Preacher, producer, author, and actor DeVon Franklin is hitting the stage with a vulnerable show. It’s his rawest and revealing project ever. He is sharing his heart and heartbreak, including a painful and public divorce. The one-man show is called “Be True: My Journey from Breakdown to Breakthrough.” He told CBN’s Studio 5 why he decided to do this show.
“It just was the opportunity that was presented. Had done a book with Audible a couple of years ago called It Takes a Woman, and we were looking at how to do another project together, and then they presented this opportunity. Audible owns the Minetta Lane Theater in New York, and they said, ‘Would you like to do the next book as a performance?’ And I said, ‘Okay, I’ve never done this before, but yes, I’m excited.’ So that’s how the one-man show came to be,” Franklin said.
While DeVon Franklin is a public figure, this one-man stage performance will allow him to become more vulnerable in sharing his journey in life.
Franklin explained, “I think sometimes we want to be in the public and we want the persona of who we are to do the talking and not the person. So, this performance is the person, DeVon, the person. It’s not the persona. It’s not who people think I am or who people think I’m not. This is me speaking my truth and walking people through my journey in a way that I believe will be very inspirational and bring hope. But it’s very cathartic, but it’s also very transparent. It’s very vulnerable at times, and it’s definitely the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. And I’m just praying that it goes well.”
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Franklin shared with CBN’s Studio 5 the chapters in life that he is going to share during the performance.
“I would say they would be an emotional roller coaster from the depths of the darkness to the heights of the light. A lot of times, we pray for a breakthrough. However, in my experience, most breakthroughs are directly connected to a breakdown,” he said.
“So, you know me as a movie maker, and so as I wrote this script for this one-man show, I take the chapters are part of the scenes of my movie, the movie of my life. And it’s a roller coaster. I mean the ups and the downs and highs and lows. But at the end of the day, I think people will end up in a place where they see themselves and me on that stage, and they walk away with hope and motivation because so often as Christians we put on the facade that everything is okay.”
“But, if you go to the emergency room and you’re sitting in the waiting room and the nurse comes back and says, ‘hey, the doctor’s ready to see you,’ and then you get before the doctor and the doctor says, ‘well, why are you here?’ And you say, ‘Oh no, everything’s fine. I’m good.’ Well, no, you’re here because you’re hurting. Where are you hurting? And sometimes, as people of faith, we don’t like to look at where we hurt, but the same place that we hurt is where we can heal and where God will do his greatest work. And so doing this one-man show is an opportunity for me to really articulate the hurt, but also God’s healing process if we accept it and if we pursue it.”
One area of life was a public heartbreak that he endured years ago. A pain that, at times, is still difficult for Franklin to share. He was transparent with CBN News regarding his healing process with the heartbreak.
“I think that whenever you are wounded and you receive healing, when you go back and really think about those moments that wounded you, it’s always difficult. So, of course, I feel like I’m on the other side. I feel like I’m in a great place of healing. However, writing this show and performing this show requires me to go back into that wound. And that is still a difficult process, yet it’s a healing one. And to be able to articulate it, to be able to talk about it. Why? Because there’s so many people that go through heartbreak, and they suffer in silence. And so, if something that I can say or articulate on that stage might help somebody, then I’m here for it. I’m okay. That’s what God’s called me to do is go back into some of these wounds and tap into some of that hurt that I felt as a way to help somebody. Then it certainly is worth it”, Franklin shared.
Franklin is known for producing and starring in films that uplift and encourage. Now the focus is for him to continue being an inspiration in that vein, but also offer a little more on a personal level.
“A lot of times, I’m uplifting the human spirit through a movie, a television series, preaching, and all of those things are great. However, the difference with this one is that it’s me, the truth of me and my life and my experience, which I have never shared it in this way. So, I think that it’s still going to be uplifting, it’s still going to be inspiring, but we’re going to get there in a very different way in a route that I’ve never taken, and that’s what I’m excited about. And also, nervous about.”
DeVon Franklin performs his one-man show “Be True: My Journey from Breakdown to Breakthrough” on July 18 and 19th at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre in New York. Go to audiblexminetta.com to purchase tickets and get more information.
