A Psychological-Theological Drama In Five Acts

A Dead King and a Young Woman meet and discuss the decline of the Father’s authority and rule. They speak about how moving to the polar opposite of the Father is not the answer and has resulted in more chaos, distrust and confusion. In the next scene, an adolescent girl is arguing with her mother because her friends have more material possessions and she feels she just has to give and serve her mother and divorced father who remarried. The Dead King and the Young Woman appear and show her how the Father declined through the 20th century using examples of the ‘50s popular TV show Leave It to Beaver, President Franklin Roosevelt, and the post-traumatic effect of WWI and WWII. The oldest daughter discusses why she and her peers use drugs, pointing to the pressures to excel, the impending holocaust of the world through nuclear warfare, and an attempt to numb from all of it. Two soldiers in the Iraq desert are experiencing war fatigue in different ways. The Dead King and Young Woman appear to show them how war is the external representation of what goes on in each human being when the internal enemy is not worked with and instead is seen exclusively as external. A Muslim appears with the Jewish son of one of the soldiers to explore this process more as well as what is at the base of the hatred between the West and radical Muslims. Three mystics who actually lived, Azriel of Gerona, a Jewish mystic of the 12-13th century, Ibn 'Arabi, a Muslim mystic of the 12-13th century, and St. Teresa of Avila, a Catholic mystic of the 16th century, have an ecumenical dialogue comparing their way of union to God and a path for healing opens for two adolescents to move forward.

Angelyn Spignesi Kopylec Arden, Ph.D., is a Professor of Humanities at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, and a psychologist. She has written nine books on the interface of literature, depth psychology, religion and philosophy. She and her husband Ken enjoy oil painting and living a simple and contemplative life.