In July, writer, actor and activist Zack Bonnie came to our production in Washington, D.C. Zack writes of his own experiences with controlling organzations in his memoir, Dead, Insane, or In Jail. He shares these thoughts about what he saw at the Capital Fringe:
In Washington I was able to meet the playwright D.W. Gregory. Her play "Salvation Road" is a show, loosely based on a time when her sister that was in a religious based high-control group in the 70's.
And what it took to spring her out.
These kooky places flourished then, as part a post-Freudian, anti-psychology movement- and didn't always have the social stigma of places, that 'cults' do these days. Fringe belief systems that stray from the mainstream religious and social systems may have an allure which can draw youthful, sophomoric, or overly-idealistic people in.
"Salvation Road" was a terrific dramatic view into the window of religious mind control, and how families are then broken apart by changing moralities within the existing social structure.
D.W. Gregory's writing, and the direction by Mary Byrd Sproul, like any good theater piece did take a few days to absorb in to me. It irked me that I had a piece of my brain tickled, and two days had to pass before the resultant itch became thought. As any good theater ought, it transformed the mundane into pertinence and sparked inspiration in myself, and in the murmuring post-audience crowd. This is not a typical subject, and it demands that the audience change their views after the viewing.
Again it seems, educating, advocating through imagination is
the antidote to high control groups..."
In Washington I was able to meet the playwright D.W. Gregory. Her play "Salvation Road" is a show, loosely based on a time when her sister that was in a religious based high-control group in the 70's.
And what it took to spring her out.
These kooky places flourished then, as part a post-Freudian, anti-psychology movement- and didn't always have the social stigma of places, that 'cults' do these days. Fringe belief systems that stray from the mainstream religious and social systems may have an allure which can draw youthful, sophomoric, or overly-idealistic people in.
"Salvation Road" was a terrific dramatic view into the window of religious mind control, and how families are then broken apart by changing moralities within the existing social structure.
D.W. Gregory's writing, and the direction by Mary Byrd Sproul, like any good theater piece did take a few days to absorb in to me. It irked me that I had a piece of my brain tickled, and two days had to pass before the resultant itch became thought. As any good theater ought, it transformed the mundane into pertinence and sparked inspiration in myself, and in the murmuring post-audience crowd. This is not a typical subject, and it demands that the audience change their views after the viewing.
Again it seems, educating, advocating through imagination is
the antidote to high control groups..."
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