THREE PLAYS FOR LATTER-DAY SAINTS...AND EVERYONE ELSE

In Three Plays for Latter-day Saints, award-winning playwright Rob. Lauer offers readers what neither objective historians nor devout apologists can -- a profoundly human exploration of Mormonism’s colorful history and spiritual ideals that will entertain all audiences and readers--both Mormons and those who know nothing at all about Mormonism.

When Digger -- Rob. Lauer’s groundbreaking Mayhew Award-winning play--premiered at BYU in 1982, it was heralded as a milestone in Mormon Drama for its unprecedented depiction of young Joseph Smith’s involvement with peep stones and folk magic. However, young Emma Hale (“Elect Lady” of faithful Latter-day Saintsand “Mormon Enigma” of historians) is the central character in this moving exploration of youthful folly, faith, hope, passion, and love.

First produced in 1989 by The Olde Theatre Company (a non-Mormon theatre in Virginia),The Beehive State is a comedy/drama about the ups, downs, triumphs, and tragedies of daily life in a devout, polygamous Latter-day Saint family in 1903 Provo, Utah -- thirteen years after the 1890 Manifesto, when the LDS Church and its members were cautiously navigating their way into the Twentieth Century. While there have been many attempts to dramatize life in Mormon polygamy, none have done so with such historical andcultural accuracy or with as much humor, heart, insight and raw emotional honesty as The Beehive State.

In the one-act drama, The Blessings of Jacob, the struggles of a non-Mormon family living in 1930 Salt Lake City take on new meaning when they are visited by an elderly stranger who is in town for Annual Conference.

This entertaining 364-page collection of plays features delightful illustrations by the playwright as well as his thought-provoking essay Mormon Drama: One Mormon Playwright's Perspective. Also included is a Foreward to Digger written by awarding-winning Mormon dramatist J. ScottBronson, a Foreward to The Beehive State by Stephen Carter (winner of AML's 2023 Smith-Petit Award for Outstanding Contributions to Mormon Letters), as well as reviews of the original 1982 BYU production of Digger and the original 1989 Virginia production of The Beehive State.

Click on the "Buy Now" button below to get your copy and find out why critics have been praising these groundbreaking works of Mormon Drama for years.

Praise for Digger and The Beehive State

“In Digger…we have an impressive attempt to do what neither objective history nor devout apologia can—recreate experiences that are deepest in the Mormon psyche and significant to Mormon historians…the play is a milestone in Mormon drama. — Scott Dun, Sunstone Review

“Digger gives a dramatic glimpse of God coming through the fourth wall in modern history…a fascinating glimpse into an unlikely prophet and the strange combustion that produced a new American religion.” — Jane Barnes, author of Falling in Love with Joseph Smith and co-writer of PBS’s The Mormons

“One of the few good Mormon plays.” -- Orson Scott Card

“With Digger, Rob Lauer gives Mormonism an intimate view into a family and community involved in Joseph’s most infamous treasure dig. Lauer takes advantage of the three-act play as an art form to allow the audience to slow down and consider the emotional clashes that surely happened between the Hale family and the young treasure seeker. Despite Emma’s historic reputation as an enigma, Lauer successfully delivers a believable and strong-willed young woman. She is funny, sarcastic, and sometimes defiant. The play leaves you wanting just a little bit more, which, in my opinion, is how every good play should end.” — Mark Elwood, author of The Glass Looker

“I was quite taken with Digger…a good yarn about a con man who turns out to be a good guy after all…and a good story about women who understand their place in the world better than the men.” — David Weiss, Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia Theatre

“I first encountered Rob Lauer when I read some of his plays that he published in Sunstone. The first one was called Digger, which was a play that he wrote and produced at BYU in 1982 which was, of all things, about Joseph Smith’s money-digging days! Let me repeat that: BYU, 1982, Joseph Smith’s money-digging days — and it won a Mayhew Award! Rob was truly ahead of his time … He wrote another play called The Beehive State … about a polygamous Mormon family in 1903, when, as we all know, polygamy was supposedly renounced by the Church, but not really. The ending of this particular play was one of the most astonishing things I had read up until that point in my life.” — Stephen Carter, Sunstone Podcast

“The Beehive State is beautiful! The gentle way Lauer weaves feminism and history into the dialogue is brilliant. And the wittiness!” — Dr. Monique Derr, Utah Valley University

“Rob Lauer has written and produced an examination of sexual and family relations that captures the attention of Mormon and “Gentile,” and that’s proof of some talent…each character is keenly and equally drawn (even the children), and Evangeline’s loss of faith after a lifetime defending the Church and the Principle is one of the most moving and relevant concerns presented both in this play and during the past theatrical season.” — Pam Burton, On Stage Magazine