You're
Invited!
To a Play...
SALVATION
ROAD, a new play by D.W.
Gregory about the cult experience, will be produced at the New
York University Steinhardt
School of Educational Theatre Oct. 26 to Nov. 4. Tickets are $15
and can be obtained
online HERE. BroadwayWorld.com's
info page states that the play is appropriate for middle school
aged children on up.
The play will then be featured at the Walden Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky in November, running from the 8th until the 18th. Tickets go on sale at the end of this week and are available from the Walden Theatre box office. Contact them at (502) 589-0084.
THE STORY:
When his hip older sister Denise disappears with members of a fundamentalist church, 17-year-old Cliff Kozak struggles to hold it all together, pretending that he isn’t hurt by her decision to cut him
out of her life. But a year later, a chance sighting of Denise at a New Jersey strip mall leads Cliff and his best buddy Duffy on a road trip into the heart of a deepening mystery. Why would a smart and talented girl like Denise fall for the hollow promises of a sleazy preacher? Could it be that blind faith is just another term for a desperate need to belong?
To View a Film....
PARADISE
RECOVERED
If the commute is
too far to see the play, consider watching Paradise
Recovered, an independent film
about the journey of a young woman who transitions out of a high
demand Christian group.
THE STORY from imdb.com:
Esther Harris, a young woman praised for her virtue and devotion to Warren F. Vanderbilt's Prophetic Watchman Ministries, has been given the opportunity of a lifetime - to attend Vanderbilt's Kingdom Bible College and to marry Phillip Sawyer, the son of a minister and a Kingdom student being groomed for the ministry. When the fundamentalist Christian sect falls on hard times, Esther looks for employment at a local health food store to supplement the group's income. At the store, Esther gets a chance to share her faith with her new manager, Gabriel, a devout skeptic and preacher's kid, and his roommate, Mark, a college drop-out who finds Christian television to be great entertainment. Shot entirely on location in Southern Indiana and Austin, Texas, Paradise Recovered attempts a modern-day retelling of the parable of the Good Samaritan while addressing the important topics of faith, tolerance, and spiritual abuse in modern culture. Written by Andie Redwine
It just became
available for instant viewing on Amazon,
iTunes,
Blockbuster,
and Netflix
this past week. I
purchased my copy on Amazon and have started loaning it out. :)
Proceeds from the
effort help to support the Wellspring
Retreat and Resource Center, the residential facility for those
who have left high demand groups and abusive one-on-one
relationships. It was founded by the late Dr.
Paul Martin who is highly spoken of often on this website, a
Christian who exited the cultic and Evangelical Great
Commission group in the seventies and authored many works
including Cult
Proofing Your Kids. Paul's
brother, Steven who also ministers at Wellspring authored The
Heresy of Mind Control which is
listed as essential reading on this website.
Lewis Wells
offers a review
of film at The
Commandments of Men.
How accurate is this story? Accurate enough that a couple of years ago it would've been difficult for me to watch. The story is powerful, and if you've been a part of or heavily brushed by any of these movements, you'll have an ample supply of "I've seen that!' and "I've lived that!" moments.
Well done, Andie. Well done.
I loved how the
character responds to simple kindness and gentle acceptance without a
lot of demanding pressures from those who intervened to help her.
The film does an excellent job of showing how every area of life can
be affected by involvement with a high demand group, especially how
young women leaving this setting can be left without any means of
support. They need the kindness and help of others to get back on
their feet again. The protagonist in the film offers an example of
the courage needed to walk away from such a group, but the help of
understanding people on the outside becomes essential to recovery.
