How did a New York Times article about the Vatican's investigation of homosexuality at U.S. seminaries lead junior Jackie Hedeman to write an award-winning play?

By Daisy Hassani
Gargoyle assistant editor
Posted Monday, May 1, 2006, The OG, arts

Not very many people can find inspiration from a simple newspaper story, but that is what happened to junior Jackie Hedeman one day last fall, when she made a discovery that would change her literary life. With the idea she conceived, she won the Thespian Playworks Competition.

“The New York Times was lying open, and this article caught my eye about how the Vatican was starting to conduct investigations into all U.S. seminaries with the ultimate purpose of rooting out homosexual priests and seminarians,” says Hedeman.

She immediately took issue with the idea.

“I was pretty disgusted by it, since in the Catholic Church the assumption is that priests are chaste anyway, so why should sexuality matter?”

Instead of ignoring the issue, Hedeman decided to explore it in the context of a play.

“I decided to write a play about one such investigation and the repercussions it has on all of the seminarians (both gay and straight), and the priests asking the questions,” says Hedeman.

Hedeman began her play in November and completed it right before winter break. The title of the play, “Instruments of Faith,” was coined by Hedeman's mother, Anne.

“I was in a true title dry spot after I wrote it, and she suggested using the word ‘instruments,' after the list of questions the Vatican investigators were given, called the ‘Instrumentum laboris.'”

The Thespian Playworks Competition is sponsored by the Educational Theatre Association. Hedeman discovered the competition in an issue of Dramatics magazine, where she read the four plays that were chosen last year.

Sixty-one manuscripts were submitted to this year's contest. For winning the competition, Hedeman gets to attend the 2006 International Thespian Festival, which will be held at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln from June 19 to 24. Her expenses will be paid for by Grove Press in honor of playwright Samuel Beckett's 100th birthday.

As part of a four-day workshop while she is there, Hedeman will work with directors and dramaturgs to refine her play. On the last day, her play will be presented in a staged reading.

“And then it will also be published in Dramatics magazine next year, to inspire future generations,” says Hedeman. “Or at least make them wonder: Why on earth would a straight girl named Jacquelin write this?”

Theater is nothing new for Hedeman. She has been involved in theater for years. As an avid writer (and co-editor of Unique), Hedeman especially enjoys writing short stories. But writing this play was the beginning of a slight shift of interest for her.

“All this script writing has me thinking whether I might not like screen-/stageplays better than short stories after all,” says Hedeman. “We visited Pomona this spring break, and I found myself thinking about screenwriting internships the entire time. And it is really satisfying to see your characters come to life.”

To write her play, Hedeman drew from some of her favorite writers.

“I tried to balance the intense drama with a few funny lines, like Tony Kushner and Aaron Sorkin tend to do, but to compare me to them isn't really a comparison,” says Hedeman. “It's like there's me and I'm three inches tall and then there they are and they're as tall as Uni, but without the mildew.”

Hedeman is a big fan of “Arcadia” by Tom Stoppard and the TV series “The West Wing.”

“The writing used to be really good, though, before Aaron Sorkin left the show and the rich producers started writing episodes,” says Hedeman. “And he was a playwright before he worked on television, so in my mind, ‘The West Wing' counts. So there.”

Hedeman's true passion for writing is evident in her first reaction to the news that she had won.

“I didn't think about putting it on my résumé for 45 minutes,” she recalls. “By then I had had a lemonade and a cookie and calmed down a little, but I'm still walking a little bit off the ground at the moment, and the swelling in my head hasn't gone down.”