"Trust" Champions Victims of Clergy Abuse in New Play
By Alyssa Zaczek
"When trust is betrayed, community breaks down," James Hanson said. "We struggled for a long time to come up with a title, but 'TRUST' seemed so perfect because it's what human life is based on." Hanson and his friend and artistic partner, John Woehrle, will bring a story of broken trust to The Black Box Theatre in St. Cloud this August in the form of Woehrle's stage play "TRUST." The play follows Michael, a seemingly well-adjusted graduate of a fictional Minnesota university, whose life and family are devastated by the lingering effects of abuse by a trusted member of the clergy. Woehrle, a Minneapolis-based playwright and actor, developed the script at the Self-Reliant Actor Workshop he teaches at MacPhail Center for Music, a class in which Hanson, a professor of religion and victim of childhood clergy abuse, was a student. As Woehrle and Hanson forged a close friendship with one another, Woehrle found himself inspired by Hanson's harrowing real-life story of abuse and shattered trust. With Hanson's help and blessing, Woehrle dove into the intricacies of trauma and betrayal, using resources like the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to better understand a victim's journey. Woehrle said portraying a victim of clergy abuse in a true-to-life fashion was vital to his process. "Frank Meuers, the director of SNAP for southern Minnesota, read it and embraced it," Woehrle said. "His question was, 'How did you know this stuff? How did you get the victim so right?' It's research, and listening, and putting myself in the circumstances somewhat, because as a writer you're not absent from the play." Hanson and Woehrle recently sat down with the Times to discuss the play's tough subject matter, the process of creating a new play and their decision to bring "TRUST" to St. Cloud. Hanson.png James Hanson, right, stops to collect his thoughts for a moment during an interview Friday, July 1, 2016, as John Woehrle listens. They are the minds behind the new play "Trust," about clergy abuse. (Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com) Question: "TRUST" is a play about clergy abuse, which I know is a very personal subject for you, James. What was it like to have John ask if he could develop your story into a play? James Hanson: John and I became very good friends because I did a one-person show on the apostle Paul, which John directed. On that show we talked a lot about theology, and of course at that time clergy abuse was in the news ... . I talked about being a victim in a way that made John ask me if I had experience with it. John Woehrle: And Jim knew from the get-go that I wanted to do a play, because he was in my class and he knew what the scenes I was bringing in were like. Q: James, can you speak to your experience as a victim? JH: I grew up in Moorhead, in a Lutheran church, and was abused by the senior pastor at that church starting at confirmation. The grooming happened all the way through confirmation, and as a confirmation "present" he took me and another parishioner to a condo in Colorado. That’s where the abuse began, and continued on for two or three more years. The pastor was single, and became very close with our family, spent holidays with us, and worked his way into our family and gained our trust. He fundamentally betrayed it. I, you know, typical of victims, kept it completely compartmentalized. It didn’t even occur to me to tell anybody, that’s how well he picked his victims. He knew I wouldn’t go to my family. I didn’t say anything to anybody. In 1992, some other people were coming forward to accuse him of sexually abusing them. He was still very close to our family, so he was actually the one who told me (the public accusations) were going to happen. "I know we had a sexual thing when you were young, but that didn’t hurt you, did it?" And I honestly didn’t know. The thing about sexual abuse of children is … the only way to survive it is to completely compartmentalize it. You carry this shame, all the way through your life. So it took me a while to even be able to come out to my family (about the abuse). Because you don’t know that you were damaged, it’s very typical that it’s the 30s that people do come out. I was very lucky that these other guys came forward, because I don’t know that I could have. Subsequent to the revelation of it in 1992, the next five or six years were taken up by it, which did result in a lawsuit and a small settlement. The whole issue was the statute of limitations. It’s seven years from when you knew or should have known that you were damaged by the abuse. So (the church's) task, or their legal task, was to get me to admit that I should have known. It was the classic case of being raped twice. It was being on the stand and being asked, well, when he put his hand there, did you know that that was wrong? It was excruciating and empowering because — JW: Because you knew what they were doing. JH: Because I knew what they were doing. But they kind of met their match in me, because I didn’t back down. Playwright.png Playwright and actor John Woehrle, left, and James Hanson, speak during an interview Friday, July 1, 2016. (Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com) Q: James, you not only helped develop the play, you also play the role of Sen. Allen Connor, the victim's high-profile father. Did your parents' reaction to the revelation of your abuse have a part in your portrayal of that character? JH: Yes, (that betrayal) comes through in the sense that like most parents, you think that the church is a place where your kids are safe. Like them, the father of Michael just has complete trust that this priest has been a positive mentor in his son’s life. My parents were very supportive, but didn’t … they were pretty lost, they didn’t know what to do. There's no playbook for this, everyone reacts differently. It’s like pulling back the curtain and completely reorienting what your sense of the world is. And that’s probably the difference between a victim and the family, is that the victim has known all along that the world is not what it seems. Q: John, hearing this story, how did you approach the process of creating a piece of theater? JW: I knew right away that I had to make it a standalone piece so that it didn’t need the backdrop of a news story to work as a play. So what does that mean? It means you have to write a story with compelling characters that are just engaging and interesting to watch, that they carry the story along ... . A lawyer directed me to BishopAccountability.org, and shared with me some of the stories in the trenches regarding victims and how that all works. JH: He did a lot more research than just hearing my story. JW: But then at some point you have to let all that go, so that the script doesn’t become overcome with a heaviness. The thing I’m most proud of in the writing of it is the process, and the inclusion of people who were holding information that I didn’t, and exploiting that to make the story better, and stronger, and more specific. By giving the characters personalities and lives of their own, then you’re watching a story as opposed to sitting there watching some political vomit of guilt and betrayal. So through the process, through the class and hearing it back ... ultimately you have a "finished product." Then we used a playwright’s center and a dramaturge (literary researcher) and two public readings. And one little story I share is when Jim turned to me in class one day when a scene was going on, and he was emotional, and he said "I wish I had that kind of support when I was going through this." And I went, "Oh! I’m on the right track." The only way the process can work is to embrace it. To really listen, and really learn, because this is too important of a story to just say “Oh, this is enough." Q: Why bring this play to St. Cloud? JW: It’s sort of, you know, a little bit of divine intervention maybe. (Laughs) Mike Novak, who is a student of mine and also acts in the play, offered up The Black Box as an option (for staging). Plus there’s a huge Catholic community here, plus it’s in the news — it’s very topical here, so it was a no-brainer. It also gives us a chance to be in the provinces first and really work this out and discover some things right in front of a live audience. JH: And that’s another aspect of community, that this will be the play’s first audience, and they’ll help shape the play. ... There’s obviously something in the air, some zeitgeist, where people are just ready to take on the unquestioned place of the church in our society, and in the world. That these institutions need to be held accountable, and they can’t just claim they're their own separate culture. As awful as being a victim is, I just have no end of gratitude for living in a time where you can talk about this. Q: Finally, what would you like audiences to take away from "TRUST"? JW: We want the audience to educate themselves. We’re going to put resources in the playbill. Educate yourself, be vigilant, don’t let Catholic policies just rest on paper but talk about community action, and make sure that these parishes and Catholic institutions are held accountable. This is a compulsion, this is a sickness, this is never going to go away. JH: There’s a lot of talk about this issue, but the opportunity to kind of enter into a victim’s experience is still not very accessible. So that is definitely something that people will come away with: a greater understanding, how fundamental the betrayal really is, of your sexuality, your trust and your faith. JW: I mean, if your first sexual experience is a betrayal ... JH: Right. The spiritual damage is often overlooked. It’s devastating. You never can look at a priest or pastor the same way. ... It takes a village to recreate a child’s life and restore some sense of hope. JW: And that word is key to this play. I didn’t want to write a play without hope. And coming out, it’s easier said than done. But the sooner that you can bring a voice to your pain, the more of a chance you have at living a more fulfilled life, without decades and decades of pain. Can you imagine? It’s a vigilance. It’s creating a culture where a victim feels safe enough and OK enough to reach out. So that conversation, that narrative, has to change to the point where they see that it’s OK, it’s safe. Follow Alyssa Zaczek on Twitter @sctimesalyssa, email her at azaczek@stcloudtimes.com, or call her at 255-8761. If you go ... What: "TRUST", presented by Self-Reliant Productions and sponsored by Black Box Inc. When: Aug. 4-7. Times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Where: The Black Box Theatre, 804 St. Germain St. Tickets: $25, with limited rush tickets at $15. For tickets, call 255-9703 or purchase at the theater. Performances are wheelchair accessible. Performance contains mature themes. Contact: azaczek@stcloudtimes.com
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