o u r f i r s t e v e r 2 - w e e k w o r k s h o p
April 6-18, 2013 Informal Presentation Open to Audience on April 17
On April 2nd, 1918, in a barn outside of Binghamton, NY, twenty-two year old Daniel Shoemaker was shot and killed by thirty-one year old John Van Dyke, who then turned the gun on himself. John and Daniel were “chums,” “lifelong friends,” and they were both committed members of an evangelical Christian sect called the Pentecostal Rescue Mission. They were also drafted. The day after his murder, Daniel was meant to leave his pregnant wife for the front. John could not abide the parting. He was heard to say, “if you leave me Dan, I’ll kill you.” He made good on his threat.
The note in John’s pocket read, “Of course you will think it strange to see anything happen like this, but the reason is we both have always committed secret sin… We were never saved from it.”
Holiness reimagines this story from the playwright's family history and explores its connection with our current culture's uneasy relationship with sex and religion.
Holiness is an exploration of spiritual ecstasy and sexual ecstasy, examining where they are married and where they are separated in the human experience.
Playwright: Thaddeus Shafer Director: Eric Hoff Assistant Director: Caitlin Bower
Cast: Sarah Boughton Elitia Daniels Joe DeSoto Amin El-Gamal Kaitlin Huwe Gerard Marzilli Katelyn Myer Philip Rodriguez Jonny Taylor Anna Walters Buck Zachary Artistic Director:Carly D. Weckstein