Happy Endings Church
A Haggardly Tale of Woe & Redemption
A satirical comedic rock musical about a real-life megachurch pastor's wife! Happy Endings Church is crass, ridiculous, and cringe-worthy - just like Ted Haggard's megachurch services of the early 2000's! Follow Gayle Haggard's persecution at the hands of her husband's pansexual indiscretions followed by her resurrection!
FYI: Ted Haggard was President George W. Bush's anti-gay political Christian shield in the early 2000's until...he was outed by his prostitute.
Premiering at the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival
- Purchase a ticket + reservation @ $18/person. A $5 MN Fringe Festival button is required for entry to any Fringe shows and can be purchased at the venue. Ticket + reservation + button = $23/person
- Proof of COVID vaccination is required to enter the venue and is a Fringe Festival requirement. A photo of your COVID card or the Docket app (Android, Apple) on your phone will suffice
Show Dates:
- Sat. August 6 at 1:00 PM
- Sun. August 7 at 7:00 PM
- Wed. August 10 at 10:00 PM
- Sat. August 13 at 5:30 PM
- Sun. August 14 at 4:00 PM
Venue:
Augsburg College Studio
Located in the Foss Lobeck Miles Center
625 22nd Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55454
Cast:
- Gayle Haggard: Nicole Wood
- Ted Haggard: Chandler Oja
- Gary von Sneezetrap: Lance Urbick
- Announcer/Samantha/Ensemble: Melody Hanna
- Carol/Ensemble: Molly Tucker
- Jenny/Ensemble: Rae Wasson
- Clyde/Ensemble: Guthrie Nielsen
- Billy/Ensemble: Rachel Schmidt
- Dr. Svehla/Todd: Mahmoud Hakima
- Lefty/Ensemble: Toby Cryns
Who Did What:
- Directed by Mahmoud Hakima
- Stage Manager: Jenn Jensen
- Written by Ryan Arnholt, Toby Cryns, & Jon Greenlee
- Produced by Ryan Arnholt & Toby Cryns
- Music Directed and Sound Designed by Toby Cryns
- Fight Choreographer: Lance Urbick
- Music performances by Ryan Arnholt, Toby Cryns, Jon Greenlee, & Brad Thomas.
- Special thanks to Devon Arnholt, Lisa Morgel Cryns, Adrienne Greenlee, Rachel Lapp, & Brad Thomas
What is it?:
Happy Endings Church is a satirical comedic rock musical about Gayle Haggard, whose husband, Ted Haggard, was one of the leading anti-gay Evangelical Christian activists of the early 2000’s in the USA. If you Google Ted’s name, you’ll find:
- clips of him on Oprah,
- a documentary about him by Nancy Pelosi’s daughter,
- clips of him from the breakthrough documentary Jesus Camp,
- an episode of This American Life that features him,
- best-selling books he authored,
- some clips of him riding a Harley motorcycle inside his church,
- and lots and lots of news articles where he bashes the GLBTQ+ community while promoting his growing megachurch.
Ted’s wife, Gayle, cheered him throughout it all, then….Ted got busted having sex with a male prostitute. He shamefully fell from the limelight, was booted from the church he founded, was excommunicated from the state of Colorado by his own church board whom he appointed, and Gayle took over the Haggard ministry from there, starting a new church, writing best-selling novels, and, basically, becoming Ted!
I am endlessly-fascinated by Gayle’s ascent to power, and that’s what this musical is mostly about.
“Ted served as president of the 30 million member National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) from 2003-2006. During these years, he often represented evangelicalism in the media and with world leaders. He also built The World Prayer Center and worldprayerteam.org. which was the largest network of praying believers in the world coordinated at the World Prayer Center.”
Source: https://saintjameschurch.com/aboutthepastors/
WARNING: This musical is a satire that jokingly brings attention to some of the more recent, and frequent, failures of prominent Evangelical Christians. It also portrays things like Gay Christian Conversion Therapy and Gay Christian Megachurch Pastor Prostitution in a totally normal, shocking, scary and hilarious light. If these sorts of things are triggering or offensive to you, feel free to stay home and sit this one out.
If, on the other hand, you enjoy ridiculous, outlandish humor about people talking directly to God, then saddle up.
