Gospel musical ‘TransParent’ addresses pedophilia, AIDS and forgiveness

Moral messages in a complex world aren't always transparent.

They are in "TransParent."

"The message is no matter what you've gone through in your life, you can overcome everything with love and forgiveness," says Michelle Thompson, author/director/composer/star of "TransParent -- A Stage Play," which manages to marry such dramatic elements as pedophilia and AIDS to a gospel score in a production this weekend at the West Las Vegas Library. "They are the most heartfelt songs I've ever written."

Returning to the library after a run last year, "TransParent" focuses on Tiffany White, a single mother, played by Thompson, who is desperate to find a man not only as a mate, but as a father figure to her fatherless 7-year-old boy. Who she finds and falls for -- unbeknownst to her but painfully known to her son -- is a pedophile, setting mother against son as she chooses her man over her boy.

"I'm putting myself on the line with this one because he's a monster," says actor Mervin Alexander, who portrays Trevor, the molester who hides behind his respectable veneer as a pediatrician. "I've done research and I've learned these sociopaths, they blend in very well in society. There's nothing that jumps out at you that you can put a tag on, but the sickness runs very deep."

Spanning three decades, "TransParent" finds its dramatic mojo in the refusal of Tiffany to believe her son, who finally reveals the abuse as a teenager. "She had been from the ghetto, she never had anything, then she decides to turn her life around and meets this doctor," Thompson explains. "He gives her a lifestyle she never had before and she refuses to give that up because she's worked so hard to get it."

Opening in a present-day hospice caring for Tiffany -- stricken with AIDS contracted from Trevor -- "TransParent" loops back three decades to retrace her own plight and how her boy's life spiraled into a web of psychological damage and scrapes with the law.

Climactically, the play imparts its message, addressing the possibility of reconciliation between estranged mother and son, and whether one's prospects in life can be reversed.

"Many people are probably suffering something of this sort and they're so afraid to come out of the closet with it," says LaToya Walker, who portrays the hospice nurse, about sexual abuse. "It's about, 'Can you forgive me?' Life is too short to always be mad at someone."

Though the plot-starter is rather dark, which makes it tricky to set to a rousing gospel score, Alexander notes that "the music is what lifts us up out of the darkness. It is a rainbow out of the dark clouds."

Drama, Thompson says, provides her own pulpit. "I am a minister," she says. "But instead of preaching, I'd rather demonstrate true-life stories. It's a drama ministry."

Such an approach, Walker adds, reaches a wider congregation that might otherwise not find inspirational ideas in traditional religious services. "There are so many other entities going on in a service, a program and a protocol," Walker says. "But if people don't think they have the proper attire to come to services or felt they aren't worthy or did something they're ashamed of, this is a venue where people don't know you, and it's a way to capture an environment with a story."

Portraying a cop who must arrest the youth but later bonds with him, Gary McDorman recalls the vivid response to "TransParent" when it was performed last year. "Right after the play ended, it was like a revival in the lobby," says McDorman, who is a sergeant with the North Las Vegas Police Department. "People were rejoicing, it looked like a whole service going on. It was totally phenomenal."

Adds Thompson: "I didn't realize it was the experience of people I knew until after we debuted it the first time. People who saw the show were moved to talk about what had happened in their pasts. They shared their stories with me."

Aiming to offer catharsis to those who suffered through similar experiences, and a philosophy of forgiveness for audiences that double as Thompson's congregation, "TransParent" provides moral messages that, even in a complex world, are simple to see.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld
@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.