Bechdel donated the multiple drafts, sketches, printers’ proofs, and editorial correspondence for the project to the Sophia Smith Special Collection of Smith’s Archives. She pieced together the story and visual references from journals, letters, photographs, and family ephemera.

It took Alison Bechdel, the author of the syndicated comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For, seven years to write her autobiographical graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.

Its universality comes from its awareness of how we never fully know even those closest to us – and of the undercurrent of grown-up secrets, intuited by children, that exists to some degree in every family.” The New York Times called the show “A beautiful heartbreaker of a musical,” and described the play’s multiple themes in its review, “ Fun Home isn’t just a coming out story or a coming-of-age story. Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.ĭirector, Fiona King was drawn to the story of a father and daughter with a shared but unspoken bond. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood, her growing understanding of her own sexuality, and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires. When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life.

The musical follows Bechdel at three different ages in her life, as she sets out to unravel the many mysteries of her childhood through a series of memories and conversations - from her coming out, to her moving journey of acceptance. The play is adapted from Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic novel with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. Northampton, MA- The Smith College Department of Theatre presents the five-time Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home April 20, 21, 22, 23 at 7:30 PM and April 23 at 2:00 PM in Theatre 14, directed by Fiona King ’22.

Fun house graphic novel