KC Fringe "Father, Son, and Holy Truth" review by andiam

Sermon or story?
Rating: 2

The Father, the Son, the Holy Truth
KC Fringe Festival

I wanted to like this show because the actor/playwright seems to be a very likable, sincere young man. However, I felt as if I was listening to a one-hour sermon rather than watching a drama. This is really a polemic against organized religion, primarily mainstream Christianity. Even if you agree with most of what he says, this does not alter the fact that there was no drama, just a lot of statements of opinion. And, like one reviewer before me, I got tired of hearing him say "Wow" as often as John Denver used to say "Far out."

As for the subject matter, some of his attacks were sophomoric. Granted, some charlatan preachers get rich from bilking believers, but I find it hard to believe that a young African-American would not have been exposed to the storefront churches that dot the landscape of the city and are focused on helping those in need. What about City Union Mission and Grand Avenue Temple, or the Salvation Army? I also found him too sympathetic to Islam, a religion whose adherents, on the whole, are less tolerant of dissent than are members of other religions (I am not saying all Moslems are intolerant--I have met many American Moslems who fully support diversity--but how many majority-Moslem nations allow true freedom of religion?) He implies that religion opposes Darwinism, but many Christians (and nearly all Jews) find evolution to be fully compatible with Genesis 1.

Nice guy, but not a dramatist yet.