By Denise Koch |
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore’s ‘Everyman Theatre’ is opening a new play this week.
‘Everything is Wonderful’ is the story of an Amish family whose two sons are riding in a buggy when they are hit and killed by a driver. That driver shows up at the family’s farm to ask forgiveness.
Last year a local couple, Sandy and Mark Laken, agreed to sponsor the play. They had never read it and had no way of knowing how closely it mirrored the greatest tragedy of their lives. The couple is not Amish, as it is depicted in the play.
In real life in 1988, their son Shawn, a student at Bard College, was forced off the road by a driver. His car hit a tree. He was killed instantly.
Mark remembers, “We got the middle of the night phone call that every parent dreads”.
The driver was never charged and at the time, “We had the opportunity a week after our son was killed to meet with him but we chose not to”. However, 30 years later, after reading the play and watching it in rehearsal they’ve had a profound awakening.
“It made me really want to find this young man because I felt like if we had the opportunity to formally forgive him…it would provide closure for us and for him,” Sandy said.
The Lakens describe “Everything Is Wonderful” as, “A marvelous play of forgiveness…it speaks to us on so many levels”.
As for the irony that this particular play would end up being one they sponsored, “There’s a word in Yiddish, beshert, that’s which means ‘meant to be’ and that’s what this is all about”.
“The salient point for me is the power of forgiveness and the power of art to take people beyond where they are and this play took us beyond where we are in the most important event of our life,” Sandy said.
They still have not located that driver from so long ago, but they are using every resource to try and make that meeting happen for him, and for them.
“Everything is Wonderful” opens at Everyman February 1st and runs through the 24th.
If you’re interested, you can receive a 10 percent discount on tickets by using the code wjzew10.
