A Thought And RUINED.

I've been wandering around the internets.  I've been checking out my various sites and realize I just have too many places I need to check!

How does one consolidate anymore?  I clearly need facebook... I get too much information from it.  I need my USC address, my aol address (most everyone has that one), my gmail address (I'm trying to switch to it because it is my actual name and is more "business-like.")  Crazy and time confusing.

You know "internets" is a joke, right?

I am heading into the last 5 weeks of RUINED, the play I've done in Seattle and am now doing at the Geffen in Westwood, CA.  We were supposed to go to South Africa, but we lost the funding.  On so many levels, this was bad news.

My company and I have become activists for the women caught in the civil war in the Congo.  The play has done this to us.  We can't help it.  We expected to go to Africa to help spread the word, but alas. In Seattle we managed to raise nearly $86,000 to send to the Panzi Hospital in the Congo that repairs the sexual  damage done to women there.  The men rape the women with bayonets and slice into their bladders. It is horrible. Some women are subjected to constant rape and humiliation over months, some are just killed. The Congolese refugees in South Africa say they know how to stop all this... they just need the U.N. to step up.  They need help.

Part of the problem is that the Congo is very rich in a compound they call "Coltan."  Coltan is used in cell phones across the planet.  The forest is being dug up to find this mineral;  the government soldiers and the rebel soldiers are all killing for it.  They are all fighting for control of the govt. and all are fighting for control of the resource. I've simplified. It is more complicated than I'm able to explain, a civil war is going on.. Somehow, women get caught in the fray and become sexual slaves or worse.

I know this is the most horrifying blog I've written.  I tend to stay away from the politics here, but... it is the SHOW I am doing... It has changed me and if you come to see this piece, it will change you.

This fucked up shit is happening, now, on our planet.  We HAVE TO STOP IT!

But, know this, the show, RUINED, is ultimately a love story and is about hope.  It is nearly a musical.  In the business we call it "a show with music."  It is a joyful experience and will educate you.  Always a good thing. Come to us and be changed.  Come to us and learn.
xoxo