ve been working on this piece is the reminder that hope is possible, that people from all different experiences, even deeply hurtful experiences, are finding a path back to God and just remembering that we have a loving God who wants us to come back, and that people are able to find him fills me with so much hope.”

For information about volunteering for the Return to Hope project, visit https://shorturl.at/aE93d or email Mackenzie at amackenziejohns@byu.edu.