{"id":7117,"date":"2016-07-01T10:01:18","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T14:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=7117"},"modified":"2016-07-01T10:01:18","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T14:01:18","slug":"innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Innocents&#8221; in theaters + Chonda Pierce gets real on Dove Channel and in doc &#8220;Laughing in the Dark&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>At the movies<\/strong>:<strong><em> The Innocents<\/em><\/strong> <strong>which open in theaters today.<\/strong> I&#8217;ve been hearing a lot of good things about th<strong>is one.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Innocents Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Drama HD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Go63ZVVwivI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv6918010980MsoNormal\"><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> Warsaw,\u00a0December 1945:\u00a0World War II is finally over, and Mathilde is treating the last of the\u00a0French survivors of the German camps.\u00a0When\u00a0a panicked Benedictine nun appears at the clinic one night\u00a0begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent,\u00a0what she\u00a0finds there is shocking: a holy sister about to give birth\u00a0and several more in advanced stages of pregnancy.\u00a0A\u00a0non-believer,\u00a0Mathilde\u00a0enters the sisters\u2019 fiercely private world, dictated\u00a0by the rituals of their\u00a0order and\u00a0the strict Rev. Mother (Agata Kulesza,\u00a0<i>Ida<\/i>). Fearing the shame of exposure and the hostility of the new\u00a0anti-Catholic Communist government,\u00a0and facing an unprecedented crisis of faith, the nuns increasingly turn to Mathilde as their belief and traditions clash with\u00a0harsh realities.<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1467375745111_3214\" class=\"yiv6918010980MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1467375745111_3213\"><strong>Streaming: Cinedigm\u2019s Dove Channel is the home of the original comedy series <em>Chonda\u00a0Pierce\u00a0Presents: Stand-Up For Families.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p> In three one-hour editions,\u00a0 the popular comedian (who also happens to be Christian) displays her trademark combination of fierce wit and southern charm as she plays host other family-friendly comedians including Bone Hampton, Brad Stine,\u00a0PJ Walsh,\u00a0Nazareth,\u00a0Joby Saad,\u00a0Michael Joiner, Taylor Mason, Anthony Griffith, Sandi Joy, Kay Dodd,\u00a0Lisa Mills,\u00a0Chinnitta Morris,\u00a0Cleto Rodriguez,\u00a0Michael Jr., and\u00a0Rik Roberts.<\/p>\n<p> Taped\u00a0in\u00a0Nashville,the show is meant to be a safe haven for to safely enjoy together without worrying about offensive language or subject matter.\u00a0 Like all content streamed on\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dovechannel.com\/browse-movie\/\">Dove Channel<\/a>, the show The Dove Foundation\u2019s Seal of Approval.<br \/> <\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1467375745111_3269\" class=\"yiv6918010980MsoNormal\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1467375745111_3266\">Pierce, who the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)has\u00a0 certified top-selling female comedian of all time (with 8 Gold DVD\u2019s, signifying sales of more than 50,000 units, and 3 Platinum DVD\u2019s signifying sales of more than 100,000 units) also <\/span><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1467375745111_3268\">recently starred\u00a0in <em><strong>Laughing in the Dark<\/strong><\/em>, a deeply personal feature documentary exploring her struggles with depression, the sudden death of her husband and her ability to overcome these traumatic events through faith and humor.\u00a0 The picture was released via Fathom Events as a one night theatrical event across 520 theaters on October 27,<sup>\u00a0<\/sup>2015.\u00a0 With over 125 theaters sold out for the initial screening and due to overwhelming demand, an encore screening was held on November 17, 2015\u00a0in\u00a0420 theaters. The film earned over $1.1 million at the domestic box office\u00a0in\u00a0just two nights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Chonda Pierce - Laughing In The Dark Intro\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7kFb3DnNGKQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Pierce recently sat down for a Q&amp;A which was made available for me to share with you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QUESTION: What was the inspiration for <\/strong><em><strong>Stand-Up For Families<\/strong><\/em><strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CHONDA PIERCE: <\/strong>The greatest inspiration was that I am a mom; I have a family. With this day and age, with the DVR and Netflix, picking something to watch that everyone will enjoy is hard to find. The greatest thing about <em>Stand-Up For Families, is<\/em> every 15 minutes there is another comedian, so there is a taste of material that hits everybody on the couch in one show. No one has to feel excluded or bored and you can share a bowl of popcorn and share a show. I sat down and watched the first clip <em>Stand-Up For Families <\/em>with my son who\u2019s 26, and my goddaughter who\u2019s four, and everybody is chuckling about something, and I love that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong> <strong>Why do you think that we have that disconnect?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP: <\/strong>I think the great inventions of cellphones and technology is something the devil is going to use to separate us. There are too many things out there that come between the time that family chooses to be together. In our house, we had a family rule that when we are sitting and eating dinner, you had to put your cellphone away. That didn\u2019t go over very well with teenagers, but it was the rule.<\/p>\n<p>There are so many different schedules and people are living in a two-paycheck family, which means often times mom and dad are rarely at the dinner table.\u00a0 It seems as though there are so many things separating and building walls between us and it&#8217;s really nice to be a part of something that\u2019s trying to bring a family together, even for an hour television show, or just for thirty minutes to sit on the couch together. The importance of community and family being together is a given. We have fatherless families out there, the crime rate is high, and there are so many things out there and families are broken and culture is deteriorating because of the family in it. So just to be a part of something that has a small contributing part or a way that\u2019s trying to get families to spend time together in an uninterrupted time is really beautiful.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:<\/strong> <strong>They say laughter is the best medicine, so do you feel that there is a sense of healing that comes from laughter?<\/p>\n<p>CP: <\/strong>Absolutely, you know God and Solomon are the ones that put that phrase together in Proverbs it says \u2018laughter is good like medicine.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>I came into a time in my life when my family imploded and fell a part. I lost both sisters within about 20 months from each other and my parents divorced. I came from the very strict church family and when all that was happening I got a job as a young performer at a theme park in Nashville, Tennessee called Opryland. And the only part I could play was Minnie Pearl because I didn\u2019t know how to dance! Five times a day, six days a week, I had to make a crowd laugh in order to get a paycheck.<\/p>\n<p>The most incredible thing about that is it was as much medicine for me, quoting someone else&#8217;s material, as it was for the audience enjoying their day and having a rip-roaring time at a theme park. I am living proof of the medicine that laughter truly is. Twenty-five years later, here I am in a career as a stand up comedian, enjoying that gift night after night and seeing firsthand exactly what it does to a roomful of people. You know, I recently did a show in Louisiana where the flooding was horrendous and the show was sold out which is which tells me NOT that I am hysterically funny, but that we are in a day and age where laughing so desperately needed and people are trying to find that medicine. So I get excited knowing that gift and knowing how it healed me. I get excited to see that healing happen almost every night. So, when you are talking about a variety of comics in a television show that\u2019s embracing the clean comedy in the medicine the comedy would omit to be, I get very excited about that and I am very blessed to be a part of it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Tell us what people can expect from the series?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP:<\/strong> Minnie Pearl, my great mentor when I was starting out, used to say, \u201cY&#8217;all come, we\u2019ll treat you so many different ways you\u2019re bound to like one of us.\u201d That is exactly what show is like, it is a variety of stand-up comedy, there\u2019s ventriloquist, there\u2019s storytelling type of stand-up, and then there\u2019s the one-two punch jokes comic. We have a little bit of everything in one show and so you\u2019re bound to like one of them. There is going to be something that\u2019s going to hit your pallet as the lover of entertainment. At the same time hopefully you&#8217;ll have moments with your family chuckling going with your family. There&#8217;s nothing that can endure a couple to one another or children to their parent\u2019s than a good laugh, so I think that\u2019s my favorite part of the whole thing is going to be is watching that medicine go through to the whole family.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How did you gather these other comedians?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP:<\/strong> I will say it was hard, not because there is a lack of clean comics, but it was hard to narrow it down! I work in the comedy field where primarily my audience is church-based and that\u2019s how it just happened. I know if I set out to exclude anybody, comedy is built on who you know, and the premises of your background, life, and your childhood, and mine happened to be in the church world. So it was just an organic, natural thing that happened.\u00a0 Plus, my mother was still living and it\u2019s embarrassing for her to drag you out of a place that\u2019s serving alcohol and your 40 years old, there\u2019s something humiliating about that! But I will say some of these comics are strict club comics but they are doing it clean, holding up truth and hanging onto their faith. I admire them so much and I am a big fan of comic comedy. When I go through my Dove Channel on my Dove Channel Ap and I pick something I am going to watch there\u2019s a list of comedy that I\u2019m going to get to this week.\u00a0 My son is entirely different, his is a list of some mystery or something he\u2019s going to watch, but I always lean towards the funny. So, I love collecting funny people and it was so exciting to be able to highlight some friends who don\u2019t always don\u2019t get much as national attention as I am blessed to get. The interesting thing about the process is, I tease my crowd every night saying, \u2018while I may not have a bunch of hecklers hollering at me, but I do have a few that say that, \u2018you\u2019re going to hell in the hand basket!\u2019 So in other words you can\u2019t please everybody. Then also not only I want to keep it clean because that\u2019s who I am and my faith and I want to honor God, then I have the denominational lines to think about. Something that\u2019s going to be funny to a Baptist, isn\u2019t going to be funny to an Episcopalian, so it\u2019s nearly impossible trying to please everyone, it\u2019s going to drive you crazy! One comic won\u2019t please everybody but if we get four or five with a different variety and different faith\/denominational background, then we have a chance better chance to please more people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:<\/strong> <strong>Why do you think that comedy has taken the route of demeaning\/degrading content?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP: <\/strong>There\u2019s couple ways of looking at it and many times comedy is a reflection and society. Like my grandmother says, \u201c We\u2019re all going to hell in a hand basket,\u201d so if it reflecting culture and society, then sadly it\u2019s reflecting the things are rough and we are a part of a fallen world. Secondly, if you believe that there\u2019s a God and there\u2019s good, then you also have to concede there\u2019s evil. The devil is in the business of perverting anything good. The devil loves a rainy day; he likes to ruin the sunshine. The devil loves cancer, he wants to take a body that God created and wreak havoc with it. So of course he\u2019s going to fall into the business of ruining a good medicine, which is what laughter is. That is his job.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I have to be careful when saying this, because I don&#8217;t want to call those comics who are delivering dirty comedy are evil. My mama says, \u201cThey are walking in all the light they know.\u201d They don\u2019t have the same foundation that maybe some of us do. They don&#8217;t understand that the God of the universe loves them and wants to give them peace and joy. They are in a place where they think boundaries are stifling; I am in a place where I understand the boundaries because God has saved my life. So you have all that into play and once a while I go to comedy club, I love to go hear comedy, laugh, and support people. Then there\u2019re are moments when you sit there thinking, \u201cman, it\u2019s not even funny.\u201d If you scribbled out the dirty words and read the premise of the story, it wasn\u2019t funny. Sometimes it\u2019s the shock value that they are going for, or if their material is weak, then maybe I can shock my crowd it\u2019s all those things. The hard thing for me is when I get asked this, there is a fine line between where that all comes from and what is wrong with all of that, and you want to be careful with that so you aren\u2019t passing judgment on the human beings. So my heart grieves, when I see comic whose style is just anger and is so degrading to women. I just want to throw my arms around him and go, \u201cI want to talk you about your relationship with your mom.\u201d It\u2019s a much deeper, I know this for a fact, there\u2019re are many times when I can go back and listen to a show I did and see where my pain is coming through, my anger or the jab was deeper than it should have been, then healing comes around and material usually drops out of my repertoire because God has done the work in me. People always go, \u201cwell you never cuss\u201d and I go, \u201cI never heard those words growing up. So for me to string a bunch of cuss words would be so unnatural.\u201d For some of the comics, that\u2019s exactly what they heard growing up and yet they don\u2019t have a relationship with God to want to desire to clean it up, so that\u2019s what you are going to get.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the great thing about the Dove Channel, is you can go to a place to find your stand-up comedy in a place you know it\u2019s going to be safe. You walk into a comedy club, the first one might be great, but the second you might have to walk out on and you just wasted $25.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:<\/strong> <strong>Why the Dove Channel?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP:<\/strong> Because they invited me, that\u2019s the honest answer! HBO isn\u2019t interested you know, I don\u2019t quite fit \u00a0HBO but the Dove Channel\u2026 I love.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: <em>Laughing in the Dark<\/em> is out now on DVD. Tell me more about the project and how you feel about the response it had from movie goers? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP:<\/strong>\u00a0 I have kept my head down and done the job for so long that when I got an award as \u2018The Most Awarded Female Comic in History\u2019 it blew my mind! I was like \u201creally?\u201d cause I put my head down and do the work and things come along and happen and you go \u2018wow.\u2019 I am still shocked that I am doing this 50+ city tour and it\u2019s just about sold out at 56 years old! It is just amazing. My career is just as much of a surprise to me as it is my mother.<\/p>\n<p>With the movie, we didn\u2019t know what we were doing. We set out to tell the behind the scenes story of a comic who kept it clean and massive audience that she connected with. We wanted to have a piece on the entertainment world that could see there was vital comic out there, she kept it clean and drew an audience. We wanted something similar to one of those <em>VH1 Behind The Scenes<\/em> specials. Then, when the cameras started rolling and my personal life unfolded. You know there are times when you know have a sprained ankle and you have to go to work; there are those moments of life in this movie. I have suffered from clinical depression so I take my medicine and sometimes I don\u2019t feel very funny but a crowd is expecting me and I get out there and have to do my job. I know the jokes that work and I stay at it. There comes a time when your personal life is so heavy that it bleeds over onto the stage and you can hardly do your job anymore, and that\u2019s what happened to me. My mother became very seriously ill and eventually passed. She was a huge part of my life, my material, and the joy I have. I have a daughter and we became quite estranged and it was very sad and it took a toll on my family. The worst of the worst is my husband passed away. What we captured on tape was amazing. Of course there are times when you turn off the cameras and just have to cry, but there are moments that we decided we would allow the story to unfold and see what happens. When it was all over and sitting in the editing room and you start seeing the footage before your very eyes what we realized was we had captured the grace of God on film and His mercy. We captured was a survival story that touches many families and many in tragic moments, and we decided to put it all together.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m very blessed that Fathom Events put it in the movie theaters, and it was just this shocking, amazing success. Now it\u2019s coming out on DVD, which I am excited because there are subject matters, there are heavy duty things that this movie covers that I think is going to be imperative that it\u2019s in an intimate setting. I remember sitting in the movie theater watching it and thinking\u2026. \u201cthat girl on the movie screen, man she has gone through a lot. Look what God has done with her life, I am just so proud of her.\u201d So I leave that theater going \u2018wow!\u2019 almost as an out of body experience. I took 54 years to make that movie and it took 90 minutes to show it! \u00a0It is an amazing thing God has done and so the stuff we are going to talk about how this story unfolds is going to lend itself to some intimate discussions amongst families, people, girlfriends that need to happen. That\u2019s what I\u2019m most excited about it being out on DVD and there\u2019s an intimacy you can have when you stick a DVD in a player and you sit on your couch and watch it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What is next for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP:\u00a0<\/strong> You know whenever I try to plan what\u2019s next I mess it up! A really good vacation might in an order! I love my job, as long as people come see me, I will always stand in a room somewhere and laugh a little bit. I do love diving into this idea of film, you know I have been in a few Hallmark movies and enough to say, \u201cyea, you know I can do that more.\u201d I really would love to be a part of few funny projects.<\/p>\n<p>When my film comes out they are also releasing a Bible Study with it with a book we wrote with some wonderful scholars on the book of Job. What does it say about your life when they want to release it with a bible study of Job!? That should be proof I need a vacation right there!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What has the tour been like?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP: <\/strong>The thing I love about the touring is that people are showing up, and sometimes I think the crowds are here to see that I am ok, you know after seeing the movie and buying a ticket, they are probably thinking, \u201cthis may be the last time she\u2019s going to breathe, so we need to go see the show!\u201d And that\u2019s okay! It\u2019s like when you hear your favorite celebrities were in a personal tragedy and you go see the next film they are in just to go look at them. I don\u2019t take it for granted for one second the people that pour into a theater or a church or a coliseum buy a ticket to see Chonda Pierce, that blows my mind every night. I just love it. You can try out being in a movie, you know you could have own talk show host and be the next Ellen DeGeneres. (You know that\u2019s one of my biggest dreams), but nothing will ever take the place of just walking out and sharing laughs with the crowd.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What the best way to stay in touch for your fans?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CP:<\/strong> E-mail, Facebook and website.<\/p>\n<p>I am so blessed, I have about 500,000 followers on Facebook and sometimes I wonder what it would be like it came earlier in my career. It would have been interesting to see how far along the road we are. I know social media is electronic and there are miles and miles between my fans and I, but there is something tender when you are going through something like your husband passing away, and you get to read the love and that people praying for you; that\u2019s life changing. It really gets you through some dark days.<\/p>\n<p><em>John W. Kennedy is a writer\/development consultant specializing in teleplays, screenplays and novelizations<\/em>. He can be reached at <a href=\"mailto:john@jwkmedia.com\">john@jwkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em><strong>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. At the movies: The Innocents which open in theaters today. I&#8217;ve been hearing a lot of good things about this one. Synopsis: Warsaw,\u00a0December 1945:\u00a0World War II is finally over, and Mathilde is treating the last of the\u00a0French survivors of the German camps.\u00a0When\u00a0a panicked Benedictine&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,13,1085,14,16,5375,24,31],"tags":[9060,9061,5716,8779],"class_list":["post-7117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-forgiveness","category-gratitude","category-humor","category-mental-health","category-movies","category-television","tag-laughing-in-the-dark","tag-the-innocents","tag-chonda-pierce","tag-dove-channel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;The Innocents&quot; in theaters + Chonda Pierce gets real on Dove Channel and in doc &quot;Laughing in the Dark&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;The Innocents&quot; in theaters + Chonda Pierce gets real on Dove Channel and in doc &quot;Laughing in the Dark&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. At the movies: The Innocents which open in theaters today. I&#8217;ve been hearing a lot of good things about this one. Synopsis: Warsaw,\u00a0December 1945:\u00a0World War II is finally over, and Mathilde is treating the last of the\u00a0French survivors of the German camps.\u00a0When\u00a0a panicked Benedictine&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-01T14:01:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. Kennedy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"The Innocents\" in theaters + Chonda Pierce gets real on Dove Channel and in doc \"Laughing in the Dark\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"The Innocents\" in theaters + Chonda Pierce gets real on Dove Channel and in doc \"Laughing in the Dark\"","og_description":"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. At the movies: The Innocents which open in theaters today. I&#8217;ve been hearing a lot of good things about this one. Synopsis: Warsaw,\u00a0December 1945:\u00a0World War II is finally over, and Mathilde is treating the last of the\u00a0French survivors of the German camps.\u00a0When\u00a0a panicked Benedictine&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2016-07-01T14:01:18+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html","name":"\"The Innocents\" in theaters + Chonda Pierce gets real on Dove Channel and in doc \"Laughing in the Dark\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-07-01T14:01:18+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-01T14:01:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2016\/07\/innocents-theaters-chonda-pierce-gets-real-dove-channel-doc-laughing-dark.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8220;The Innocents&#8221; in theaters + Chonda Pierce gets real on Dove Channel and in doc &#8220;Laughing in the Dark&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7119,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions\/7119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}