NPX Weekly Round-Up: #GodHatesYou by Emily Dendinger

An intimate analysis of radical Christianity, plus three other plays I'm excited to read this week.

Sep 23, 2024

Content Warnings for #GodHatesYou by Emily Dendinger: discussions of radical Christianity, cult-like tactics, violence, hospice, and abandonment; use of hate speech/slurs against multiple marginalized communities.

As soon as I read the synopsis for this play, I knew I had to read it.

Like many ex-Christians, I am weirdly obsessed with fundamentalism and cults. Perhaps it’s a coping mechanism? A strange, slightly morbid reminder of what could have been, and luckily is not? I’m not sure— but if the follower counts of content creators such as Fundie Fridays are to be believed, I’m not alone in this at all.

Now, let me take you back ten to fifteen years or so: if you’re about my age, you’re in late middle school to early high school, you’re discovering Tumblr and other cringey-younger-Millennial shit, and absolutely miserable in the way only a teenager can be. Also you’re obsessed with weird stuff, like cults. The late 2000’s to the early 2010’s were the height of a little organization called the Westboro Baptist Church, a fundamentalist Christian church (*cough* cult *cough*) that was famous for protesting loudly and offensively at everything from funerals to festivals. We were all a little morbidly fascinated with them, enough that more than one documentary was made about them. I remember watching with concern, confusion, and fascination as these people spewed simply awful messages while claiming to love everyone. It raised so many questions for so many of us, namely: “How can someone be so utterly hateful and aggressive and at the same time claim to have love and compassion for others?”

Emily Dendinger’s play, #GodHatesYou, explores this and more in its 97 pages.

Here is the summary from NPX:

Laurel has always been the apple of the church’s eye. She’s the first person to volunteer to picket funerals of dead soldiers, knows what to say to strike a nerve in a crowd, and can debate the Bible with the best of them. Despite the constant hate mail and death threats, she knows she’s saving the sinners of the world before the end of days arrives. However, when Laurel joins social media she’s faced for the first time with the outside world, and soon everything she believes is called into question. God Hates You asks what it means to grow up in a church dedicated to spreading hate and intolerance, and what happens when the faith you’ve rigorously adhered to your whole life comes shattering down around you

If you are also an avid consumer of true crime, anti-MLM/scam, and ex-fundie content like me, you’re aware how difficult it can be for someone to leave a cult or high control group. This play explores that by taking inspiration from a high control group/cult that loads of people have heard of before, therefore lowering the “barrier to entry” for this story. While Dendinger does do the required world building and exposition, we do not need much of it as an audience to understand the situation that the main character, Laurel, is in. She is someone born into a cult created by her grandfather and perpetuated by her mother, so it’s even more difficult for her— there are no happily crying parents waiting to receive her with open arms if she leaves. Leaving the church means leaving her entire life and support system behind.

So…will she do it?

The Laurel we meet in the opening of the show is strong in her convictions, ready and excited to eventually take over as a leader in her family’s church. She admonishes her twin for buying mascara and lip gloss, quotes the Bible conversationally, and (most importantly) runs the church’s Twitter account, aptly named GodHatesYou. Her first ever tweet is the famous line on every other sign at the Westboro Baptist Church protests— God hates (insert f-slur that I refuse to type).

It is hard to see how someone this fired up about their faith could ever be open-minded enough to change, especially someone who has grown up in such an echo chamber. This is where that Twitter account I just mentioned plays an important role: It gets Laurel more acquainted with others who think differently. On top of that, she accepts an interview with a man named Noah for a paper he’s writing on radical Christianity. Noah, surprisingly, shares extremely similar music taste to Laurel (think Death Cab for Cutie and Neutral Milk Hotel). This serves to open the door for them to have interesting conversations about God and what is truly “harmful”, a door that is pushed open even farther by Laurel’s DMs with Rabbi Cohen.

Rabbi Cohen is, in my opinion, an extremely important element in Laurel’s eventual deconstruction. He challenges her, but not in an aggressive or accusatory way like a lot of people on the internet. The things he proposes to her are worded kindly, with a true heart of inquisitiveness, something Laurel is not used to. He listens to her, even when what she is saying is arguably hateful and offensive. When Laurel talks about wanting his congregation to “repent”, he asks her deep questions about what that means, how she draws her conclusions, and what her motivations are. He acknowledges that Laurel is smart. The questions Rabbi Cohen asks her lead her to her own questions, and thus begins Laurel’s journey of thinking for herself.

This is a piece truly driven by a single character’s inner psychology and journey towards a new era of life. While drastic things do occur that cause Laurel to consider things from a different angle, she is mostly probed to questioning by the kindness and openness of others outside her community. I find this play to be a piece that truly considers all the contradictions within the emotional life of someone who is considering leaving a high control group or cult. This is endlessly fascinating, and I was drawn into the story because of the disparities that Laurel was enduring between the way her family acts and the way these “outsiders” act.

When a piece is character driven like this, a lot of research and time must go into breaking down exactly what is happening in the character’s thought processes. I imagine that Dendinger did a lot of reading up about survivors of high control groups/cults and their rationalizations from when they were “in it”— it’s the only way, besides living it, that she could have gotten the inner workings of Laurel’s brain down so well.

We all know that when tackling something like this, we should do our research, our dramaturgical work, not only to honor the subject matter but the eventual play itself. It can sometimes be difficult to be your own dramaturg, and that’s okay. I think we playwrights need to get better at asking for help with it! After all, as I always say, playwriting is not the solo activity that many may believe it is at first glance. Like everything in theater, it is a collaborative activity. While I’m sure Dendinger did a lot of her own research, I wouldn’t be surprised if a dramaturg helped her along the way (especially with the great resume this play has!).

I’m currently working with a dramaturg (and amazing director and cast!) on my National Playwright’s Conference Semifinalist play, PIETA, and I am realizing now why I got nowhere on this piece for a year. Because I didn’t ask for help. There is only so much you can do, writing alone in your room. When you’ve looked at a play for so long by yourself, it can become almost impossible to know what to do next to make it all that it can be. So if you’ve done as much dramaturgy yourself as you possibly can, ask for help. I’m sure Emily Dendinger did, and her play is all the better, more compassionate, more compelling, for it.

Here is my official review on NPX:

A brilliantly compassionate and introspective analysis into the mind of someone raised in a high control group. This play shows what we all know to be true: that openness and kindness are the best way to reach someone. The character of Laurel grows tremendously from beginning to end in a believable and enrapturing way. A great read!

Have you read this play, or have some thoughts on my review? Leave a comment on this post!

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