The play, “Thirty Days on a Silent Buddhist Retreat, or How I Learned to Breathe Through the Apocalypse,” was written by WSU Vancouver Professor of English Desiree Hellegers. It will air on the Portland-based cable TV station Open Signal.
To watch, go to watch.opensignalpdx.org/cable. The broadcast schedule follows:
- Channel 22: 5 p.m. Sept. 18
- Channel 22: 8 p.m. Sept. 22
- Channel 23: 7 p.m. Sept. 24
- Channel 23: Noon Sept. 26
The play is set in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and in the wake of disclosures of torture at U.S.-run prison camps at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Bagram in Afghanistan. It is based on Hellegers’ real life experience in 2005 of a Buddhist retreat at a Lutheran Church camp with bad plumbing in the woods of British Columbia.
The play is a collaboration between Hellegers and Derya Ruggles, a graduate of WSU Vancouver. Ruggles, who also co-directed, co-produced and co-edited the play, is an actor and playwright. Their YouTube channel is Desi & Derya Productions at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZFSfUsJzms, where “Thirty Days” may also be viewed.