Libbe HaLevy, Communication & Creativity Expert

SHATTERED SECRETS
Award-winning Incest Recovery Play
that Helped Found Worldwide Self-Help Meetings
Now Available for the First Time in 20 Years

Imagine: Seven incest survivors... a "renegade" Recovery meeting... the night that everything goes wrong... In the late 1980's, award-winning playwright Libbe S. HaLevy's play SHATTERED SECRETS, based on her experience healing from childhood sexual abuse, premiered in Los Angeles and ran an unprecedented 2-1/2 years. This electrifying theatre piece toured California, won awards, and received international productions in Berlin, Stockholm and Toronto.

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse used SHATTERED SECRETS as a rallying point, attending performances multiple times; bringing their families, therapists and support groups; traveling up to 200 miles to experience its brilliant honesty. Theatre companies that produced it sold out, added performances, and sold those out as well. The California Governor's Training Conference on Crime Victims sponsored performances, and Swedish Parliament increased funding for treatment of sexual abuse victims after the play was produced in that country.

"The performance was very moving and provided a true picture of the struggles and issues adult survivors of child sexual abuse face. The play's educational value is invaluable for service providers, as well as for survivors and their families."

-- Deborah E. Wender
Senior Program Specialist, Sexual Assault Branch
Office of Criminal Justice Planning, State of California

SHATTERED SECRETS became a landmark production in the history of incest recovery, not only because of its direct impact upon audiences but because HaLevy sent out more than 300 copies of the format materials she created for the play to help found real 12-step meetings for sexual abuse survivors. Descendents of those original groups still meet today.

Now, for the first time in 20 years, SHATTERED SECRETS is available for purchase as a resource for abuse survivors, therapists and support groups, as well as theatre companies and actors seeking powerful performance material.

"Our July-August production of SHATTERED SECRETS broke all previous box office records. The production played to an average capacity of 90% for the entire run and was in such demand that we added two extra performances to our usual nine performances... The community response to SHATTERED SECRETS has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Audiences came from all over the four county area - Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern counties - and many audience members returned several times, frequently bringing their entire support group with them. It is always nice to be applauded for your courage, but it really takes little courage to produce a play that earned us so much box office revenue and so much community goodwill."

- John Leffingwell
   Artistic Director
   The Fourth Wall Theatre
   Visalia, California.

Now, for the first time ever, SHATTERED SECRETS is available for purchase by the general community.

Dear Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and those who support them,

My name is Libbe HaLevy and I am an incest survivor with over 25 years of healing. I've been an activist on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse - writing plays and articles, speaking out in public and on TV (including "60 Minutes"), leading protests and consciousness raising groups. For years, I ran writing workshops for incest survivors and produced events such as "Incest: A Celebration of Recovery," a four-day theatre and arts program at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California.

Of all the actions I took, none proved more powerful than writing and then helping produce a play about adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. SHATTERED SECRETS proved a turning point in the healing history not only of myself, but of countless numbers of women and men.

Why was that? First, the play did what the title says: it shattered the secrets surrounding sexual abuse. It's been said that there is no taboo against committing incest; the taboo is against the victims talking about it. The simple existence of the play on stage gave permission for others to speak of what had happened to them. By breaking the silence, their healing began or picked up speed, and "victims" turned into "survivors".

What was my source material? Me - my healing process my experiences, my history. When I wrote SHATTERED SECRETS, I took everything I had learned in the first 3 years of my healing and turned it into seven characters and format materials. None of the characters is literally a real person. Each is meant to represent a separate personality type:

The Characters of SHATTERED SECRETS:

TOM - Clean cut, a "grown up little boy" with a nervous laugh who hides a bigger secret than his sexual abuse by a priest.

SYLVIA - Mature Beverly Hills businesswoman who protects herself from the vulnerability of love by ruthless confrontations and an aura of invincibility.

CARLOS - Young and handsome Mexican American, timid, naīve, unthreatening... but underneath, a multiple personality with a violent temper when he is triggered.

CAROLYN - Jewish lesbian, compulsive caretaker, acts tough to mask her vulnerability and insecurity, gets into only inappropriate relationships to guarantee that she stays safely alone.

AKASHI - Sober alcoholic, a recovering burn-out -- world-weary, sarcastic, and too aware; she can be competent, but only when it's absolutely necessary.

ELIZABETH - Overweight, sweet-natured but quietly strong, careful and dignified... though not as recovered as she thinks.

GARY - Street punk, hustler and prostitute, a cynical sexual manipulator who is afraid to admit that sometimes, he still has hope.

In SHATTERED SECRETS, these seven "wounded warriors" come together once a week to share experience, strength, hope... as well as some inappropriate rage release work. Set in 1984, the play depicts a made-up 12-step meeting for incest survivors that departs dangerously from standard Recovery program format. All action takes place on a single night when the proceedings go seriously out of control.

"SHATTERED SECRETS provides both a moving evening of theatre and practical insight into one of the most brutal phenomena in family dynamics. The play bridges the gap between artistic theatre and community service, and in some fundamental sense it is the most important kind of theatre going on in Los Angeles."

- Lucia Hodgson
Village View Magazine

A theatrical publishing company picked it up, sold scripts, and promoted the play to production around the U.S., but that pre-Internet company long ago went out of business. The script has been unavailable for over 20 years.

Now, thanks to the Internet, I'm able to offer you SHATTERED SECRETS in ebook format. This is the original script, including production notes and character descriptions.

"WHO CAN BENEFIT
FROM THE SCRIPT FOR 'SHATTERED SECRETS'?"

Sexual Abuse Survivors who want to learn more about the impact of what happened to them by reading the emotionally charged interactions of seven different survivor types.

Therapists who seek a new, different kind of tool to help their clients gain insight and healing.

Supportive family, friends and groups who want to understand what their loved one has experienced.

Actors looking for powerful audition pieces and scene study material.

Theatre companies looking for an inexpensive, single minimal set, small cast play guaranteed to draw a paying audience and positive media attention.

SPECIAL BONUS: When SHATTERED SECRETS was first performed, I received hundreds of requests for copies of the meeting format created for the play. I mailed out support packages with format materials to over 300 people in the U.S., Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. These materials formed the core of Recovery meetings that are still in existence today.

As a special bonus, when you purchase your copy of SHATTERED SECRETS, you will receive in a separate pdf document including all the format materials you'll need to start a local Incest Recovery meeting. Use them to open a new meeting and begin to form a supportive healing community of others who have struggled with the same issues.

To purchase your copy of SHATTERED SECRETS and receive the SPECIAL BONUS, click here now:

GUARANTEE: I guarantee that you will find this play to be a powerful resource for healing. If for any reason you find the script does not live up to these promises, you may return it for a full refund.

I know from experience the power of SHATTERED SECRETS to illuminate the problems faced by survivors of childhood sexual abuse. By doing just what the title says - shattering the silence surrounding the secret pains suffered by so many in our society - the play gives permission to those who still suffer to seek and find their own healing.

p.s. -- Following the example created by Eve Ensler and "The Vagina Monologues," special one-time-only fundraising presentations of SHATTERED SECRETS can be arranged without charge. To learn more, start by sending an email to: info@WriteYourBrainsOut.com

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