Ruby Irick

Hell House

Crystal Hanton played a raver in the club scene. This scene is set at the home of a popular high school basketball star, Ty Tyler. Pat “Say-jack-you-up” is present with his two contestants: Drug Addiction and Alcohol Addiction. They are there to battle for the ultimate prize. Things quickly get out of hand, and a drug and alcohol fatality kills the party

Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by American, fundamentalist Christian churches or parachurch groups. These depict sin, the torments of the damned in Hell, and usually conclude with a depiction of heaven. They are most typically operated in the days preceding Halloween.

A hell house, like a conventional haunted-house attraction, is a space set aside in which actors attempt to frighten patrons with gruesome exhibits and scenes. The format is that the various scenes are presented as a series of short vignettes with a narrated guide. Unlike haunted houses, hell houses focus on occasions and effects of sin or the fate of unrepentant sinners in the afterlife. They are scheduled during the month of October to capitalize on the similarities between hell houses and haunted attractions.

The exhibits at a hell house often have a controversial tone and focus on sins that are also issues of concern to evangelicals in the United States. Hell houses frequently feature exhibits that depict sin and its consequences. Common examples include abortion, suicide[1], use of alcoholic beverage and other recreational drugs, adultery and pre-marital sex, occultism, homosexuality, and Satanic ritual abuse. Hell houses typically emphasize the belief that anyone who does not accept Christ as their personal savior is condemned to Hell.

History
The first hell house, Scaremare (still presented each October) was created by Jerry Falwell in the late 1970s[2]. Similar events began in several regions during that period. More recently, the concept has been promoted and adapted by Keenan Roberts, originally of Roswell, New Mexico, who started a hell house in Arvada, Colorado in 1995. Since that time, hell houses have become a regular fixture of the Halloween season in parts of the United States. Roberts remains active in the hell house ministry by providing kits and directions to enable churches to perform their own attractions[3]. He is now the senior pastor of Destiny Church of the Assemblies of God where Hell House is usually performed each year during the month of October.

In October 2000, documentary filmmaker George Ratliff filmed a production of a Hell House in Cedar Hill, Texas from scripting to the final night of the production[4]. The result was a documentary[5] that has been the inspiration for numerous live plays and hell-house performances, including one based on Pastor Roberts' production, which played for a month during the 2006 Halloween season in an off-Broadway production in Brooklyn, New York by Les Freres Corbusier[6][7]

In October 2003 Bethel Church in Temple, Texas began "Temple Hell House". Bethel continues to conduct a hell house every year under the direction of youth pastor Matt Baumgartner and hosts around 3,000 people every year from the Central Texas area.

Criticism
Hell houses have been criticized for misleading potential patrons that they are a conventional Halloween attraction rather than an evangelistic presentation.[citation needed] They are also often criticized within the Christian community as being too focused on the number of conversions rather than long lasting commitments to Christianity[8].

In an interview with Roberts for the Channel 4 documentary The Root of All Evil?, noted atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins objected to some of the methods used by Hell Houses; namely teaching by instilling the fear of eternal damnation in children and adolescents. He commented that using the concept of hell for moral policing was child abuse, since children walk away with nightmares and extreme fear. Coming in for particular attack by Dawkins is the question of how the pastor can be certain that the morals and ethics being preached in the Hell House are valid – since they are based on religious scripture.

Happy Birthday to You

Sample Paintings

Christmas 2009 Photos

Changes ( Trailer)

Born to Sing in November

Dumb Luck News

Born to Sing Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Karen Muntu
347-275-9685
August 10, 2009

THE HARLEM ENSEMBLE COMPANY
DEBUTS “BORN TO SING”

NEW YORK, NY-- On Saturday, August 29th, 2009, The Harlem Ensemble Company (HEC) will premiere an original musical production, Born to Sing, at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony Space.

Born to Sing ponders death, the after-life and the notion of continuing to love life after losing the most important person in the world: Your mother. It explores the idea that our loved ones continue to live and speak to us in the subconscious, and that a relationship with a loved one can sustain if you listen to your dreams, providing abundant lessons and enormous comfort.

Born to Sing was written by Evelyn Collins. Her last production was the Tony award-winning musical Raisin. The production marked the 35th anniversary of the production and was the first time the musical was presented since its Broadway debut. The production was notably attended by original Broadway cast members Joe Morton and Ernestine Jackson, and Raisin’s composer, Judd Woldin, all of whom later joined the cast and director onstage for its curtain call.

“This is a topic that hasn’t been explored in the theatre until now,” says Collins. “The death of one’s mother probably is the singular most earth-shattering experience of our lives, yet we rarely want to discuss it. The play offers a fresh perspective and hope on how to deal with death—that it is not necessarily final.”

Born to Sing features Nadia Chanoine, Markita Prescott, Terri Cann, Shakinah Montoute, *Carlton Terrance Taylor, and *Charles Browning. The musical is produced and directed by Evelyn Collins and music directed by Gregg Payne. Performances are at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM. Tickets are $25, and are available at the box office or www.symphonyspace.org. (*Actor’s Equity)
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Evelyn Collins has been involved in theatre most of her life. She has directed more than 50 theatrical productions in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and New York. Her audiences have labeled her “New York City’s undiscovered gem.” In 2005, the Professional League of Theatre Women presented her with its first-annual Josephine Abady Award for her work with the Harlem Ensemble Company. Presently, Evelyn is entering her fourth year as principal of the Manhattan Theatre Lab High School – a high school for the performing arts located in the Lincoln Center community.

The Harlem Ensemble Company was founded in 2002 as a not-for-profit theatre company. It made its New York City debut in 2002, with the award winning drama The First Breeze of Summer by Leslie Lee.

The Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony Space is located 2537 Broadway at 95th Street. For more information call 212-864-5400.

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Behind the scenes of Born to Sing the Musical

Pictures of behind the scenes and preparation for the show.