Kerry Ashton
Actor / Solo Performer / Voice-Over Specialist
Produced & Published Playwright & Author
Director / Theatrical Producer / Songwriter & Singer
  • Home
  • Bio
    • Overview
    • Singer/Songwriter
    • Director, Producer, Master Class Teacher
  • One-Man Play
    • Kerry Ashton's History with "The Wilde Spirit"
    • Show History & Reviews >
      • Reviews & Press from Long-Runs >
        • Resume of Long Runs
        • Press from LA 1977-1978
        • Press from Off-Off B'way 1982
        • Press from Las Vegas 1983
        • Press from P'town 1990-1992 >
          • P'Town 1990 Press
          • P'Town 1991 Press
          • P'Town 1992 Press
          • P'Town 1995 Editorial
        • Press from Key West, FL 1995
        • Press from Off-Broadway 1996
        • Since 2000
      • Reviews & Press from Road Engagements 1977-2000 >
        • Resume of Road Engagements
        • Sponsor Testimonials 1977-2000
      • Poster Art 1997-2013
      • Brochures 1977-2013
    • Performance DVDs >
      • DVD 1996 Off-Broadway
      • DVD 1992 Musical Version: Live from Provincetown
      • DVD 1990 Provincetown
    • Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording on CD and MP3 Download >
      • Selections from the Off-Broadway Cast Recording
    • Musical Version: Live from Provincetown: Kerry Ashton Sings Wilde (1992)
    • MP3 Download of Digital Soundtrack Recording
    • Digital Soundtrack Recording
    • Audio Books
    • Published Musical Score & Songs >
      • Vocal Selections from THE WILDE SPIRIT
    • Other Audio & Video >
      • YouTube Video Clips of Play Performances
      • Digital Video Clips of TV Interviews
      • Audio Clips of Radio Interviews
    • Author's Notes on Oscar Wilde
    • Oscar Wilde in Photographs
    • Engaging a Performance
    • Licensing "The Wilde Spirit"
  • Writing
    • Published Works Overview >
      • Saint Unshamed:A Gay Mormon's Life
      • Red Hot Mama
      • The Wilde Spirit
      • My Life as Oscar Wilde
      • Buffalo Head Nickels
    • Published Musical Score & Songs >
      • CD of Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording >
        • Selections from the Off-Broadway Cast Recording
      • CD of Musical Version: Live from Provincetown
      • DVD of Musical Version: Live from Provincetown
      • Vocal Selections from "The Wilde Spirit"
      • Digital Soundtrack Recording
    • Published Audio Books
    • My Life as Oscar Wilde (The Screenplay)
    • Licensing Rights
  • Acting
    • Acting Reviews >
      • Letters of Recommendation as an Actor
    • Head Shots as a Professional Actor
    • Photos of Roles Played
    • Audio & Video
    • Voice-Overs
  • Contact
    • Mailing List
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Books >
      • SAINT UNSHAMED: A GAY MORMON'S LIFE Hardcover
      • SAINT UNSHAMED: A GA|Y MORMON'S LIFE Audio Book
      • SAINT UNSHAMED: A GAY MORMON'S LIFE Paperback
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (Published Play)
    • Audio Books >
      • SAINT UNSHAMED: A GAY MORMON'S LIFE Audio Book
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (Audio Book) (Off-Broadway, 1996)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (Audio Book MP3) (The Musical 1992) Kerry Ashton Sings Wilde
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (Audio Book MP3) Live From Provincetown, 1990
    • Audio & Video Products >
      • SAINT UNSHAMED: A GAY MORMON'S LIFE Audio Book
      • THE WILDE SPRIIT (DVD) (Off-Broadway 1996)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (DVD) (The Musical, 1992)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (DVD) (Live From Provincetown, 1990)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (Audio Book MP3) Off-Broadway 1996
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (Audio Book MP3) (The Musical, 1992) Kerry Ashton Sings Wilde
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (Audio Book MP3) Live From Provincetown, 1990
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT Original Off-Broadway Cast Recoding CD
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording 1996 (MP3 & PDF Download)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (MUSICAL VERSION, 1992) ON CD
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (MUSICAL VERSION 1992) MP3 Download
    • Plays & Musical Plays >
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT
      • RED HOT MAMA The New Sophie Tucker Musical
      • MY LIFE AS OSCAR WILDE (Play)
      • BUFFALO HEAD NICKELS
    • Sheet Music & Scores >
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT Vocal Selections
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording CD
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording (MP3 & PDF Download)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT CD (THE MUSICAL) (1992) Kerry Ashton Sings Wilde
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT (THE MUSICAL) CD 1992 (MP3 & PDF Download)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT Digital Soundtrack Recording (MP3 Audio File Download)
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT Original Off-Broadway Soundtrack Recording (MP3 Download)
    • Poetry & Song Lyrics >
      • THE WILDE SPIRIT VOCAL SELECTIONS

SAINT UNSHAMED GIVEN A RAVE FROM FOREWORD/CLARION

4/14/2019

0 Comments

 
SAINT UNSHAMED
A GAY MORMON'S LIFE
Kerry Ashton 
Lynn Wolf Enterprises 
Hardcover $28.95 (348pp)
978-0-692-17051-9

Saint Unshamed is a triumphant memoir about how one man managed to find a way out of a culture that would silence him.
​

In his memoir, Saint Unshamed, actor and writer Kerry Ashton likens shame to an insidious disease that threads through the body and the psyche, slowly destroying and devaluing everything it touches. Ashton caught it early—from his parents, from his Mormon faith, from his burgeoning understanding of his own sexuality. Brutal, graphic, and historical, this memoir tells not only Ashton’s harrowing story, but also that of the many gay men who struggled with their sexual identity and health during the latter quarter of the twentieth century.

Now capable of understanding much of what he has endured, Ashton begins with his own lack of shame, a state he spent decades trying to achieve. Shamed by his family for being effeminate and policed and punished by Brigham Young University, Ashton nevertheless emerged the victor, but he also endured electroshock therapy that forever damaged his nervous system and a disturbing and violent rape.

In the midst of his own story, Ashton also discusses friends who lost their lives, including gay men who killed themselves, who contracted HIV, or who buried themselves in heterosexual marriages. He gives life to rest stops and gay cruising grounds, relating both their necessity and the danger they represented for men who could not speak about their sexual needs.

Ashton also tries to make sense of his religious and family life. Strict Mormon laws regarding sex, from masturbation to intercourse to anything in between, informed much of Ashton’s suffering, but to deny Mormonism would have been to lose his family, his faith, and, in many ways, his identity as a young man. Ashton’s electric scenes speak to that quandary and make real the many parts of life that are barred to men who come out.
Though the memoir progresses almost to the present, with a quick screed against Donald Trump near its end, Ashton’s young adulthood and childhood produce the best-wrought scenes with the most at stake. The pacing and the tension there is literary; scenes are full and include actions and reactions. 

The text’s moves through time are frequent and sometimes disruptive. Barbra Streisand movies are referenced to help keep years straight in the story, which also pays homage to Judy Garland; The Wizard of Oz becomes an extended metaphor with clear parallels in Ashton’s story. Ashton’s encounters with famous people are charming and interesting in and of themselves.

Devastating but ultimately hopeful, Saint Unshamed is insightful as it reveals a generation of Mormon men who were hurt and sometimes destroyed by the church’s positions on their sexuality. It is a triumphant memoir about how one man managed to find a way out.

Reviewed by Camille-Yvette Welsch 

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Kerry Ashton

    Author, Playwright, Actor, Director, Producer, Composer & Lyricist

    Visit Kerry Ashton's Author Page at Amazon Author Central by clicking on the link below:​

    Kerry Ashton @ AMAZON

    Archives

    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018

    RSS Feed


    To comment, you must first send your name, address & email to the publisher at LynnWolfEnterprises@
    gmail.com. Then, your comment must be approved before it will be posted.
Official PayPal Seal

This Website, and all of its contents, including all text, photographs, art and graphics are fully protected under copyright laws of the United States. Any unauthorized use of any material content from this site without written permission will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

Copyright © 2018 by  Kerry Ashton. All Rights Reserved.