Cult Escapee Performing Somerville One-Woman Show

SOMERVILLE, MA – A North Reading woman who spent five years in a cult has turned her experience into a one-woman show. Singer-songwriter Esther Friedman was unknowingly recruited into the cult in 2006, and ultimately escaped in 2011.

She will perform her one-woman show Saturday, June 9 at 7 p.m. at the Burren, 247 Elm St. The show will coincide with her CD release, and she will perform alongside acoustic duo The Lied-to's.

"I’ve always turned to writing," Friedman, an expressive art therapist and writer, said. "This particular event was bizarre, insidious and hard to describe. Between the writing and my training as a therapist, I was able to get out with myself intact."

She added that she wrote about her experience to "counter the incredible harm cults do." Friedman launched a private practice that specializes in helping former cult members through a program called The Gentle Souls Revolution: Healing Arts.

For ticket info go to https://tickets.burren.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=310

Photo submitted by Sandi Hammond