"Preying Hands" a New Book Inspired by the True Story of Deaf Students Molested by Priest in 1960s, Illustrates Victims' Long Fight for Justice

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Playwrights Richard Medugno and Howie Seago have written and published a play titled Preying Hands – A Drama Inspired by Actual Events. The drama spans four decades and tells the story of a group of Wisconsin deaf students who were molested by a Catholic priest at the St. John's School for the Deaf in the 1960s and their long struggle for justice. The book is now available through Amazon's CreateSpace at https://www.createspace.com/4779488.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140811/135056)

Preying Hands is divided into two parts. The first part is about how the deaf survivors of a popular priest's abuse worked together in the 1970s to force the pedophile priest to resign from the school -- despite their challenges in communicating with authorities (via American Sign Language - ASL) and the stonewalling of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to eventually.

The second part of Preying Hands picks up the story of the same characters twenty years later in the 1990s. Now, middle-aged but haunted by the betrayal and psychological damage from being sexually abused by a respected authority figure they loved and called "Father," they reunite for more protesting to achieve justice. Their ultimate goal is to have the predatory priest defrocked and kicked out of the Catholic Church.

Preying Hands is about how the victims of the molestations were groomed and abused; how the abuse affected them throughout their lives; how the priest rationalized; how the Catholic Church at first denied and then dragged it's heels; and how these former students eventually found peace, if not justice. 

"The play's high point is the revelation of the creepy deceptions—and self-deceptions—with which [Father] O'Malley weaves his religious strictures into his violation of children; it's a compelling, and revolting, portrait of a warped moral sensibility. [Preying Hands is] a sometimes stilted, sometimes psychologically incisive dramatization of Catholic sex-abuse scandals." — Kirkus Reviews

About Authors

Richard Medugno is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine School of Fine Arts and his other published works include Deaf Daughter, Hearing Father; Bigger Dreams: The Gary Malkowski Story; Silent Salzburg; and Gogol's St. Petersburg Stories - Two One-Act Plays.

Howie Seago is a well-known Deaf actor who has been a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as well as the Actors' Equity Association for many years. In addition to performing in many regional theatre and Off-Broadway productions, Howie was had roles in film and television, including Beyond Silence; Star Trek: The Next Generation; The Equalizer; and Hunter.

Contact Information:

Richard Medugno

408-564-0818

about.me/richardmedugno
Email

SOURCE Richard Medugno