What is the 99? I found out last night
My wife called me at work and asked me if I wanted to go somewhere with her, as she got a ticket/coupon making admission only a buck a person. She told me it was for this show called The 99, and someone had handed out tickets at the Mall and she snagged a couple.
I looked up their website, WhatisThe99.com and it seemed like a shock-educational thing for kids and young adults, showing them just what happens when you do stupid things (like car surfing or drinking and driving). In the back of my mind I knew there was something up with this though, especially when I saw the coupons saying “$8.00 value”. No one is going to give you like 90% a ticket without a catch. And there was a catch.
We go through the show and the first thing you see is a guy in all black, who I’m assuming was Death. They lead you into staged acting areas, one being an accident, one being a crackhouse, another being 4 girls beating up another girl, etc. The actors were actually really good - you weren’t allowed to touch them but they’d get in your face, and at one point a girl grabbed my hand through some bars and pleaded with me to help her - creeped me out, but that means she did her job.
Anyways, as we started going through this show, my suspicions were confirmed as we entered the Hell portion of the show, and we were told to go towards the light.
And saw Jesus on a cross.
Now let me stop here for a second before you all flame me - I’m not a religious man, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect other religions. I don’t agree with many of the things they do, and my main gripe I had with this show was that it seemed to lure you there with the expectation of a show with a bit of gore and mayhem, to talk about God. At the end they put you in a room with chairs and show you a video, and then the preacher guy tries to get all of the people in the room Saved. Then, you walk out and they want you to do a short survey - I knew what was going on, they were trying to convert people over to Christianity, not take a survey.
Now, that’s fine - but come on, you know why they didn’t say “The 99, a production by (so and so ministries etc)”. They knew if they did that, they wouldn’t get people coming in. Well, those same people who wouldn’t come in aren’t going to be interested in religion anyways! That’s why they gave out tickets for $1 admission - the project was most likely already fully funded. Another huge gripe I had was after you got out of the room with the video and the preacher (that area they wanted you to take a survey) - it was like a madhouse. People everywhere trying to talk to you about God and giving you flyers. It honestly made me very nervous as 3 or 4 people at once were getting in my face asking me if I knew about Jesus, while I’m trying to just walk out of there.
All in all it was a pretty good production, but the end really let me down in how they came across to you. But the best part was they had this old lady cooking up crack in the Drug House part of the show. The had the stove, pan, water, baking soda, all the stuff - you cook them rocks Grams!
5 Comments »
Comment by lora
June 24, 2009 @ 7:39 am #
this post served as a bit of inspiration for the one I put up yesterday.
I’ve heard of these shows, and I think it is total bumrush bullcrap. There is nothing that turns me off from anything, religion or otherwise, than scare tactics and bloody threats.
Ugh.
Comment by Brooke and Freeland
July 2, 2009 @ 9:14 pm #
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on it - and I really agree with them too. I would have probably been bored sitting there. Although I appreciate that they are trying and I hope it was able to reach someone - its not the way I could ever see myself being motivated to hear what they had to say. Oh and I LOVED your post about your MP3 player - too flippin funny. Im glad they werent smart enough to find the GPS thing!
Comment by Tiamat
July 8, 2009 @ 2:14 pm #
Being a Christian, I can tell you that the one thing in this world that turns most people off to Christianity is the lives and actions of Christians themselves. I can appreciate the Christian desire to save as many people as possible, but tactics like this only hurt the cause. So maybe you’ll get a handful of people to really believe and be saved, but you’ll also be guaranteed even more people that will tell others “I can’t believe they tried to lure people in with this. What a joke.” That doesn’t help. Part of being a Christian is honesty. They should have advertised what it was all about from the beginning.
Comment by Jonathan
July 21, 2009 @ 9:36 pm #
Oh, I would have walked the hell out of that video, for sure. Then I would have had a blast taking rhetoric with those trying to “save” me.
While I also have no problem with religion, at least in theory, this kind of stuff is infuriating. I would have demanded my $1 back due to the principle of it all. ha!
Comment by Heather BEnnett-Seitz
October 23, 2009 @ 8:14 pm #
First of all, thank you for explaining what this “play” is. I am a Christian, and I thought it sounded interesting, but I wondered who put it on. Honestly, I can agree with an earlier comment…they should advertise that it is put on by a ministry, so that you know that before hand. I was thinking maybe it was like a non-profit that was trying to convince those present not to do drugs or drink. I have been to similar productions, and they generally have good acting. Whether or not you choose to get saved, they do have a good message…drugs, and being irresponsible can lead to a young death. I do think they can help, especially teens, keep their focus on living life to the fullest. Thanks, though…I was very curious about this!
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