Sangeeta Rajput and Charlie Nash of Cream City Foundation will lead an evening of discussion and music exploring Alison Bechdel’s landmark graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.
Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home — which Alison and her family called the “Fun Home.” It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power — written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail.
Bechdel’s memoir was later adapted into a celebrated Broadway musical, winning five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Throughout the evening, we’ll weave in songs from that production to illuminate key moments in the story — no prior familiarity with the show required. Together, the book and its music open a powerful conversation about identity, family secrets, grief, and what we inherit from the people who shaped us.