Department of Theatre & Dance produces Bechdel’s award-winning musical ‘Fun Home’

The Western Washington University Department of Theatre & Dance is mounting the musical stage adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s award-winning graphic novel ‘Fun Home’ from Nov. 1-4 on the WWU Performing Arts Center Mainstage.

The musical adaption garnered 12 Tony nominations, winning five – including Best Musical. The music was written by Jeanine Tesori (“Shrek the Musical”, “Thoroughly Modern Millie”, “Caroline or Change”, “Violet”); the book and lyrics are by Lisa Kron. The WWU production is directed by Jim Lortz.

About the play

When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality, and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires.

About Alison Bechdel

Alison Bechdel’s comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For became a countercultural institution among lesbians and discerning non-lesbians all over the planet. Her more recent, darkly humorous graphic memoirs about her family have forged an unlikely intimacy with an even wider range of readers. Bechdel’s comics have appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, McSweeney’s, The New York Times Book Review, and Granta. In 2014 she was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Bechdel self-syndicated Dykes to Watch Out For for twenty-five years, from 1983 to 2008. The award-winning generational chronicle has been called “one of the pre-eminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period.” (Ms. magazine)

In 2006 she published the graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Time magazine named it the Best Book of 2006, describing the recursive investigation into her closeted bisexual father’s suicide “a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other.”

LGBTQ+ at WWU

LGBTQ+ Western works to advance the holistic thriving of diverse LGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff at Western Washington University by collaboratively engaging the university community with transformational knowledge, resources, advocacy and celebration. Learn more at www.lgbtq.wwu.edu.

Tickets, parking, and accommodations

Tickets for “Fun Home” are $12-19, with discounts available for all students. For reservations visit tickets.wwu.edu, or call 360-650-6146. Free parking is available on weekends and evenings in the C/CR and 12A lots off Bill McDonald Parkway. Pay-by-the-hour and mobile app parking is available evenings and weekends in lots adjacent to the Performing Arts Center. The Performing Arts Center is an accessible facility. Accessible parking spaces are available in lot 11G just south of the building. The Mainstage auditorium has accessible seating. Please contact the box office at 360-650-6146 for more information.