The Road to Damascus (As Told by Grandmother to Little Red) is a solo performance piece with live music that
uses the story of Saul/Paul’s conversion experience from Acts 9 of the New Testament as a call for an awakening
to the role the church has played in creating and supporting our country’s inequitable criminal legal system.
The Road to Damascus is written and performed by Kathy Randels and directed and co-created with Odile Del
Giudice and designers Diane Baas (lighting), Kevin Griffith (set), Steve Gilliland (sound and music) and
Shawn Hall (costumes). Tricia Anderson serves as stage manager. The piece draws upon: Randels’ upbringing
in the church as the offspring of two generations of Southern Baptist preachers; teaching theater to and learning
from the currently and formerly incarcerated women at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women for 29
years; a decade of dialogue and action with St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church and its Center for Faith + Action
around the ways in which faith communities can participate in long-needed criminal legal system reform in our
state; and Del Giudice’s years of deep work identifying and addressing collective trauma.
The Road to Damascus began as a prayer for the release of Gloria “Mama Glo” Williams, a longtime member of
the LCIW Drama Club whose 51 years behind bars were the longest sentence served at LCIW. From 2019-2022,
PDMNOLA led a “Free Mama Glo” campaign with The Graduates, VOTE, Kumbuka African Dance and Drum
Collective, The Washitaw Nation, ArtSpot Productions, St. Charles Ave. Baptist Church and its Center for Faith +
Action to encourage Louisiana’s then-Governor John Bel Edwards to approve her release, which he finally did on
January 25, 2022. Gloria will speak at each of our post-performance discussions.