Hear My Voice

As three women attend an awards ceremony in their honor, they relive their complicated personal and religious journeys. While listening to the speakers, each struggles with a difficult choice she must make by the end of the evening that will forever change her life. Mona Sullivan seeks peace and certitude when she becomes a nun, but must adjust to tumultuous changes in her Church. As she becomes an activist public figure, she must decide whether to stay in the Church or leave to become an Episcopal priest. Sandra Miller embarks on a long and difficult journey to become a rabbi at a time when women weren’t accepted. Now she must choose between her childhood sweetheart and her successful career. Reverend Elizabeth Adams builds a Presbyterian congregation with her husband, but he leaves her for a younger woman. She discovers she’s a lesbian and faces a difficult choice between her same-sex relationship and her career. Set between 1940 and 1990, the story follows the civil rights struggles that revolutionized every major institution—including religion. Real events and figures lend Hear My Voice impressive authenticity and relevance, making it a must-read for people of all faiths.

Marcia R. Rudin is author of the novels Hear My Voice and Flower Toward the Sun, both available on Amazon.com and via her website www.marciarudin.com. She has published two non-fiction books, Why Me? Why Anyone and Prison or Paradise? The New Religious Cults. She was a resident in screenwriting at the MacDowell Colony of the Arts. She has studied at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Ensemble Studio Theatre Summer Institute, and Zoetrope: All-Story and Gotham Writers Screenwriting Workshop. Seven of her plays have received twelve productions in festivals in Manhattan, New Jersey, Santa Cruz and San Diego, California, and Canton, Michigan; one won the Naples (FL) Players Naples Players 2006 ETC New Play Contest. Others have received staged readings. She holds a joint MA in Religion from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, taught comparative religion at a New Jersey university, and has lectured and written extensively about destructive cults. She lives in Ft. Myers, FL and Manhattan with her husband Rabbi James Rudin. They have two daughters and one granddaughter. Visit www.marciarudin.com.