Mahonri Stewart has taken on a monumental task -- tell the story of the LDS Church, Emma Smith's difficult times following the death of her prophet husband and the struggles within her family after Joseph Smith died.

He's doing that with an original stage play called "The Fading Flower,'' which focuses largely on David Hyrum Smith, the son of Emma and Joseph born after the martyrdom.

(It opened May 29 in the Provo Theater and runs through June 13. See www.newplayproject.org for tickets.)

"A writer treads on thin ice when he decides to tackle characters of religious or cultural significance," Stewart said in the playwright notes. "Such characters are iconic in the minds of their admirers. If you try to write them as human beings rather than marble statues, you will always have your critics.

"This has been doubly difficult for me as I'm dealing with characters from two faiths: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (now the Community of Christ)."



He's right. It's an attempt fraught with peril.

Within the piece, Stewart tells the story of David's struggle to define who his father truly was, a man of honesty and character or a man said to have taken multiple wives which his mother denied? He brings to life the conflict between President Brigham Young and a bitter Emma and the sons who felt they had a right to their father's position as leader of God's church.

The cast has a number of very strong portrayers.

Kathryn Laycock Little takes on the daunting task of becoming an older, proud but wounded Emma Smith -- and she does it very well.

Adam Argyle is a focused Joseph Smith III, a son quite convinced of his life's mission which ironically put him at odds with his prophet father.

Jamie Denison becomes a surprisingly important character as the adopted daughter, Julia Murdock Smith, unsure of her place but who clearly loves her family.

Brannon Killgo plays a powerful Brigham Young, clearly frustrated with Emma but willing to extend her and her sons a return to fellowship at any point.

As far as the cast is concerned, they do a good job for the most part. They try very hard and have created depth in their characterizations, especially three polygamous wives who try to explain their love for Joseph Smith and their "conversion" to polygamy: Eliza R. Snow Young, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney and Mary Lightner Young, played respectively by Heather Jones, Sarah-Lucy Hill and Mary Heaps.

Amos Omer does a fair job of portraying a son whose psyche is perhaps tested a little too much by what he wants to believe and what he must face as truth although the script doesn't really give him enough of a chance to explain his loss of hold on reality.

Only the part of Lewis Bidamon seems a little unfairly told. Surely the man was more than a tough old Southerner with no heart?

It's a decent, impressive effort.

But as is common with such a task as Stewart's, the subject material is too heavy for the telling -- especially for a piece where the writer is also the producer, director and in the show.

It needs some trimming and some tightening. It also needs a clear direction.

It's too long and the story is told in a series of vignettes that jump from place to place and leave those in the audience disconnected and feeling pummeled.

It goes almost without saying that there will be revisions as this work evolves. And it certainly has a lot that's worth saving.

For instance, the dialogue between the defenders of the faith and the rebellious sons is enlightening and educational.

It also provokes a good deal of thought and discussion.

E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com