Letting go of God

Ken Hemingway · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2005 9:38 am Post subject: Letting go of God

Did anyone catch the piece by Julia Sweeney on This American Life last night? It was an excerpt from her one woman show that just closed in LA called Letting Go of God. It descibed how she decided to get more involved in Catholicism (the religion she was raised in) after meeting a couple of very sincere Mormons. She took it to the extent of actually reading the bible......and was appalled by what she found there

- both old and new testaments. She goes on to describe how that led her to think that there isn't any God at all and how she came to terms with the implications of that.

It is great piece - the show ran to packed houses for about a year. It is being made into a CD and a DVD, but you can probably find the excerpt on the NPR web site for a while.

Strongly recommended!

AirPrang · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2005 7:18 pm Post subject: Re: Letting go of God

Sounds quite interesting. I hope it tours, as I'm sure there'd be quite an audience for it here too.

What is the NPR web site?

ASS II, while there's no place like home.

Ken Hemingway · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 7:08 am Post subject: Re: Letting go of God

www.npr.org - look for the program This American Life.

On her web site (interesting blog by the way) she says that she will do a few University performances but not much else besides the CD and the DVD.

That is www.juliasweeney.com

AirPrang · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:38 am Post subject: Re: Letting go of God

Thanks, I'll check out both sites.

Even if Julia Sweeney herself has no plans to tour the work, there's no reason why a production couldn't be picked up and mounted by by someone else. I'll be looking for those details on her web site too.

ASS II, while there's no place like home.

Ken Hemingway · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:45 am Post subject: Re: Letting go of God

Air wrote: ....there's no reason why a production couldn't be picked up and mounted by by someone else.

Sorry, Air, but her stuff is really, really personal. I can't imagine anyone else trying to perform it.

Her previous one woman show was called God said Ha. It was about her brother dying of lymphoma and her own simultaneous battle with cervical cancer.

To give you a flavor of the honesty and humor which she manages to bring to this material, let me quote an incident. Her surgeon explains that when they do the hysterectomy they will move her ovaries up into her chest cavity. That way they will not be affected by the radiation treatment she will need. So she could still have children, though, of course she would need to find a surrogate mother to carry the child. Her comment: Oh, great! Now I have to find a guy and a girl!

Edited by: Ken Hemingway at: 6/6/05 10:46 am

AirPrang · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:27 pm Post subject: Re: Letting go of God

Ah, I see. Very unlikely that someone else would mount a touring production then.

Just as well there's a web site or two to check out.

ASS II, while there's no place like home.


	FORUMS	ABOUT	BOOKS	VIDEOS	TRANSCRIPTS	LINKS	BLOGS	DONATE	CONTACT