One of the first works LDS plays (as opposed to musicals) I encountered, Robert Elliott's Fires of the Mind is a seminal play in LDS drama. It has influenced many LDS dramatists past and present. I first read the play as a recently returned missionary, and though I enjoyed it as a work of drama, I was troubled by the depiction of missionary life. Now, several years later, I am no longer shocked by that portrayal, but I find fault with the dramaturgy. And yet the play works. Ultimately that is all one can ask of a play, that somehow it "works."

Fires of the Mind is set in 1970 Taiwan, though it could just as easily be any other mission. The setting is a missionary apartment, which Elliot says, "might easily be mistaken for a cheap flat in mid-town Kansas City." The characters are Elder Barney Johnson, age 22; his departing senior companion, Elder Poll; his new senior companion Elder Markham; the Zone Leader Elder Matthews and his companion Elder Lucas; Brother T'ang Il Sun, the "Chinese houseboy" whom they call Uncle Sam; Holly Chou, an attractive 20-year-old investigator; and Ch'en Yun Ta, a Chinese college professor investigating the church.

Elder Johnson is a sign-seeker who doesn't have a testimony, and, we come to find out, actually takes pride in his agnosticism. Elder Poll departs in the first act, having been an understanding and compassionate companion. He turns Johnson over to Elder Markham, who is coveting a leadership position and has little patience for Johnson's "slacking." At the transfer, Elders Matthew's and Lucas also move into the apartment. Matthews has, if possible, even less patience for Johnson, while Lucas functions as the moral center of the play.

The action, such as it is, consists of Markham and Matthews trying to whip Johnson into shape, and in the process, pushing him too far. The play builds to a physical fight, and ends with an epilogue in which Johnson removes his tie and slips off with Holly. And yet, the play's action is largely static. We see some events in the life of missionaries, with the particular struggles of these characters coloring the outcome. Mostly they talk, at great length, about the issues. But they talk well. And the competing philosophical points are covered simply and clearly. Johnson's seeking for signs is equated with other members of the church seeking for materialism in a particularly effective passage. Lucas says to Markham:

Besides, tangible success is just another reward -- an outward sign. Rewards are a lot like signs. They're artificial. Take Johnson -- now he's a sign seeker even though he's pretty subtle about it. He wants some glorious inner manifestation. But he still wants it to come from an external source. He won't accept anything his own spirit tells him, even when he's been touched by the Holy Ghost. He calls it emotion, and goes on waiting for something supernatural. Reward-seekers aren't that complex. They just want some outer confirmation that they've done well�material comforts and blessings, praise, or a position. But it amounts to the same thing. Reward-seekers and sign-seekers are both looking for proof that they're worthy. They're both insecure, and they want the Lord to compensate them for it. Sometimes He will, but sometimes He won't. I guess that's the trial of faith, or at least one of them. (Synthesizing.) Yeah. Reward-seeking equals sign-seeking. (Brightly.) I like that.

Much of the dialogue explores the issues in the same way. There are episodes of lengthy talk in the missionary apartment, where one character's exit is the cue for the next one to enter and discuss the topic from another perspective. Fortunately, these are occasionally juxtaposed with sheer fun, as when Johnson and Holly, momentarily alone together in the apartment, re-enact a sword fight from a Chinese action film. But rarely do the characters seem pro-active in their own causes. Rather, they appear to be putting in time until Johnson makes his decision to leave with Holly.

The non-missionaries, curiously, drive the action more directly. Holly forces a revealing confrontation between Johnson and Markham on the issue of rules. Ch'en precipitates a showdown between them on the issue of personal revelation. (This showdown is particularly affecting for any missionary who has been at odds with his companion in the midst of a discussion and tried to "correct" the other's statements while trying to maintain a veneer of unity. The scene is humorous in a painful sort of way.) Uncle Sam actually goes so far as to lock Matthews in the bedroom in order to let Markham and Johnson have it out physically. And finally, Holly invites Johnson out on the town with her.

Although the ending is predictable, there are some nice touches. Markham runs to the post office to get the transfer notice, leaving Johnson and Holly alone again. Though this inconsistency in Markham's character stretches credibility a bit, it seems somehow inevitable. Holly then entices Johnson, but he waits long enough to hear Markham's announcement of transfers as he re-enters. The transfers are wonderfully ironic in the way they relate to the various sign-seekers and reward-seekers in the play. And strangely, the potential outcome of Johnson's actions at this moment is far less clear than it seemed when I first encountered the play.

Something else has changed since that first reading as well. It almost seems dated. The characters seem particularly naive compared to the youth of today. There are episodes where some of the missionaries are almost sappily sentimental in their enthusiasm. But I finally decided that these episodes are best played with a youthful idealism, and that somehow, cliched as they seem on the page, with good actors properly directed, the same passages become somehow moving hymns to all that is fresh and faithful in these youthful missionaries.

In his author's preface, Elliott writes, "I believe that contemporary LDS society is prepared to accept penetrating self-analysis which, without resorting to outrage or negativism, attempts to deal honestly with the human problems and weaknesses which plague it. Fires of the Mind does not intend, in any way, to disparage the divine doctrines and principles on which our religion is founded. It is a human drama reflecting the imperfect thoughts and actions of several imperfect but good young men, each struggling in his own way to become better."

On these counts the play succeeds. In spite of whatever flaws one may point to individually, on the whole the play simply "works." At least for it's intended audience, which I take to be educated LDS adults.

To my knowledge, Bob Elliott has been bound with writer's block ever since he wrote this play. I hope, as do many others, that someday he may break the block and give us another play.

Robert Paxton
<rpaxton@infowest.com>

 -- -- -- -- -- 
Robert Paxton, his wife Tryn, and their two boys are spending the month in
Cache Valley, where he is directing a play, writing, vacationing, and
enjoying a place much greener and cooler than St. George.