AAS And The Carpetbag Brigade to Present THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

The Arts Academy of Sedona and The Carpetbag Brigade will present The Road to Damascus (As Told by Grandmother to Little Red), written and performed by Kathy Randels and directed and co-created with Odile Del Giudice, on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church (The New Room).

A deeply personal and politically resonant work, The Road to Damascus weaves together storytelling, faith, and lived experience to examine crime and punishment, harm and healing, and the possibility of transformation.

The piece draws from Randels' upbringing as the daughter and granddaughter of Southern Baptist preachers; her 29 years teaching theater to and learning from currently and formerly incarcerated women at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW); a decade of dialogue and action with St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church and its Center for Faith + Action around criminal legal system reform; and Del Giudice's extensive work addressing collective trauma.

The project began as a prayer for the release of Gloria "Mama Glo" Williams, a beloved member of the LCIW Drama Club who served 51 years-the longest sentence at LCIW. In 2019, she was pardoned by the Louisiana Board of Pardons, sparking a statewide "Free Mama Glo" campaign led by PDMNOLA in partnership with organizations including The Graduates, VOTE, Kumbuka African Dance and Drum Collective, The Washitaw Nation, ArtSpot Productions, and St. Charles Ave. Baptist Church and its Center for Faith + Action. After years of advocacy, Governor John Bel Edwards approved her release on January 25, 2022.

In The Road to Damascus, an incarcerated Grandmother recounts Saul's biblical conversion to her granddaughter during prison visits, illuminating the persecutorial systems shaping their lives. Blending the story of Saul/Paul with the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, Grandmother introduces the Wolf and the Huntsman-figures whose roles as predator or savior remain unsettlingly ambiguous. Her prison guard, named Saul, becomes the Huntsman in the tale she spins.

Through this layered storytelling, the performance invites audiences to examine the perpetrator/victim/savior dynamic within our justice system, our faith traditions, and ourselves.

Audiences are invited to witness this modern "Damascus experience"-and perhaps to share their own.