Shane Fillmore, vocalist and drummer for Grain, spoke about the UVSC performance. But even more importantly, the opera focuses on healing, understanding and the prevention of such a tragic end. Grain’s goal in composing and performing “A Place in The Sun,” is to let the truth about Alden Barrett be known. Tim Threlfall, faculty member in the theater department summed up the performance in his notes: A Place in The Sun is, “…part rock concert, part concept show, part rock video, part modern dance and part story theater.” “We were really scared of the word ‘dance’ at first,” Donaldson said.Ī twelve-member cast, directed by Christiansen and choreographed by Megan Sanborn, complements the story through dance, acting and movement “Without any theater training they wrote this amazingly dramatic piece.”Ĭhristiansen approached Grain with the idea of adding theater concepts and dance to portray the story. “I was very moved by it and saw the potential,” Christiansen said. “There was a really good feeling after the show,” said Winston Lee, Grain’s keyboardist.Īlisha Christiansen, a graduate student in theater, was in the audience that night. “It’s the first time she faced the truth,” Donaldson said. The response was overwhelming.Īlden’s sister attended the performance at UVSC and was impressed. Last March Grain performed, “A Place in The Sun,” in its entirety at UVSC. From chord progressions to lyrics the songs fit together perfectly. Six months ago Grain put all 36 songs about Alden together. “The inspiration came from our own lives.” “When we wrote these songs they were about Alden, but they’re also about everyone,” Donaldson said. The musical story grew as the band mixed impressions with their own experiences. Grain developed songs from Alden’s words. Jack Donaldson, singer and acoustic guitarist for Grain, was impressed immediately with Alden’s poetry. Scott even loaned Alden’s journal to the band for a time. Several years ago, members of Grain became acquainted with Alden’s family. Nowhere in Alden’s real journal were satanic practices of any kind mentioned, Scott said. Scott said that of the 67 entries in Alden’s journal, Sparks only used 21. “It was like an atomic bomb went off and our family was at ground zero.” Scott Barrett, Alden’s younger brother, described on his homepage, (http:the community’s reaction when “Jay’s Journal” was published. When the book, “Jay’s Journal” was published, the local community immediately made the connection between the real person, Alden, and the fictional character, Jay. Sparks used several of Alden’s journal entries when she wrote a book about a boy’s cult-filled life ending in suicide. With only good intentions, Alden’s mother, Marcella, loaned her sons journal to author Beatrice Sparks. Grain, in conjunction with the theater and music departments at BYU will perform a moving 36-song rock opera this week in the Nelke theater.Īlden Barrett died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, but he left behind a journal filled with life, poems and dreams. Rock band, Grain, will set the record straight about a boy who ended his life more than 25 years ago.