Kristy King, who owns a , Washington, was named to the list of business and community leaders under age 40 who “have made great accomplishments and significant contributions to their businesses, industries and communities,” according to an Examiner press release.

The at the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum in Tacoma on Oct. 11.

King describes her experiences leading to business ownership as “a little bit random.”

At EMU she earned a degree in environmental science, completed an independent study alongside a botanist at Shenandoah National Park, and spent a month on cross-cultural in Mexico with the . She also invested herself heavily in theater, and, immediately after graduating in 2002, interned at the Washington (DC) Shakespeare Theater Company.

Still later she earned a master’s degree in environmental studies at Evergreen State College, along the way working for a science education franchise. She currently has a part-time administrative job at a software development company and mothers her two young children — and runs her business.

An ‘alluring’ offer

When her first child was three months old, King became a beneficiary of FIT4MOM’s mission of helping moms “make strides in fitness, motherhood, and life.” As a new mother in search of community — and in spite of feeling “pretty uncoordinated” and lacking confidence — she attended a Stroller Strides class at the franchise.

She quickly realized that the class name is a misnomer.

“Stroller Strides is a full-body, intense workout that you work fun for baby into, but while you’re singing them a song, you’re probably doing a standing oblique crunch or some other thing. It’s not a walk in the park, which is what many, many people think it is.”

Nevertheless, she said, “I fell in love with it, got my butt kicked, and quickly figured out it wasn’t just a workout program.” Instead, FIT4MOM is also a way to connect with other moms, and build confidence and strength.

Eventually King acquired FIT4MOM Olympia, at its previous owner’s invitation. It was “very, very alluring,” she said, although “there was some definite wrestling with timing.” She was, after all, in the third trimester of pregnancy with her second child.

“But I did it, and I’m still alive, and my kids are still alive and thriving,” she said.

King also leads her own class at FIT4MOM Olympia — Body Back, a “high-intensity workout” that moms come to without their babies.

The work is a way to give to others what she has received, both from FIT4MOM and elsewhere including at EMU, where professors pushed her, supported her, helped her problem solve — and cultivated her belief in herself.

That’s what she hopes to do for others.

A ‘behind-the-scenes leader’

King calls herself an “off-the-charts introvert,” a “behind the scenes leader.” That’s something she began realizing about herself and developing when she was a student involved in theater.

At EMU, King said, she spent most of her waking hours doing theater. She stage managed black box theater performances and MainStage and senior shows, and began to realize that she could contribute, could “run these things, without having to be in front of a whole group of people, on stage, without having to be front and center.”

Her appreciation for that growth process crystallized, she reflected recently, when she returned to campus a decade after graduating to stage manage Sarah and the Dinosaur, a play written by Ingrid DeSanctis and the late Sarah Pharis Dwyer.

“All of a sudden I came back in, and I’d say I kind of had this moment of ‘Wow, this is where this came from,’” she said. “It was a way of coming back to my roots that also helped me to see how far my roots had taken me.”

King also credits DeSanctis, a professor of theater at EMU during King’s years there, with challenging her to move beyond her comfort zone. “She really helped me figure out the strengths that I didn’t know I had, and become more confident, and find my voice a little more,” she said. “That’s what college is all about.”

It’s a gift she sees herself extending to others through FIT4MOM Olympia, she said. There, she can “push with love, pull with compassion, and know when to trust and step back,” she said — so that moms can find their own voices and a place in a community that is “waiting and ready to embrace them.”

Many names were tossed at the night of May 23, as his writing career and restorative justice work were humorously honored with a “roast” at ��ݮ����. While most retiring professors of �ܱ���’s stature and worldwide celebrity are feted with a more standard banquet, a roast more suited both the man and his varied work.

More than 300 attendees agreed, traveling from around the world to honor �ܱ���’s influence as a reformer, teacher, a mentor, and visionary; to mark his retirement as a full-time faculty member; and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication of �ܱ���’s groundbreaking work, .

The evening also provided an opportunity to support the ongoing work of the , of which Zehr will remain a co-director with friend and colleague . A silent auction of global artifacts, artwork, locally crafted food and libations, and books, along with other donations, also raised about $15,000, not including pledges, for the continued work of the Zehr Institute.

After dinner…

Among comedians, a “roast” is a gathering at which a guest of honor is subjected to both praise and good-natured jokes at their expense. Stauffer, dressed in a suit and tie, emceed the evening’s festivities with , a longtime colleague since �ܱ���’s arrival at the in 1996. Jantzi came more appropriately appareled to the podium in the requested “Howard Zehr-styled formal wear:” boots, tan khakis, a tan shirt, a camera slung about his neck and a Indiana Jones-looking hat.

When queried by Stauffer about his neckwear, Jantzi looked at his floral tie and retorted: “This is a tie that’s as ugly as sin. I tried to get one as ugly as Howard would wear, but this is the best I could do.”

First on the program was a panel of alumni roasters, all of whom remarked in some capacity on their strong and shared personal friendship with Zehr, his sense of humor, and quiet way of inspiring confidence and empowerment. Among them was , MA ‘08, now restorative justice coordinator at the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General in Vancouver, Canada, who spoke of becoming �ܱ���’s student one day and shortly after, accepting an invitation to co-present with Zehr at a conference.

“Howard sees something in you before you see it in yourself and he nurtures it until it comes to fruition,” said , MA ‘99, a 14-year veteran of working federal capital cases who is herself a pioneer of an approach called defense-oriented victim outreach.

The youngest member of the panel, MA ‘13, spoke of the in her native Mexico, between Zehr – in Tamaulipas to present the keynote address at the First National Conference of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms – and poet and victims advocate Javier Sicilia, “two men who share similar bodies and souls.”

MA ‘04, contextualized Zehr with a reference to Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point,” which describes three types of “change makers.” “Howard for me is the consummate connector,” said Malec, citing Zehr’s skills in networking between practitioners and connecting his colleagues and students with exciting opportunities.

MA ‘09, took the microphone in “protest” to argue that the breadth and sheer vivacity of Zehr’s creative contributions in a variety of fields do not render him “the grandfather of restorative justice,” as he’s sometimes referred to, but rather “the Lady Gaga of restorative justice!”

, MA ‘06, a founding member of the nonprofit Latino Initiative on Restorative Justice, spoke movingly of �ܱ���’s influence on her personal journey from her native Ecuador and her current work as an educator and training of restorative justice in many Latin American countries.

, which focused on the aging body, took the brunt of several spirited jokes from , MA ‘00. Toews is a former student who has written and co-edited .

Guest Roasters

A panel of guest roasters included nine distinguished colleagues, some of whom wrote or provided video greetings: RJ practitioner honored �ܱ���’s influence in New Zealand, criminologist John Braithwaite sent congratulations from Australia, and �ܱ���’s longtime friend, Bruce Bainbridge, did the same from the State Correction Institution Graterford, where he is serving a life sentence.

, currently co-director of Mennonite Central Committee‘s Office on Justice and Peacebuilding, proclaimed that she had “30 years of stories” to fit into the next three minutes, speeding through Zehr’s powers of suggestion, his fast pace of speech, and his commitment to well-made coffee.

Actor, director, and playwright Ingrid DeSanctis remembered ,” based on Zehr’s book which received a standing ovation from 500 inmates at Graterford Prison in Pennsylvania.

, a mediator and consultant with a history of teaching in Center for Justice and Peacebuilding programs, proclaimed that he and Zehr shared something that nobody else in the room did: both are alumni of Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, which boasts graduates such as Martin Luther King Jr.

“You carry the mystique of a Morehouse man well,” said Hooker, adding that the “Morehouse man” is “well-read, well-traveled, well-spoken, well-balanced and…” He stopped. “You’ve got to work on well-dressed,” he concluded, to laughter from the crowd.

Kim Workman, director of the New Zealand-based organization Rethinking Crime and Punishment, not only told humorous stories, but played the keyboard and sang an original ditty he called “Ode to Howard.”

The Zehr bobble-head

As the evening drew to a close, �ܱ���’s family joined in the fun. His wife, Ruby, recalled one of their first dates in college, when Howard invited her to the snack shop to share a Coke because he did not have enough money for two. She was followed by Howard’s brother, Ed Zehr, who reminisced about Howard’s boyhood skills tinkering with electronics and gadgets.

When Zehr assumed the stage after 9 p.m., he was met with a standing ovation. Cracking jokes, he recounted the early days of restorative justice work with Canadian colleague David Worth, announcing their next 50-year plan for the field – expansion to a social movement.

At the end of the night, , director of the and mastermind behind the festivities, presented the honoree with a custom Howard Zehr bobble-head doll.

“Ruby says my memorial service is taken care of, so she won’t need to have one when I die,” Zehr reflected afterwards. “I got off pretty easy overall!”

Since then, Swartz has avoided directly addressing the death of his friend in his productions, though he has addressed some of his emotions. His newest production, though, “Laughter is Sacred Space,” tackles the issue head-on.

“What we’re hoping that this show will do is open up discussions about mental illness and suicide,” he said.

The topic of depression and suicide – the “unforgivable sin” – isn’t often discussed in the church, says Swartz, a devout Mennonite who initially studied to become a pastor. Ted graduated from in 1992.

But the production is also a sort of “gift” for audience members who felt they got to know Eshleman during his two decades of acting, Swartz said.

“What you’re doing is, you’re revealing yourself from the stage to people and, if you do it well, they feel like they know you,” he said.

Show Complements Book

The show, set for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14 and 15 at , comprises three parts.

The first covers “what it means to grow up Mennonite,” acting and how the two converged in Swartz’s own life.

The second part examines how he and Eshleman built their company using a humorous, but respectful, approach to the “Biblical story.” In the third part, Swartz delves into the response to his friend’s death, the “anger, grief and guilt.”

The production is a rewrite of an earlier show Swartz had written in 2008. “Laughter is Sacred Space” will debut the same weekend as his book, “Laughter is Sacred Space: The Not-So-Typical Journey of a Mennonite Actor,” is set to be released.

The book, to be published by , the book publishing arm of , will largely complement the show, which Swartz said he hopes to tour for several years.

“The show absolutely stands on its own, but I think, as a companion to the book, it’s really going to make the book fun to read,” Director Ingrid De Sanctis said. “Once you see the show and you read the book, you’re going to go, `Oh, I remember that moment.’ Moments in the book will really come right off the page because you heard Ted’s voice and you saw him perform it.”

While the one-man show covers some pretty sensitive material, it is Swartz’s openness about the topic that makes it such a “moving” production, she said.

“I think anybody’s honest journey is compelling. And what Ted does in this show is he’s really honest about who he is,” said De Sanctis. “And he’s … really, really funny. But I think this is all about … his journey. And he kind of pulls you in …”

Courtesy Daily News Record, August 30, 2012

Somewhere in the middle of talking about her stage four terminal cancer and an upcoming play documenting her life, Sarah Pharis, 32, begins striking her “Katherine Hepburn face.”

Sitting beside her on a deep purple velour couch at her Harrisonburg home, Ingrid De Sanctis, 46, launches into details of writing the play, called “,” a funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at her former theater assistant’s battle with ocular melanoma.

In conversation, the duo — who met in the late ’90s at ��ݮ���� — are a constant flurry of eccentricities and excitement.

Chatting about hopes for the play and making jokes, their dialogue often builds into hearty laughter and, only briefly, the two share moments of solemnity.

Which is why it’s hard to believe anybody’s talking about cancer at all. But as De Sanctis and Pharis are quick to point out, the cancer is just a bizarre, unexpected catalyst in Pharis’ life that set the two friends on a journey to rekindle their friendship and create a play about “choosing life.”

“For me personally to be able to step out of [the play] and go, ‘OK it’s my name and it’s based on my story, but it’s a story that a lot of people are living;’ it changes it for me somehow,” said Pharis, of Staunton, who was told she had six months to live when the eye cancer spread to her liver in 2010.  “[The play is] not about me and it’s not really even about cancer it’s just about… ”

“Choosing life,” De Sanctis says, finishing the thought.

Yes, Pharis has terminal cancer and yes, that’s the basis of the play, but “Sarah and the Dinosaur” is really a larger metaphor for something that Pharis seems to demonstrate so well in her own life — overcoming hardships and living life to the fullest.

Coping Mechanism

Up until last week, the play was nothing more than a script filling about 50 pages, but and in Staunton have recently agreed to host the play, funded entirely by donations, this spring.

“It’s important for our community to hear this story about this very courageous woman,” said Diane Stewart, vice chair of the ShenanArts Theatre board of directors. “I think [the board] just felt like she’s a strong and important person in our community, it’s important that her story be told.”

The play, De Sanctis says, is her own way of coping with Pharis’ illness.

“When you watch a young person get cancer and know that their years are limited, you do want to do something and for me the only something was [writing this play],” said De Sanctis, just before drawing a parallel between a Mitch Albom book and her and Sarah’s own loving friendship. “You know the book ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’?  … Here we have our some days with Sarah, where we’re going to put on a play and I get all this extra time with her. It’s pretty cool.”

Sarah’s Story

In the drawing Sarah made for the play’s website, she is wearing a crown as she shakes the hand of a giant dinosaur, naturally, wearing Converse high tops.

The drawing echoes Pharis’ own sentiments about her cancer. You just can’t take it too seriously.

Pharis was first diagnosed with ocular melanoma in 2006 at the age of 26. Though symptoms had been present for four years, doctors were unable to diagnose the melanoma until a tumor grew to 15 millimeters. Pharis had the tumor removed, which can blur vision or leave victims blind.

“In my case, if I look at you through my right eye, it looks as though Picasso was left in charge of your face,” writes Pharis on her blog, “,” which originally began as a way to update friends and family members about her cancer and evolved into a resource for people with ocular melanoma.

Living Life ‘Awake’

The cancer spread to her liver in February 2010, which is when the melanoma is considered terminal. Almost two years after being told she had six months to live, Pharis is still proving doctors wrong. Pharis has had tumors removed from her liver and left ovary, which is the only way to treat the kind of cancer Pharis has.

“With any hidden illness, I don’t look like a cancer patient. The kind of cancer I have, radiation and chemo don’t work on it,” Pharis says, like she’s mocking the words she’s likely had to say a thousand times, tired with the sound of them.

“I, personally, and privately struggle with a lot of depression and a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear and it’s debilitating and chronic.

“On the inside, I look like one of those people who are incapable of getting dressed and bathing and being themselves, it’s a true disability,” she says, just before she drops a line that has De Sanctis smiling ear to ear and scrambling for a pen and paper. “But my vanity is a lot stronger than my cancer.”

And though one may wonder how Pharis can be so whimsical and blunt in the same breath, that’s just the beauty of Pharis and her uncharacteristically good attitude, says De Sanctis.

“It’s very hard for me not to add to the play,” said De Sanctis. “That’s the hard thing about being around Sarah; she’s constantly kind of magical.”

A list of 35 things Pharis wants to do before her 35th birthday, reads just as one would expect: “Participate in an act of guerilla gardening, take a chocolate bath, see Tom Jones in concert, reconcile with my ‘enemies,’ send a message in a bottle, go sailing, live to be 35.”

“[If] you walk out [of the play and] after 90 minutes are more awake to your life, that’s why I want to tell this story,” said De Sanctis. “In a moment where death is right in front of her, [Sarah’s] just chosen to be really awake in her life.”

More information

“,” will be performed March 14-18, at EMU, and April 26-28 at the ShenanArts Theatre. Show times for the EMU performance are 7:30 p.m., March 14-17, and 3 p.m., March 18. For more information contact De Sanctis at 540-560-6626.

In addition, more information on “Sarah and the Dinosaur,” is available on the play’s .

A play evoking the agony experienced by victims of violence is hitting people hard on both sides of prison walls.

“I’ve read about how victims feel and I’ve been through counseling,” one Pennsylvania prisoner told actors after they performed “A Body in Motion” at his medium-security state prison. “But this is the first time I’ve really felt it. This is the first time I felt the rage. This is the first time I’ve stopped thinking about my own victimhood.”

“A Body in Motion” is based on the book “Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims” (Good Books, 2001) by Howard Zehr, co-director of EMU’s Conflict Transformation Program.

Three of the five principals involved in the play – the director and two of the actors, Trent Wagler and Lisa White – are EMU alumni, as is Barb Toews, the Pennsylvania Prison Society official who marshaled the resources necessary for the play to tour through eight Pennsylvania prisons in late April and May.

Playwright and director Ingrid DeSanctis pieced together a touching, often wrenching, play from the 39 profiles in Dr. Zehr