Peoples Temple in the Arts

A number of musicians, writers, dramatists, and filmmakers have completed – or are still working on – many creative projects which consider the people of Peoples Temple and the events in Jonestown. The articles below describe those projects, introduce the creative forces behind them, and consider how they perceive their own work.

A. Art and popular culture notes

B. Books and poetry

1. Jonestown Lullaby Published
   1. I Do Not Love You, by Teri Buford O’Shea
   2. The Poems In Jonestown Lullaby, by Heather Johnson
2. 2011 Update For Jonestown Survivor: An Insider’s Look, by Laura Johnston Kohl
   1. Website and Blog Complement Jonestown Survivor, by Laura Johnston Kohl
3. In the Game of Life, Faith Wins, by Leslie Wilson-Cathey
4. Surviving November: My Life After Jonestown, by Dawn Gardfrey
5. A Thousand Lives Is Published
   1. An Author Reflects Upon Her Work, by Julia Scheeres
   2. In Search of the Grander Scale, by Kathy Tropp Barbour
   3. A Thousand Lives A Painful and Disturbing Read, by Annie Dawid
   4. Rewriting Jonestown, by Katherine Hill
   5. Scheeres Book Offers Understanding of November 18, by Sylvia Marciniak
   6. The Pieces Still Missing, by Rikke Wettendorff
6. Lavender Look Published Posthumously
7. Volume of Poetry Counters Erasure of Jonestown, by Carmen Gillespie
8. Belva Davis Memoir Includes Recollections of Peoples Temple
9. Other Jonestown Dimensions: Views from Guyana, by Eusi Kwayana
10. And Then They Were Gone Nears Completion, by Ron Cabral
11. Bring Out The “Black Dimensions” Of Peoples Temple, by James Lance Taylor
12. Finding Jeanette McDonald’s Pool, by Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons
    1. Visiting Andalusia
13. You Are Your Text, by darlene anita scott
14. Asking Why, by Russell Working
15. On writing a novel about Jonestown, in retrospect, by Sylvia Smith
16. White Night: The Novel, by Sharon Maas
17. Revealing Peoples Temple through Creative Writing, by Chelsea Blundon
    1. Don’t Drink The Kool-aid
    2. Separation of Church and State of Shock
    3. Mortis Operandi
    4. Sharon Amos
    5. Daleigh
    6. Step On Up

C. Music

1. Cults Song Includes Temple Images
   1. A Director Under the Influence of History, by Isaiah Seret
   2. Talking with Cults: Conversations with a Video Director, by Don Beck, aka Eiredon
2. Peoples Temple will forever be remembered as a cult… or will it?, by Casey Strain

D. Film and Drama

1. The People’s Temple Performed at Napa Valley College
   1. Telling the Truth, by Jennifer King
   2. Awake My Soul, by Cristhian Ayvar
   3. A Year Reconsidered, by Dawn Johnson
   4. Grieving Peoples Temple, and a Daughter, by Donald E. Lacy, Jr.
2. Jonestown Opera Project Finds New Life, by Dan Buckley
3. Exploring ambivalence in Peoples Temple, by Carl Kelsch
4. My Father’s House Advances in Research, Staging, by Ken White
5. Jonestown: Behind the scenes at National Geographic Channel’s Seconds from Disaster, by Sally Brindle
6. Misconceptions of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, by Martin English
7. White Night: Survivors of Jonestown, by Alex Smith
8. “I Believe in Jim Jones”, by Chase Voorhees

E. Artworks and photography

1. Painting Stories, by Nick Burgess
2. Summer Camp, by T. Gordon
3. Making “A Shovel in Soil”: An Artwork in Audio, by Matthew Sochocki