Getting Out

Thank you for joining us on what has been an incredible journey. All of us working on the play have been immensely affected by the work done in preparing tonight’s story for you,. We have been blessed with the willing assistance of a number of people who work in the corrections system and by those who have been incarcerated or who are presently in jail. We have met some dear souls in the process.

This is not an easy story to tell. The characters in this play are not pretty, nor are they easy to love, but they are deeply human. Their world is one very foreign to our comfortable life style in the western suburbs and the intellectual pursuits of college life. But nonetheless, it is a story that we feel compelled to tell. It is the story of courage, of acting from the heart.

Released from prison after eight years, Arlene will not be dissuaded from her conviction that she will make it this time. But what she finds upon getting out would be enough to defeat the strongest of us. Starting over for ex-offenders requires far more than a simple “just say no” to the powerful influences that are daily in their face. The only way of life they know is the life they left behind when they were locked up, or the life they led in prison which may be worse. With little rehabilitation, adequate job training, or encouragement in their attempts to make a new life for themselves, Arlene is determined, but it is not an easy process. This play is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the grace of God.

Arlie’s life begins to change when, for the first time in her life, she is treated with a sense of compassion and respect by the prison chaplain. It is this acting out of God’s great commandment, to love our neighbor, to show . all the same compassion and respect that we so desperately need ourselves, that makes this play so compelling. To judge those less fortunate than ourselves for the mistakes they have made requires that we first pull the beam from our own eye. God’s grace is sufficient for all. As we watch Arlene struggle desperately to pull away from the life that has her in it’s grip, we witness our own daily attempts to lead the lives we would want to live while we fight the pull of that part of ourselves that makes it so hard. As we weep for Arlene in her struggle, we weep for ourselves - the play is a celebration of God’s grace.

In telling this difficult story, we have felt the need to walk. fine line between presenting these lives with honesty and integrity, and presenting a play that would not be so patently offensive that the truths be rendered inaccessible. The experience of this evening may require you to step out of your comfort zone. We hope that any offense will be tempered by the truth of the message.