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What is it like to be a preacher or rabbi who no longer believes in God?

In a groundbreaking study conducted between 2008 - 2012, Daniel C. Dennett and Linda LaScola comprehensively and sensitively exposed an inconvenient truth that religious institutions face in the new transparency of the information age—the phenomenon of clergy who no longer believe what they publicly preach.

Dennett and LaScola have teamed up with playwright Marin Gazzaniga and award winning "investigative theater" company The Civilians to translate their groundbreaking book into a moving piece of live theater.

The play explores the mental anguish and struggles of seven clergy, interviewed in hotel meeting rooms around the country, as they reveal concerns they've never shared with anyone – including spouses, family members or best friends. Although their personal stories are as varied as the denominations they once represented, or continue to represent—whether Catholic, Baptist, Episcopalian, Methodist, Mormon, Pentecostal, or any of numerous others—they give voice not only to their own struggles but also to those who similarly suffer in anguished and lonely silence.

Listening to the clergy's real words and stories, the audience is let in on an intimate psychological journey as these individuals struggle with a taboo subject in this country: what's at stake if you publicly say you don't believe in God.

Daniel C. Dennett, celebrated philosopher and author of more than a dozen books diving deep into the human psyche, is widely recognized for his ability to translate "the cultural significance of science and technology to a broad audience" (Erasmus Prize 2012). Dennett and Linda LaScola are producing, in collaboration with the Civilians. The Civilians, under the Artistic Direction of Steve Cosson, have previously explored theater focusing on the gulf between the religious and the secular in their 2008 musical This Beautiful City.

"Our interview project has already changed the lives of hundreds of clergy and thousands of thoughtful readers of all varieties of religious conviction. By putting its insights in the medium of living theater, I hope to reach a larger audience, a public that has, as yet, no inkling of the lonely struggles of these good folk." — Daniel C. Dennett

Immediate Goals and next steps

Fall 2019 - Fall 2020

• In Collaboration with the Civilians, Producers will present a short run of the show through a curated rental program with the McCarter Theater, Signature Theater, the Keen Center, or other 199 to 299 seat theater in a significant market.
• Producers will engage with a commercial booking agent (Octopus Theatricals or Off Broadway Booking) to produce a multi-city tour for the show to be presented at universities across the country along with curated talkbacks, which will be co-produced by the Civilians.
• Target universities include: Tufts, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, Santa Fe Institute, Boston College, and more.
• Talkbacks would feature luminaries like Daniel Dennett, Linda LaScola, original study participants, theological professors, active members of the clergy, and more.

Producers are currently raising $150,000 to reach the following milestones:

• Hiring a commercial booking agent and general management team to develop a tour schedule, detailed budget and recoupment schedule, and make initial outreach to selected universities.
• Legal costs to develop final offering materials to investors and creative team.
• Creative fees for production elements elements such as a music composer, a lighting and set designer, and more.
• Engaging a professional marketing team to develop graphic materials, build a website, and develop marketing campaign for regional markets.
• Engaging PR team to develop aggressive PR campaign around the show, the subject matter, and creative team.
• Put down a desposit on a theater in a major market (New York or Boston)

Daniel C. Dennett is an acclaimed American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist. He is the author of Breaking the Spell (Viking, 2006), Freedom Evolves (Viking Penguin, 2003) and Darwin's Dangerous Idea (Simon & Schuster, 1995), is University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He coedited The Mind's I with Douglas Hofstadter in 1981. His most recent books are Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking(Norton, 2013), Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind, with Linda LaScola (Amazon.com, 2013, with a second expanded edition published by Pitchstone, 2015), and From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds (Norton, 2017). His TED Talk: The Illusion of Consciousness,has received over 2.7 million views. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Pittsburgh, Oxford, the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the London School of Economics and the American University of Beirut, and has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Fellowship, a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences, as well as the Erasmus Prize in 2012.

Linda LaScola is co-author, with Daniel C. Dennett, of Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind (2013) and "Preachers who are not Believers" (2010). She is an independent qualitative research consultant who works out of Washington, D.C. She holds a Master's Degree in Social Work from the Catholic University of America and is a co-founder of the Clergy Project.

Marin Gazzaniga's first play, So Close, was produced with Rising Phoenix Rep and named a "Don't Miss Pick" by Time Out NY. The play was a documentary-style play, inspired by interviews. She adapted, co-produced and acted in the film version, which screened at New Filmmakers and Cinewomen in NY and is available on iTunes. Her plays have been developed by LAByrinth Theater Co. and Primary Stages ESPA in NY, Echo Theater Company in Dallas and Santa Fe Theatre, among others. She is a two-time semi-finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, a finalist for the Heideman Award and Ashland New Plays Festival. She was co-head writer of the final Emmy-nominated season of One Life to Live (Hulu), created an original web series for IFC, and produces digital content for HBO, Turner, and AMC. Her new comedy The Line co-written with Serena daConceicao and executive produced by Ilana Glazer is currently in development with Freeform. Other TV scripts have been honored by The Black List, The 2016 WriteHer List, the PAGE Awards and Austin Film Festival. Marin has also worked in journalism (NBC News, Vogue, Fortune) and has written and edited books. She was the narrative features programmer or the Brooklyn Film Festival and produces the New York Stage and Film Filmmakers' Workshop.

Steve Cosson is a director, writer and Artistic Director of The Civilians. Recently, Jill Sobule's musical Times Square; the new children's musical The Abominables, (writer/director, songs by Michael Friedman) at Children's Theater Company; writer/director of The Undertaking (59E59, BAM Next Wave, Theatre de la Ville, Paris, US Tour); José Rivera's Another Word for Beauty (Goodman Theatre); Rimbaud in New York (BAM); Michael Friedman and Bess Wohl's Pretty Filthy; the Off-Broadway revival of The Belle of Amherst starring Joely Richardson; The Great Immensity (The Public Theater, Kansas City Rep); Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns, a post-electric play (Playwrights Horizons, Woolly Mammoth); This Beautiful City (Vineyard, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Humana Festival and others); Ethel's Documerica (BAM Next Wave) and many others. With The Civilians he created several works as the first theater company in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. www.stevecosson.com@stevecosson

About The Civilians

Since its founding in 2001, The Civilians has established itself a leading innovator in new work and the premier investigative theater company in the country, having made numerous critically-acclaimed works derived from creative field research. The company has participated in several BAM Next Wave Festivals and has been produced at major New York and regional theaters including The Public Theater, Vineyard, Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, Humana Festival, Goodman Theater, ART, La Jolla Playhouse, and many others. www.thecivilians.org