St. Paul’s Episcopal church of Mount Vernon, WA interviewed me about my musical theater work “Pray the Gay Away”®. You can read the article here: St. Paul’s interview on Pray the Gay Away the musical
Excerpt:
What would you most like people to know about this show and why they should experience it?
(Conrad) I think people have preconceived notions about what the content of the show is and its viewpoint…and I think most everyone is wrong. I’ve workshopped the material with a wide variety of focus groups to test the material. I always ask two questions: “Is there any place where you feel this show attacks the church?” and “Is there any place where you think this show attacks God?” Every single person in our workshops, over one hundred in all, have said no to both questions. If they had said yes, then I would have made changes. The show is not meant to preach, but to put opposing viewpoints and experiences on stage and let audiences make up their own minds. So in that way it doesn’t have a particular stance — but with the combination of music it will be very emotional for people and give them something to talk about within the community. Especially within churches. Of course, audiences are the final ones to have opinions and we will find those out on opening night.
PDF of interview:
Pray_The_Gay_Away-Interview-Conrad-Askland-St-Pauls-Episcopal-Church