All language subtitles for Corpus Christi - Playing With Redemption (Dvd)

(slow tempo piano music)

(light guitar music)

(indistinct chatter)

Voiceover: Coming up, an
unusual take on the story

of Jesus Christ and why
some claim it is a play

that’s gone too far.

Man in black: No, lets take
it up to the stage and then...

Newsman: Residents say they
are furious that a local

university will put on a play
depicting a gay Jesus Christ.

(laughter)

Voiceover: It’s a little
too much for residents of

the [Cowboy Cat] but of who
are protesting the saturday

performance, saying theirs too
much passion in this Christ.

Woman with cross: It’s just
my cross to bear. Oh God.

(chuckle)

Jimmy: Some theater news for
your guys, in May there’s

a new play premiering in
Texas about a gay Jesus.

I don’t know if the play
is going to be good or bad

but I do know everything
will go really smoothly

and no one will have
a problem with it.

That’s what I know for a fact.

Woman in purple:
That’s a great idea.

Man with sign: You’re calling
yourselves a Christian...

(multiple voices)

Man with glasses: This
play, depicting Jesus Christ

as a homosexual, is blasphemy.

Terrence: I was always
thought Corpus Christi
was a great title.

I thought, one day I’m
going to write a play about

Corpus Christi, but I
didn’t know what it was

going to be about yet.

I can’t say what inspired
the play, other than

a lot of feeling I have
about, how religions have sort

of drummed gays out of the
churches and we have a spiritual

side too, we’re not just in
a chat rooms and hooking up

and promiscuity and aids
and all those things.

The story of Christ, I was
sort of rethinking about it,

it seemed very, I just
wanted to tell it again and

I wanted to tell it in terms
that made it accessible

and understandable and realer
to me and not something

in a Sunday school book.

Quite honestly, one of
the inspirations for the

play was a Gap ad.

A lot of cute young guys
in their white t-shirts

and khakis, barefoot and I said,

that’s what they
should look like.

I think about it, the white
t-shirt and the khakis

is what I had to wear
at Catholic school.

That’s how, seemed the
right image to do with it

but in a funny way it
did not unlock the play

and I think this production,
with it’s non traditional

casting, really unlocked what
the play is about, in a way.

If I’m writing a play to
show that I’m as made in

Gods image as the next
person and this casting says

we all are men, women, young,
old, very many different

colors, are also
made in Gods image.

That is so much more
universal than what we put

on the stage, what the
uproar the play cause here.

Surely no theater
would be willing to
go through that again.

It’s really a play that
I thought was probably
going to vanish.

(multiple voice speaking)

Bob: Theater comes out
of ritual and that’s an

important sort of
correlation that I studied in

the history of religion.

There’s a story being
told, ritually, about
creation and so on.

That’s where first theater
started to develop.

Nic: Reverend Bob had this
mission himself, about

getting theater back into
this particular church.

He asked me if I’d like to
do something and I said,

you know I had an experience
with the play, Corpus Christi,

that I think it would be
a really intriguing show

to put up at this church.

I wanted to combine the
idea of theater and church

and ritual and religion and
remember my alter boy days.

And remember those very
sacred moments in a service

that I could connect
with the stage.

Woman in white shirt:
Blessed are the meek,

they should, blah, blah, blah.

Nic: I knew the ensemble was
key and so the first thing

I did was decide how
I’m going to cast it.

Sheilagh: Nic had sent
out an email to his

seventy five closest
friends, he really does have

seventy five really
close friends.

Molly: I have been friends
with Nic for a while and

he directed me in a comedy
and it was just so much fun.

Elizabeth: And then I was
like, but wait a minute

this is Corpus Christi,
they’re all men.

Bob: And, Nic Arnzen brought
a great deal of creativity

to the play and included
males and females and

not the transgender Jesus I
wanted but, a honky Jesus.

James: My honest first
impression was, what am I doing?

I’m at this weird little
church in the ghetto

about to pick up a
script, do for free.

Molly: And at first I was
kind of like, okay it’s a

Jesus play in a church, eww-ugh.

David: I remember saying to
somebody, God I really want

to be in somebody else’s play.

I want to say
somebody else’s words.

Two days later, do you
wanna do Corpus Christi?

Well, I don’t know what
the play is but it’s

Terrence McNally and I
asked for it, so yea.

Jan: I was helping out
here with a luncheon and I

saw the audition and when
I went for the audition

Nic said to me, he said,
"could you say, fuck you?"

and I said, fuck you!
(laughs) and he said,

" you got the part." (laughs)

Elizabeth: And he gave me
all these really male parts

and I’m like, I don’t,
how’s this going to work?

And I was very much the
doubting, doubting Thomas.

Sheilagh: I wanted Liz’s
part because I wanted to say,

something really sick about
it but I really wanted

to be able to say, Jesus
is a cock sucker and if

the son of God is a cock
sucker, I don’t think so.

Like I thought it was the
coolest fucking line ever

written in the history
of ever and I was like,

fuck I want that line, you know?

Steve: I had worked with
Molly O’Leary and thought she

was the funniest person
I’d ever met and I was

so excited to reconnect
with Molly and see she

had been cast in it.

I had worked with Liz
Cava before, so there were

people that I was
familiar with and I knew

we were going to
have a good time.

So I was thrilled to be
apart of it, even though

I didn’t think it
was a very good play.

David: And I didn’t know
the stories of Christianity.

I didn’t know the
story of Jesus Christ.

So you know, there’s all
the stuff with the fish

and the this and the that
and I’m like, I don’t

know what the fuck
any of this is.

So I had to go look it up.

Elizabeth: For me, I knew all
the Catholic, the bible stories.

I knew every single
word written in there.

Sheilagh: There’s things
moving and Roman people

and Jesus does
what? And, oh God.

James: It felt very religious
to me actually and it

was bringing up a lot of
Catholicism issues that I have,

so I was like, what am I doing?

What is going on with my life?

I just was like, ugh.

Jan: It was a weird show.

Steve: And then when I heard
it’s going to be simple staging

we’re just going to use
a couple of benches and

we’re doing it at this
church and I thought,

oh okay I don’t have to invite
any friends or anything.

Sheilagh: This bench has
got to go here, this bench

has got to go there, mix around

(frustration grunts)

Fuck, with the benches, right?

What the hell is
wrong with this man?

James: Definitely felt like
a train wreck and I was like,

okay well this is going
to be shit and I’m

not going to invite anybody.

Molly: And on some level
I trusted Nic completely.

Just been my mistake all
along, our whole friendship.

Steve: And then we started
rehearsing and then of course

it started taking over
and then I realized what

it was and I realized this
vision that Nic had for the show

and I realized we were
doing something special.

James: Looking around and
looking at everybody’s

faces in the audience and
just kind of stunned that

we actually got through
it but also that some,

whatever just happened,
something magical just happened.

Steve: But, I don’t think
any of us, certainly

I didn’t have any idea
what it was going to become

and what a huge part of my
life it was going to be.

(multiple people talking)

Man with black hair: God will
judge for whats going on.

Man with mustache: Makes
Christ, who is sinless,

a sinner and it makes
him a homosexual.

Man with hat: Defame our
God, now I don’t think so.

Terrence: To quote,
controversy, of Corpus Christi

was based on something
that was never true.

That the play featured
fellatio, sodomy, and other

unspeakable things, lots
of nudity, very graphic

sexual acts, this kind of
joyful, spiritual experience

became kind of lurid and
tabloid and it really was

so shocking to me
when that happened.

Larry: It so hard to pour
your heart and you guts into

writing something that is
so important and so painful

and that you want to
share with the world and

to not have the support
is exceeding painful.

Woman with had: You wouldn’t
do this to any other faith

except the Catholic faith.

They wouldn’t do that
to the Muslim faith or

make your Buddha nothing.

It’s always picking on
the Catholic church.

Terrence: Suddenly we’re
being denounced by everybody

and the phones start ringing
off the hook at the theater,

and not to buy tickets
a lot of it but, we’re

gonna blow you up and this
and that and that’s when

the Manhattan Theater Club
cancelled the production.

Athol Fugard and Tony Kushner
was very vocal spokesman

and people who can
reach the media.

Norman: And that’s why
people for the American Way

got involved in the first place.

To attempt to keep other
people from producing it

and anybody who may wish
to see it, from seeing it.

That’s the unfortunate
tact that they’re taking.

It was Barbara Hammond,
she was People for the

American Way in New York, then
I personally got involved.

It was Norman, Barbara,
get your ass to New York.

(chuckles)

Larry: Nothing works
better than a good protest.

You bet your bottom dollar.

Anson: The whole security
situation started and we

had to go through the
back way everyday and we

were issued these security
passes and we had to have

new name tags everyday and
there’s a bomb sniffing

dog and they were installing
metal detectors in the theater.

Terrence: And it
was a very unhealthy

atmosphere to do a play in.

Man with mustache: From
those who have seen the play

we’ve talked to them, they’ve
told us, they verified it.

Bill Donohue, head of the
Catholic league was interviewed

yesterday on the radio,
he spoke about the play.

Anson: it’s amazing what people
can convince themselves of,

and how much, how,
anger is a drug.

It really is, it can provide
a lot of energy and it

can really keep you going.

William: You know the
idea of a couple of men

kissing each other was not
exactly the most offensive

thing in the world to me.

What I didn’t like was
to misappropriate Jesus

and make him be crucified
as the king of the Queers

because he approves of
homosexuality and a priest

is telling him how bad
homosexuality is and he says,

"I despise you," that’s a quote.

He engages in violence
against the priest and the

all white audience sat
there and they loved it.

Terrence: There’s this one
guy, this William Donohue

who really was the
big pot stirrer here.

William: And he said to
the priest who was talking

about the biblical teachings
on homosexuality that

" you have perverted
my fathers words."

No, this play has perverted
the scriptural teaching.

Anson: Donohue came, and
he wont tell you this,

but he slept through
the majority of it.

And then he came out and
said, it’s exactly what

I thought it was gonna be,
they’re denouncing Christ.

Mutherfucker you were snoring
on the second row, house left.

Don’t try to pretend.

I had my monologue in
[unintelligible] I looked

over, you were fucking snoozing.

Terrence: And I really
think this play just showed

how thin the scab over
homophobia is in this county and

how easily it’s picked off.

Tom: I guess because he’s
my spouse I would also wish

that Terrence got a little more
credit for taking a bold step.

Anson: You know I don’t want
to, I don’t really don’t

want to try to make any
of us sound like any sort

of martyrs or heroes or freedom
fighters, because we’re not.

We’re just actors, but I
did sit in my apartment and

write a letter to my
mother and I left it on my

bed and I made sure my
best friend had a key to

my apartment and I got
rid of all my porn.

(laughs)

Tom: I think that the world
was less willing to look

at what the play actually
was, which was profound.

Terrence: I wish people
say, what really upset us

about this play is that
you said that gay men

and women can live good,
moral, decent, Christian lives.

Melissa: I bless
you, James Brandon.

I baptize you and I
recognize your divinity

as a human being.

I love you, Brandon.

The baptisms are beautiful.

You cant, not be present
and when I’m looking at

all those people that I
love, for different reasons,

and telling them that,
telling them I adore you,

it’s just beautiful,
it’s a beautiful moment.

I’ve been waiting for you.

(sobbing)

Suzanne: We all have.
There’s something

about being baptized in the
play that’s very, magical.

It’s like in that
moment, that’s when the

show really starts for me.

It’s when the journey
really starts, because

I’m transformed into
this other person.

Bob: Transition from Brandon
to Joshua or whatever

character there is in there
is a ritual transformation

of that person from ordinary
space to sacred space.

And so it becomes a
sacred story being told.

Melissa: I adore you Paulie,
I christen you, Peter.

Paul: The baptist church
that I came from before that

my father became minister,
we spoke in tongues.

I was baptized, almost
because I felt like I was

supposed to be baptized,
it was kind of something

that was like this
pressure that you

needed to become baptized.

Melissa: Talking to guides
and spirits and seeing

things I was never told
not to, that’s how I

was brought up.

It was never, oh no, no
you don’t, oh you’re weird

or what is that, that
was always just normal.

Oh she’s going off and
playing with the fairies.

Paul: I grew up in a
loving family, there was a

core love that was there
that was quite beautiful,

but being gay was not
accepted because it was

believed that, or it
still is believed I think

for my mother, that you go
to hell for all of eternity.

I felt like I had to leave
that type of environment.

I felt like I have to
accept myself as who I am

and if one of the ways is
to accept that is to say

that I’m going to go
to hell than, so be it.

Nic: I think my parents just
expected, it was tradition

to go to church, they
expected it of us.

And I think they tried,
definitely tried, and

it was done on
them, to guilt us.

If you don’t embrace Jesus,
if you don’t love the

Catholic religion,
then you don’t love us.

James: Everything is prim
and proper and you go to

church and everything
is perfect and

you don’t talk
about your problems.

Suzanne: Christianity is
constant, these are the rules,

this is absolute, this
is how you have to do it

and I just didn’t
agree with that.

Sheilagh: The rules, the
structure of religion is like

okay, this is one thing in
my life that makes sense.

And then there’s this community,
there’s this community

of people who look like
me, who love me because I’m

God’s child and as much
as I loathe myself,

I could go there, that’s
another thing, I could go there

and they love me because
I was God’s child but

the biggest revelation I
had, actually about spirit

came while I was really deep
in my Christian practice

and it was, That he
loves you no matter what.

Nic: More than anything I
wanted children and I’ll

tell you when I did
come out of the closet I

took a deep breath and I
went, okay I gotta let it go.

I’m not gonna have kids
and I’m okay with that,

I’m just going to have
to be okay with that.

James: I don’t know what
I did wrong, but I did

something wrong
in my dad’s eyes.

I remember he had taken
the belt off of him and

he had started hitting me
and then I remember looking

and it’s such a strange
visual, but I remember

seeing the cross with
the palms from lent

I think it was over it and
just staring at that visual

and thinking, even at
that age, is this what

Jesus felt, in this time.

Jan: I get really upset
with church because a lot

of awful things happen
because of church.

I just, I don’t believe
most of this stuff.

(laughs)

So, don’t do it.

James: The ten commandments
really stuck with me.

I mean those are, I don’t
know if that really a

bible story though.

David: Being a Jewish
household, especially with

my grandparents, every
so often they would refer

to somebody as a feygela
which I found out, I don’t

think I really found out that
they were gay but I found out

that if I meet them, they’d
be very sort of swishy.

James: Like you can’t
lie you can’t cheat,

covet their neighbor, thy
wife or something or other.

David: And they were the
feygela, which to this day

when I hear that I swear
to God I want to take

a shotgun to people.

James: Don’t kill, right?

David: Call him a fag but
don’t say it in Yiddish. Jesus.

James: No, I don’t
remember anything.

David: Religion has
never really had a lot of

resonance for me and I
see it now, as I’ve always

seen it, as something
that gets in the way.

Nic: I don’t choose to live
a homosexual lifestyle,

I don’t choose that,
that’s who I am.

I have to choose to live a lie,

and I’m not going to do that.

It’s just like theater,
there has to be truth

and the truth is
what connects us.

Lies don’t connect us,

and my life as a straight
man would be a lie.

I wouldn’t be
connected to the world,

I wouldn’t be who I am.

That would be a sin.

(crying)

Sheilagh: Joshua,
Joshua, Joshua.

(laughs)

This is the Lord, God.

Your father, stop
crying and be a man.

Much has been given
to you because much

is expected of you.

I don’t know at what
point in the play it

became something else.

It was like, I woke up and I
was in a spiritual journey,

and I was working on my
self issues and my spiritual

issues and any closeted
phobias I had and what

left over bad tapes from
Christian stuff I had.

It was like I was in a never
ending therapy session.

James: The process of
my father dying was when

I was re-introduced to God.

And all the angst my father
had given me as a kid,

it was fascinating to me
that in those two hours

I spent with him almost
everyday were actually the

most sanctified and
healing times I had lived

in my existence so far.

Sheilagh: Magic, miracles
happen on that stage, they do.

They really do.

James: But, I feel like
what I do know about my

fathers spirit is that,
it is a part of me.

We are of the same essence.

I know that, at the
core of him and of all

living things is
the essence of love

and that’s to me what life
is about and if you’re

caught up in your head
then you’re not living

in the moment and
that’s all there is.

Sheilagh: You will work
miracles, you will demonstrate

patience and practice
inextricable determination.

Bob: You can see that
in the cast members,

that the story has become
important and critical.

It’s become critical
because the denial of same

sex love in this
country is real.

James: Theater has always been,
to me, a tool for teaching.

Without talking to a specific
person in the audience

you’re actually talking to them.

You’re relating to them,
you’re connecting to them.

And that’s the beauty
of theater to me.

Why me?

Sheilagh: Why not you?

All men are divine.

James: What, I
couldn’t hear you.

Sheilagh: All men are divine.

James: Why are you whispering?

Sheilagh: That is the
secret you will teach them.

James: What if I don’t
want to share this secret

with my fellow men.

Sheilagh: You wont
be able to keep it.

James: What if I don’t
believe it myself?

Sheilagh: No more
questions Joshua, I’m gone.

James: Gone, what do
you mean you’re gone.

You can’t be gone,
you’re supposed to be

everywhere all the time.

Sheilagh: That is a very
big misunderstanding.

Voiceover: Things manifested
before my eyes that I

didn’t think were possible.

Perfect example of that
was when we first started

to tour the show.

Sheilagh: It’s going to
be this amazing mystical,

religious, spiritual
experience and we’re going

to be blessed and we’re
going to bless so many lives.

Brunette woman: Just like with
God or the divine or the holy or

what you would call sacred,
words fail to describe

the place in the heart that
Corpus Christi touches.

Newsman: It depicts Jesus
as a gay man, the play

drew protest a decade
ago in New York City,

but will it still
cause a stir here?

Melissa: I’m ready,
I just want to go.

I think we’ve done all
the prep work and we’ve

done all the
charities and stuff.

We’ve got a couple more to go,

a little bit more
money to raise.

Molly: It’s just the
collective energy of all of us

going, we’re going, lets go.

And it’s not me going,
oh we’re going to do it

cause we’re going to ride
a stream and we’re just

going to go and it’s
all gonna happen

and so, because we
love each other.

I know there’s a lot
of work behind the love

but I do know that we can
all make that happen now.

Voiceover: Corpus Christi,
which attracted protesters

back in 1998 when it was
staged in New York City,

has since gone around the world.

Voiceover: I feel
safe doing this show.

Even when we’ve
gone to Scotland.

Jan: Don’t go out alone
because the bishop

has said, you’re blasphemy.

Jimmy: That’s right,
there’s a new play about

a gay Jesus, in
this version Jesus

turns water into appletinis.

(audience laughter)

Voiceover: But it
was magical, we lived

in a six bedroom
flat in Edinburgh.

Molly: And all the schedules
we had on the walls,

Liz will be on her
menstrual cycle from this

date to this date,
then I get this week.

(laughter)

Steve: With Corpus
Christi we lived together,

we grocery shopped together,
we did that for a month.

And we, honestly,
became a family.

Nic: With the Corpus
Christi family, I guess

I would feel most like the dad.

The biggest gift I feel I
was given from, whatever

entity is being a dad.

Blonde woman: I’m getting
choked up just talking about it.

Because there was so
much love between each

of these people
before they got into

the role of the play.

Jan: I never used to say,
I love you, to people.

What, I mean you know,
what? You got to be kidding.

Blonde woman: I honestly
think this play is just

moving huge amounts of
energy in the world right now

to a place where we can
start loving each other.

Jan: How did I
learn how to love?

I’m not real sure,
that I really have.

Really not sure.

Nic: But I see these
people inspire each other

to meditate, I see them
inspire each other to

argue, don’t just sell
yourself on that, really argue.

Inspire each other to treat
each other with respect.

And it’s really thrilling.

Jan: Well what I thought
family was, was a mother

and a father and children
and some aunt and uncles.

Family now, to me, is
kind of like a director,

some actors, (laughs)

it’s just a, yea
that’s what it is.

Brunette woman: I walk
in as one person and

I came out as another
person and I watched

an entire audience transform
until everyone dissolved

and there was just one
group, like one soul,

one heart on a journey.

Molly: Everywhere we
go we collect family.

I think Steve Susoyev
was one of them.

Steve: When I first saw
Corpus Christi I think as

one often experiences
with something that feels

a little bit bigger
than life, I thought,

I want these people in my
life, I want to be around

them and I want to get
to know them and have

them contribute
something to my life too.

And I sensed that,
that could happen.

Molly: There have been
several audience members

where when we go and
sit down at the end or

before we go back out and
I just remember placing

my hands on his shoulders
and he was just sobbing.

And that just felt so
connected at that point.

Steve: I’ve fallen in
love with this play,

so for me, travelling,
going to Scotland for that

run in the French festival,
I got to see large

numbers of people from
different parts of the world

seeing the play for
the first time, seeing,

as I had done, seeing
something that they

weren’t expecting to see.

Blonde woman: I grew up
in a very, Christian home,

baptist to be specific.

Man in white: I was
raised a fundamental
Christian, pentecostal.

Man in stripes: I am a Buddhist.

Blonde woman: My departure
from the church directly

had to do with
the AIDS epidemic.

Red haired woman: I mean
it’s either separation

of church and state or it’s not.

Blonde woman: My childhood
pastor, the man that I

grew up with my whole life,
came out and said that

it was God’s way of smiting.

Priest: Prejudice is a
very wicked thing, it’s

so contrary to everything, what
is the real Christian gospel.

Red haired woman: And you let
any old idiot boy and girl

get married, I mean
it just doesn’t

make any sense to
me, whatsoever.

Man in white: And the
night the I came to see

Corpus Christi I almost
came antagonistically,

four years ago to just go okay,

what is this blasphemous crap.

Woman in glasses: My family
is everywhere over Texas,

I understand a lot of
the, there’s a reason
I’m not in Texas.

Man with beard: I just wonder
if things had be different

in Texas, had Jesus been
there when I was growing

up and that’s kind of what I’m
going to be wondering all night.

Man in white: And I wept,
and I wept and I wept

and I brought twelve friends
to the next performance.

Man in stripes: I guess
I had that kind of

preconceived notion going
into it that it would

be some kind of, I don’t
know, maybe over the top

flaming drag queen kind
of show that it really

wouldn’t have much
meaning to me and,

I’m sorry. As it turned out,
it had a lot of meaning.

Elizabeth: This is the
scary part of the trip.

Miles and miles of
desert up ahead.

Nothing but sand and hate.

Not a place you
wanna break down in.

I did once, left
me a changed man.

You ever been alone like that?

Could drive a person, crazy.

Terrence: I mean
it’s a scary place.

And that’s very much, I
mean I wrote the scene

with the truck driver
and very much Texas is

lots of lonely roads,
God forsaken and

I would hate to be stranded
in any of those places.

Elizabeth: You can perish
in the desert, very quickly.

It’s not something
to fuck around with.

Terrence: And that’s when the
devil can become apparent.

Through James Dean,
in a funny way.

I think you would be
challenged by your demons

if you were left in the desert.

Suzanne: That’s how I died.

That Porsche with the
buzzard sitting on it.

You know how you’re gonna die?

James: No.

Suzanne: You want to know?

I felt like growing up I
was being lied to alot.

I was being lied to in
regards to who I was.

I had people telling
me, well you’re a girl

you’re supposed to do
these things that are

very feminine, that
are very girly.

In fact I was absolutely
devastated when I realized

I wasn’t going to be a boy.

James: For God so
loved the world he gave
his only son to us.

(chuckles)

Suzanne: And he chose you.

I never got asked to go
to the dances and if I did

it was always very awkward
and I was like, ugh

I have to wear this dress and
dress shopping was like trauma.

The same with bra shopping,
I don’t want to do this,ever.

Mmm, you will feel
nothing but yourself.

Your needs, your pleasures,
a small price for all that.

Are you ready?

James: But it would be a lie.

Mark: When I started
doing the play, I wasn’t

out of my dark place yet.

I was hospitalized for
a suicide attempt and I

remember sitting in the
emergency area outside

waiting to go home, after
they finally released me,

and just thinking,
how did I get here?

How did this happen to me.

Sheilagh: The drugs,
it was normal.

So when I tell people
I started doing cocaine

when I was thirteen
people go, what?

It was normal, they
were everywhere.

Mark: There is acceptance
in using and running around

the people and, it was sort
of this false camaraderie.

As that became more important
in my life, people like

Nic, who were always
super important to me and

who I care about deeply,
didn’t matter anymore.

Sheilagh: My mother’s
white and my fathers black,

they divorced when I was two.

Jan: My folks were very
southern, very redneck.

Sheilagh: It was a
very segregated town,

the black people in Las Vegas
call it, little Mississippi.

Jan: Sheilagh’s going to
kill me if she hears this

but, niggers were good as
long as they kept their place.

Sheilagh: Stories of black folk
being buried in the desert.

That’s sort of where
the cops took you.

Jan: When I was, that’s
wild, when I was really

young I had a black
nanny and I, wow.

I can’t talk about that,
because it always gets me.

When we moved, she didn’t come.

So it’s like, I think a
hidden thing way inside

that really make me crazy.

Sheilagh: I spend a lot
of my time, feeling like

an outcast, I just
sort of didn’t fit in.

Which is probably how I
ended up in the theater

cause I think that’s
where outcast go,

is to the theater.

Jan: You can’t get rid
of some of the things

you were very carefully taught.

Voiceover: Life on
newstalk 106 to 108.

Voiceover: It has been
the source of protest and

controversy in many countries,
this week Corpus Christi,

a stage play which
depicts Jesus as a gay man

living in America in the
1950’s opened in Dublin

and it opened last night
as part of the Dublin

gay theater festival which
has already been criticized

here as offensive to Christians.

Steve: People, I was one of
the people, were expecting

some trouble, here’s
a Catholic country.

So I walk up and I’m going
to confront them and I

started asking them questions.

So how many times have
you seen this play?

Well of course I knew they
hadn’t and I’m setting

them up and the woman
said, we haven’t seen it.

So you’re protesting a
play you haven’t even seen.

You haven’t even read
the script, I’m getting

louder and louder and
then Suzanne, a member of

the cast comes out with
a little video camera

and asks these people,
may I talk to you I’m in

the play and I’d like
to talk to you about it.

Suzanne: Have you seen
that play or read it?

Woman in white: No,
I read about it.

Suzanne: You read about it
but you’ve never actually

got the script or...

Woman in white: No, don’t
know. We know what it’s

about so we don’t need
to know every last word.

Suzanne: Oh really?

Man in glasses: It’s offensive,
objectively independent

of our subjective opinions.

So that’s why I’m here
to protest against

to make people aware of it.

Suzanne: Are you with, do you
practice a particular Christian-

Woman in white: Yea,
we’re Roman Catholics.

Suzanne: Roman Catholic?

Woman in White: Yea.
That’s the one true church

founded by Christ.

There are other Christian
denominations but

the Catholic church is
the one true church,

it’s the only one
founded by him.

Man with glasses: How would
you define what love is?

Suzanne: Oh love is, it’s
the only thing that matters

and God’s given us that
capacity to love each other,

openly and accepting everyone.

That’s how I would explain it.

Woman in white: When you
believe in something you...

Suzanne: Of course.

Woman in white: Really should
stand up for it and, why not?

Man with glasses: You know,
shows like this endanger people

and they trivialize religion.

You know there’s, we lost
a sense of the sacred

and somethings are
beyond trifling with.

David: They haven’t read
it, they haven’t seen it

and that is just one more
way of saying, you see

you hate what you
don’t understand.

You hate what you’re
not willing to look at.

You’re not willing to, I’m
willing to look at you.

Steve: I think there’s
bigotry and discrimination

and I don’t think it
comes from a place of hate

I think it comes from
a place of ignorance.

David: This play has taught
me that you have something

that you believe in that’s
very important to you.

Steve: It’s no longer
okay just to say, oh we’re

gonna agree to disagree.

Not when the other
side is so wrong.

I’m trying to understand
you, why can’t you

fucking try to understand me.

Suzanne: Do you go home tonight?

Woman in white: Yea, yea we do.

Suzanne: Travel back safely.

Woman in white: Well, thank you.

Suzanne: Yea, no problem.

Yea and be well. Be well.

Tom: Suzanne she was
gentle, she got them smiling

and talking and it
was very simple.

And something in Suzanne’s
approach really touched me.

I thought, I want to
think I can do that.

Suzanne: To come across
adults who are just so

unaware of this larger
concept of community, it’s

something so simple that
children get, as long

as you teach it to them.

But if you’re teaching
them hate and if you’re

teaching them
discrimination, they’re gonna

go down that road.

Elizabeth: I think it will
be a lot tougher for us

to go into these regions
that may really need to

see the show, right?

But I think it takes
more courage to go there.

But I think we should do it,
we should probably do it.

But I can’t tell you
that I’m not nervous.

(harmonica music)

(laughter)

James: Then as it went on
and as we were having to just

continue to expand the
family that was created

originally into something
more and that always

stuck with me because
it was so, easy really.

Man in brown: Hi. (chuckles)

Matthew: Yea, I just
joined the cast but

I’m actually from
Corpus Christi, Texas.

So I grew up there and
so I sort have kind of

a personal relationship
to the material and I had

seen the cast do it over
the past couple of years

since Steve and I
have been together.

(multiple voices)

Anna: It’s going to be
a medium close up so...

Man in brown: Let me
move the bench a little.

Alright, lets get the bench.

Anna: I thought they’ve
been doing this for years,

I got to be prepared,
I got to be on my toes.

Also, meeting people that
you’re gonna have this

very emotional experience
with was like knowing

that you’re going to have
to go through that with

strangers and not just
strangers to you but they

all knew each other.

That was very, very strange.

It’s was very strange,
very scary at first.

Man in short sleeve: And they
striped him of his robes-

Anna: And the thing that’s
so important about this show

is that it’s not in
bubble, the show doesn’t

exist in it’s own universe.

(multiple screaming)

James: Woah.

Man in brown: I got him.

(laughter)

(multiple voices)

Man with sign: Do not
call yourself a Christian.

You’re a liar and deceiver.

(indistinct distance
shout from picketer)

Man holding sign: Lets
see how that little

[unintelligible] on your faces
is gonna pass on judgement day.

Man with cap: Hell when
you die, sweetheart.

James: That man just
called me sweetheart.

(car horn)

Voiceover: Well there’s
a lot of issues, you know

the reality is the bible is
very clear on these things.

And my own personal
opinion, I don’t even need a

bible for this stuff,
this is like a no duh.

I mean one guy bent over
another guy, doing him

in his keister, I hate
to be so crude but

lets get it out
on the table here.

Nic: And we need to send
them our love, we need

to send them our good thoughts.

James: And just something
to think about too I just,

they may stay this
time, for the show so

we make them part of the show.

Man with glasses: In this
culture over the last

20 years things have
digressed to this point where

people can pick on any
religion except for Islam.

No one says anything
about Islam.

Nic: We may think they’re
misguided, we may wish

their passion was used
in a different way but

it’s their place at this time
and we have to love them.

David: Get undressed,
you got five minutes.

Did you hear what I said?

James: I love you.

David: Say what?

James: I love you Phillip.

David: Yea I love
you too Charlie.

I hope you have
rubbers. I’m positive.

Steve: And for me the moment
of truth, the defining

moment in the play was Phillip.

Elizabeth: So this positive
thing, you know when

you heard oh you’re
positive, then you’re very

on guard, so that
means you wont be here.

You wont be here and how long
and they were very frank.

Well we think, you
know and then boom.

At that time period
they were just, gone.

And that was brutal for me.

I was like in my 20’s,
that was extremely hard

and it leaves you a
little bit guarded.

David: I can’t imagine
what anyone with any kind

of ongoing health issue,
what it does to you.

I don’t think you could
put yourself- I can’t say.

I can’t put myself in
their shoes, because it’s

not happening to me,
it may happen someday.

Mark: I can remember
doing that scene in the

beginning of the run and I
hadn’t really shared my HIV

status with any of my cast
members or really anybody.

Anna: I never actually
thought I would know so

many people who
are HIV positive.

And I grew up in a very,
very sheltered world

and that was something
that I didn’t think was

going to be apart of
my reality, in a way.

That it was other, it
happened to other people

not people I knew.

Elizabeth: But there was
something I guess I needed

to learn when I was
younger about the frigility

of life and, but unfortunately
what I don’t like is

that it took all the, it
just took the best, it

always takes the best,
the best and my creative

friends it was like
(breathy whistle sound)

His name is Phillip Erwin,
you know he kicked it

for a long time but when
he finally, I don’t know

he just knew and at least
he came and said goodbye.

But he’s, he’s gone and
he’s not coming back so

you have to have a respect
of these fucking viruses.

Larry: It’s a plague and
it’s never been treated

as a plagues, it was a plague
from the very beginning

and they refused
to use that word.

And huge, huge, huge parts
of the world are just

overwhelmed with it,
millions of people, millions.

I guess what troubled me
from day one is there’s

never been anyone
in charge, never.

You know you have a war you
should have a general, right?

Steve: To me, Phillip was
like a lot of gay men.

He was angry, he desperately
wanted connection with

other people and the
only way he knew how to

get that was exploiting
his sexuality and I

think that is, that has been me,

that’s been so many of us.

David: You love the idea
of telling someone like me

that you love them,
makes you feel good.

Well love, this!

Troy: I thought he was doing
well for about two weeks

and then he called his
mother and then he told me

I’m gonna commit suicide,
he had seen his friends

dying from this disease.

James: I think I can heal you.

I think I can make you well.

David: I think you can
suck my dick now faggot.

(loud inhale from all on stage)

James: Father heal this man.

Mark: That when he had
said that it was almost

like somebody punched
me in the back.

My back was to the audience
and touching one cast

member and our arms are up
and sort of a vulnerable

position anyway and
then to hear Joshua say

you’re healed, and he said
I wish I could believe it

and he says well then do.

And I wanted so desperately
to believe that.

Troy: I said, I promise
you, I will lay hands on

you and pray for
you every night.

Phillip: Every night he
would, he would, before

he would go to sleep he
would lay hands on me

and he’d pray for me
and I know that over the

course of these twenty
three, twenty four years

not only has Troy been
praying for me but other

MCC churches have had me
in their prayer circles

and that I count that
as one of the reason why

I’m still alive is in
the power of prayer.

James: You are healed, Phillip.

David: I wish I
could believe that.

(sobbing)

James: Then do.

As you believe, so shall you be.

Mark: I wanted so desperately
to believe that, I wanted

to believe that, I
wanted that to be me.

(laughs)

I wanted to be that
character, I wanted to be

the one kneeling
there and having him,

have it all be okay.

Anna: It’s beautiful
and healing in one way

but it’s also very sad
in another way because

we don’t have a Jesus
here who can heal them

or can take it away.

Bob: Jesus had a capacity
of really mustering

within a human person
that encountered him the

capabilities of people
healing themselves and

they believe themselves healed.

Our immune systems respond
because of how we feel.

Troy: And twenty three
years later he started

with thirty six pills
and he’s down to one and

his HIV is non detectable.

Phillip: It’s just always
so nice when someone

you love puts their hands on
you to try and ease your pain.

Man with beard: The reason
he destroyed those cities

was because of
sodomy, homosexuality.

The very thing that’s
spinning America into the

vile actions that are
taking place today, folks.

Mark: Bartholomew and
I wanted our union
blessed for a long time.

Some acknowledgement of
what we were to each other.

Matthew: We asked Josh,
they said it was against the

law and the priest said it
was forbidden by scripture.

Mark: If a man lies with
another man as with a woman

they have both committed
an abomination and

should be put to death.

Their blood is upon them.

James: Why would you memorize
such a terrible passage.

(laughter)

Cindi: That’s my theology
about that, why on

earth would you memorize that.

But then, if you’re
going to then you must

memorize the other six hundred
and thirty two Levitial

prohibitions or permissions
and you must follow them.

James: And God saw
everything that he made and

behold it was very good.

I can quote scripture
as well as the next man.

Cindi: When they say oh
you have to pay attention

to these passages that I
think may refer to same

gender loving relationships,
which they did not

they referred to temple
prostitutes and all kinds

of things that had nothing
to do with homosexuality.

James: God loves us most
when we love each other.

We accept you and we bless you.

Cindi: So if you choose
to lean on that passage

to hurt another human being,

then you haven’t chosen Jesus.

James: Now who’s got a ring.

Mark: You mean you’ll do it?

James: If you say
nobody else will.

Matthew: Wait, out
here, someone might see.

James: Where would you
be married Bartholomew

down a dark hall?

Matthew: There was
something about looking into

his eyes, making that
decision that I’m going

to commit myself to
this person for life.

I don’t really know what
that really means but

I think I got a glimpse of
it and it was beautiful.

Molly: Personally, I don’t
know if I’ll get married

again, but I know that
there are so many more

federal rights that you
get as a married couple

that you don’t get in
a civil union and I

don’t think it’s fair
to withhold that from

people that want that.

James: It is good
when two men love each

other as James and
Bartholomew do and we

recognize their union.

Terrence: Now we’ve become
terrible marriage advocates

and people, friend of
ours, don’t bring it up we

don’t want to get married,

Terrence: We’ve been together
25 years Tom: We’ve gotten
straight couples married

We’ve gotten two straight
couples to get married

but none of our gay friends.

Tom: Cohabited for decades and-

Terrence: But lived
together for years-

Tom: But at that end

Terrence: And they’re very
glad they did they said

you’re right, it
changes everything.

Joseph: The love we share
is a gift to everybody

else because it’s just,
like I said before, it’s

part of that God, that
spark of God that’s between

us that we have a chance
to share with other people.

James: I bless this marriage
in your name, Father, amen.

Matthew: I absolutely want to
get married, I do, but I can’t,

but I can’t, I can’t have that
and that’s what really sucks.

James: Have you come to bless
this marriage too Father?

Elizabeth: It is one thing for
you to preach your perversions

to ignorant and sentimental
men and women such as

yourselves but such travesties
of Gods natural order

will never be blessed in
the house of the lord.

Man with beard: Not one of
the people who proclaim that

this is a valid lifestyle
or whatever would be here

at all if it weren’t
for a man and a woman.

And that’s the way God
started it, that’s the way

it should be and that’s
the way it’s gonna end.

Bob: The Vatican has come
out and condemned me as

a gay man to prevent me
from getting married and

screams traditional family
values whereas two to

three hundred thousand sexual
minors in the United States

have been abused, where is
traditional family values.

Why aren’t they protecting
the children of Catholics.

Man with Beard: The
downfall of any culture
is moral degradation.

So it is what it is.

Tom: We have a structure
whereby rights are conferred

upon to people who do that
and so if we have such

a structure we have to give
it to everybody we can’t be

selective about it or we can’t
call ourselves a democracy.

James: When it was women’s
right, when it was the

rights of Jews to live an
equal life, when it was

the rights of African Americans
to live an equal life.

Tom: Loving v. Virginia
which was the miscegenation,

the supreme court case which

struck down miscegenation laws.

Laws that said that
inter-racial marriages could be

prohibited by the states.

James: When these waves of
movements happened, there’s

a lot of ego and fear
and challenge brought up.

People fighting
against the change.

Tom: That was 1969,
that’s 41 years ago.

Why it takes us so
long to learn from the

mistakes of history
is maddening to me.

Sheilagh: Nic and I had
a real hard time around

sort of the prop 8 stuff.

Nic: It really just felt
like it was going to happen

at some point anyway,
then Prop 8 happened and I

so detached myself from
it and I realized I

detached myself because I
felt like all over again

the world was telling
me, you are wrong,

you’re not worthy and we’re
not going to give you this.

Not even that, they’re going
to take it away from me.

That got me worked up.

Sheilagh: And it wasn’t
just from Nic it was like

there were really horrible
things being said about

Africans, African Americans,
country by white gay folk

and black folks that went to
try and stand in solidarity

that had racial
slurs hurled at them.

Nic: I don’t like people
being offended when its

called a civil rights
movement, I’m offended

when they tell me that its not.

Sheilagh: The
revolutionary in me,

says why are gay people
fighting so hard to fit

into the system that
can’t stand them.

Man with beard: America
is going down hill, fast.

And the abomination that’s
being taught in this

church is very much
one of those reasons.

God hates homosexuality.
God hates you.

James: You are
hypocrites. You are liars.

You have perverted my
fathers words to make them

serve your ends, I despise you.

Matthew: I think that if
we were to have a second

coming of Christ or whatever
I think that he would

just be so very
disappointed and that really

breaks my heart, because
it wouldn’t be that he’s

disappointed in the gay
community, you know.

It would be because
he’s disappointed that

people aren’t loving each other.

Woman in pink: The controversial
play, Corpus Christi

made it’s Dallas debut tonight.

It portrays Jesus as gay.

You might remember Tarleton
State University cancelled

the play earlier this year
citing, safety concerns.

Nic: We have avoided
Texas for a long time

but when we heard about
the cancellation of

the student production,
it just spoke to us.

James: And then you have
other shows that have

since been cancelled because
of, for that same reason

and it is hard not to
go into a space thinking

that, okay, well this
is what we’re entering.

I am definitely starting
to receive a lot of emails

that are, hurtful, I would say.

This one person just
wrote me an email

[unintelligible] when you
come to Texas I find you

and I will hurt you.

And it’s just so weird
to me because, it’s weird

to say that out loud, it
scares me a little bit,

just that someone
is that extreme.

Molly: I felt a little
bit of fear for Brandon,

just like a gut reaction.

If say the shows
were interrupted

by somebody in the audience.

Nic: I think our best
bet, and I have felt like

there was a group consensus
on this, is to just stop.

If it sounds threatening,
we’re going to

walk away and we’ll be back.

I’m responsible for more
than just my own life

now, I’m responsible for
two children and I might

be willing to take risks
but I have to recognize

that any risk I take on
myself and anything that

happens to me profoundly effects
these two little children.

Melissa: We’re just,
protected on so man levels.

I think we can feel that
with us, just our family

that we are and this play is
protected, this production

and I think it keeps resonating,
the protection levels

go up and up and up and
out and out and out and

I just see really good stuff.

I do see people
getting stirred up,

but that’s why we’re doing this.

I think it’s great that
we’re going to Texas.

I think it’s time
that we go to Texas.

Wave our rainbow
flag down south.

Paul: There’s something
that will be very,

that will mean a lot to
me to go back to a place

that I grew up in and
felt so, like I had to
hide to protect myself.

And kind of excited that
it will stir people and

people will protest
it because I like that

I want to be apart of
something that will challenge

people and this
definitely will do that.

Mark: We’re wandering
into that bible belt now,

we’re wandering into that
sort of uber Christian

land of, this is what’s right
and this is what’s wrong

and there’s no,
there zero grey area.

I think awareness also
brings certain amount of

strength as well, going
into something and knowing,

just being sharp and kind of
carrying your wits about you.

But I think it’s important.

Melissa: And it’s
the right time.

I mean we could have
done this, what two years

ago, three years ago but
we didn’t we’re going

this time, we’re leaving
in a few days and

we’re doing it right now,
now is the right time

because we’re going now.

Bob: I think you run into
a little more difficulty

when you get into Texas.

I think Texas is a
heavily bible belt.

I’m not sure even Texas
is really part of the

United States but that’s
my opinion but it’s

worthwhile because it
may be going into the
heart of darkness.

Sheilagh: I think it’s a
mistake to take the show

to the south and not be
real, real clear about

what we’re doing and
that we could possibly be

endangering people and
that when people make the

choice to get on those
planes or on that bus

or whatever, that they
understand what they’re doing.

Jo: We had the Dallas
police come in to

talk to us, they said that
their greatest concern

was the silent, angry,
mentally unstable person.

Molly: You spell
the word, violence

to get into the peace center.

Jan: You know, we could
just be there and some

kook can decide to
bomb us or something.

Jo: Any church knows that,
that’s your greatest risk.

Somebody wandering in,
unassuming, looks ordinary

and yet are so
emotionally unstable that

they would do violence.

Sheilagh: They take their
Jesus very seriously there

and when I think about
taking a gay Jesus play

to the south it almost
makes me think that

God has sort of kept us
safe up to now because we

gone need all of our strength.

Bob: There is a price
to pay with visibility.

So performing in theater
context that is so volatile,

especially touching
homophobia, that internalized

homophobia is used
to strike out and

it’s usually to
strike out violently.

Mark: If there going to be
somebody stupid out there,

if we went to Texas
that’s just that proud of

Corpus Christi, Texas and
just that in love with the

idea that Jesus is only
one way that something

bad could happen,
that’s a little spooky.

Sheilagh: At a minimum
there will be crowds,

at a maximum someone
could get seriously hurt.

Jo: I just decided that,
that we could bare the risk.

And we doubled our
security and we did all the

right things, we were
completely prepared.

Anna: Well my boyfriend
was really concerned about

that when I first told him,
he was thinking not only

do you have people who
are going to be protesting

but you have people
who have guns who are

going to be protesting.

James: I remember when I
first got that one email

where he said he’d hurt
me if I came to Texas

and had a whole
plan of how he would

do that which I actually,

I think what kind of
shocked me the most

is how intricate if was.

Sheilagh: Sort of having
this fear in the pit of

my stomach that someone
was going to be outside,

waiting for your guys,
waiting for my family.

James: You know he’ll
come to the theater and

he’ll be in the line of
protesters and we wont know

him because we don’t
know what he looks like.

Bob: There are a lot of
fanatic, crazy, pathalogical

Christians out there.

James: And we’re gonna
walk through and then he’s

going to come out and
like have a gun and just

shoot as many people as he can.

Newsman: In the end a church
hosted this controversial play.

And after weeks of
outcry, on opening night,

not a single protester.

James: Made me very aware
of the preciousness of life

and how grateful
I was to be alive.

And if that email had to
be a catalyst for that,

well then I want to thank
that man who threatened me.

Paul: If you look at the
hatred to now where we

take it to Texas and there’s
no controversy at all.

We have come a long way,
we’ve come a long way

and we’ve got a long way to go.

Got a long way to go.

Terrence: This production
of Corpus Christi I was

blessed to find a
director and cast who

got what I was doing in
a way that I didn’t know

when I was writing it.

I felt I finally saw my
play cause in New York

the original production,
with the police dogs

and the metal detectors
and the protesters, I never

really saw the play it was
too harrowing a social event.

But every so often,
something takes on it’s own

life and enters consciousness
of other people and

that’s finally why
you do it, I think.

Norman: Thank God for people
like Terrence McNally.

Some of the subjects are so
important in American life,

would never have been discussed
had he not raised them.

Nic: I hear my cast talk
about great things that

the show has done for them
and I sincerely believe

that, and I know it’s done
incredible things for me.

But I also recognize that
a lot of them have evolved

a lot further than I have.

It’s like raising a child,
you push them forward

and they go off and live
and then you’re left

going, oh I forgot
to evolve, myself.

Suzanne: I’ve really found
a spiritual way for myself.

And I feel like everything
that I’ve learned from it

I will continue to
give to other people.

Cindi: The whole point
of Jesus coming wasn’t

his death, burial
and Resurrection.

That’s important but
what’s really important was

exactly how he lived his
life out moment by moment.

Bob: I keep remembering
the line in Isiah,

my house is a house of
prayer for all peoples.

I think Corpus Christi
is addressing that and

it has become part of
the message to deal with

homophobia and so yeah
there’s power there and

the cast I think realizes that.

Listening to them talk
about their spirituality,

it was clear that their
spirituality is Corpus Christi.

James: I think the
dialogue that I have found

is being created is within
our community that has

felt ostracized and
lost and now feel

found again through this piece.

Then our community comes
from an empowered place

of being and that
empowerment is what will make

the change happen that
everyone is seeking.

Not all the fighting,
not all the negativity

but simply living from
an empowered place,

which we are creating, we
are able to make bigger

changes then we would have
ever thought possible.

Nic: I really look toward
Corpus Christi to keep me

centered and so the idea
of it ending, the only

thing that stops me from
getting emotional about that

is the knowledge that this
show, the performances

may stop but the message
is already out there.

Jan: I will remember most,
how kind everybody was.

And I know that I wont be
in touch with everybody.

There wont be the rehearsal,
there wont be the show

so there wont be that circle.

It’ll be a great
part of my life.

Getting close to the end of it.

I don’t get to tears a
lot so sometimes I feel

like that’s a negative,
should be able to do that

but it doesn’t happen.

David: But I’ve always
said if I ever got arrested

I’m not sure who I’d call.

This group is the closest
I’ve gotten to the

group that, I feel, has my back.

So that’s been the biggest
blessing through this.

Matthew: I can’t even remember
the last time that I felt

some sets of spirituality
in my life or in my

thinking or, you know? (laughs)

I find myself talking
about the universe, which

is so weird, I never do that.

I never talk about
energy and all that stuff

but, I do now.

Steve: I’m not naive
enough to think that

this is going to happen again.

It doesn’t matter what
play, movie, tv show I

ever work on again, I’m not
gonna have this experience

where we, the emails or
the fan letters that we

get aren’t, hey I thought
you were good, hey your

acting is this or that
or whatever but it’s, wow

I said a prayer before
I went to be last night,

I haven’t done that before.

And you transcend art into
something more for people.

I don’t think I’ll have
that again and that’s

what I will take away
from Corpus Christi.

Molly: I almost get embarrassed
or don’t feel worthy

in some way that I get to
be apart of this vehicle

or apart of this, it’s
overwhelming to me cause it

doesn’t even feel like
it’s me speaking and it’s

Terrence’s words and it’s a
play, it just overwhelms me.

James: Well I think the
reflection of it too is

just the fact of our own
personal journeys with

faith and whatever form
that takes and how like

for me, being raised
Catholic and going through my

whole kind of estrangement
from it because of

being gay and everything
else I don’t believe in

with organized religion,
this play healed a lot

of those wounds for me.

David: You know the talking
of faith and peoples

faith, I’m sort of just
this [unintelligible] I’m

as spiritually bankrupt
as I’ve always been.

(multiple disagreements)

Melissa: I think, pardon my
French but that’s bullshit.

Mark: It is.

Melissa: You’re not
bankrupt in any way and the

only way that you allow that
to happen is by feeling it.

And I hope that you feel
as great as you are.

Mark: I was in such a shitty
place when I came into this

play, I was using drugs
when I started this play.

I was a mess, I was a mess
and such an unhappy person.

Sheilagh: I can’t say that
after diagnosis of HIV

that I would be sober
and living and seeking

out love and working and
travelling and living

his life to the fullest.

I mean he’s taken a journey
that of peace I need to take.

Mark: Nic knew me when
I was a little boy,

we’ve know each other
since we were little kids

and he had the faith
in me to know that I

have this inside of me and
he didn’t let go of it,

he didn’t throw me away.

Nic: You threw yourself away,
you gave up on yourself.

But I couldn’t bring you
back, that wasn’t me,

you brought yourself back.

Jan: I would like to say a
lot of things, but I can’t.

Cause I can’t get it out,

and it’s very
embarrassing because

we were never allowed to cry.

Sheilagh: Jan I really
identify with on a number

of levels and have much
empathy for the path

her life has taken.

Jan: If you cry I’ll
give you something-

Sheilagh: To cry about.

Jan: To cry about. I
suppose this is something

to cry about, you can’t
talk while you’re crying.

I just love you all
so much and you can’t

go away because I will miss you.

Voiceover: It’s good to
get out there and meet your

fellow human beings,
they’re pretty amazing group

if you let them in.

Voiceover: It’s not just
about this cast being

a family and being
friends with each other,

they now exist together
and I love that.

Voiceover: But from love
that we all have, that

we’re all connected to, we
are all together in this.

Voiceover: I believe
everybody’s on their own path.

But it’s a hell of a lot more
fun to believe in something.

It’s a big beautiful world
and if you just think about

yourself and this is it,
you die and that’s it,

it can be so lonely.

To think that we’re all
connected, we all have

the same spark of light
within us is beautiful.