Theatre of All Possibilities / Odyssey Study Group

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In many ways, this theatre troupe and Fourth Way School became the most secretive this podcast has looked into yet. Many members didn’t know each other’s jobs, marital status, or even surnames. They didn’t see each other outside of what they referred to as ‘the work’, they didn’t know the classes they were going to each week had anything to do with the teachings of Russian philosophers, and they didn’t tell anyone outside what it was they were attending.

It seduced educated, affluent New Yorkers who recruited others according to strict guidelines. Many would lose decades, tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and untold hours of physical labour to the organisation they only knew as ‘school’.

EPISODE LINKS

• Alexander Francis Horn Certificate of Birth — issued 19 August 1929

• 5 Year Old Boy’s Cries Rouse 13 as Fire Perils Home — Chicago Tribune, 9 February 1935

• Maurice C. Horn & Laura DeLallo Marriage License — issued 11 January 1939

• Maurice C. Horn Certificate of Death — 29 November 1939

• Marks Nathan Jewish Orphan Home records — 1940 US Census

• A Cult Survivor's Handbook — an online resource with lots of information about OSG including the above records

• In Memorium: Alexander Francis Horn — web archive of The Alex Horn Pages blog, post from 22 December 2007

• Rosie, Sharon, Alex, Robert & The Work — The Gurdjieff Journal, Vol. 8, Issue 1, Number 29, 2002

• The Hasnamuss on the Mountaintop — by Antonio Morrocco, blog post (‘Book 3: Chapter 4), date unknown

• A Further Record: Extracts from Meetings, 1928-1945 — by Pyotr Demianovich Ouspensky, Arkana, 1986

• Cult Education Institute Forum — thread with comments about Anne Burridge/Horn/Haas from 2008

• The Fantastic Arising of Padraic Clancy Muldoon — Everyman Theatre playbill, 1973

• Arising To New Low — by Jeanne Miller, The San Francisco Examiner, 9 January 1973

• Theater group, cult or stage? — by Jack Brooks, The San Francisco Progress, 22 December 1978

• Strange School — by Michael Taylor and Bernard Weiner, The San Francisco Chronicle, 23 December 1978

• ‘Theater of All Possibilities’ deserves a second look — by Jack Brooks, The San Francisco Progress, 10 January 1979

• Closer look at the theater — by Jack Brooks, The San Francisco Progress, 12 January 1979

• Horn’s followers at the ‘Theater’ — by Jack Brooks, The San Francisco Progress, 14 January 1979

• What are the answers to cultism?’ — by Jack Brooks, The San Francisco Progress, 25 January 1979

• Fourth Way, Sharon Gans, Robert Klein group in Boston — Cult Education Institute forum posts dating back to 2010

• "The Work" a "Fourth Way School" Visitor Comments — Cult Education Institute

• A History and analysis of the Sharon Gans group, also known as "The Work" — by former members of the Gans schools, edited by Rick Ross, Cult Education Institute, March 2002

• School — Esoteric School, archive of OSG site, accessed 11 August 2023

• Supping With Alex — by Dave Archer, ‘From a memoir in progress, 2002 

• My Life in a Cult — by Spencer L. Schneider, The East Hampton Star Magazine, 16 December 2019

• Manhattan Cult Story — Spencer Schneider’s blog ‘Exposing the Sharon Gans Cult’

• Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival — by Spencer Schneider, Arcade Publishing, 2022

• Seeing Into the Heart of Things — Bette Leahy’s blog about OSG

• The Gentle Souls Revolution — Esther Friedman’s blog about ‘The School’

• The Gentle Souls Revolution — by Esther Friedman, GSR Healing Arts, 2023

• A Safety Guide For Gentle Souls w/Esther Friedman — IndoctriNation podcast with Rachel Bernstein, 30 August 2022

• Our Stories — archived capture of the Esoteric Freedom blog, 26 August 2016

• The “Alex Horn” Pages — archived capture of the blog, 23 April 2013

• FALSE SCHOOL. — Google Group posts between 2000 and 2004

• NYC’s Odyssey Study Group ‘cult’ that held ‘fight clubs’ sues over tell-all book — by Jacob Geanous, New York Post, 15 July 2023

• Inside the alleged ‘cult’ that has been quietly operating in NY for decades — by Anabel Sosa and Ebony Bowden, New York Post, 11 November 2019

• Manhattan ‘cult’ duped women into paying fee, working for free: lawsuit — by Kathianne Boniello and Lee Brown, New York Post, 24 September 2021

• Accused cult leader Sharon Gans Horn cut kids from will: court papers — by Irie Sentner and Kathianne Boniello, New York Post, 18 June 2022

• Odyssey Study Group cult still going strong after death of charismatic leader Sharon Gans — by Isabel Vincent, New York Post, 9 July 2022

• NYC’s Odyssey Study Group ‘cult’ that held ‘fight clubs’ sues over tell-all book — by Jacob Geanous, New York Post, 15 July 2023

• Spencer Lee Schnieder v. OSG, LLC et al, Verified Complaint — United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 16 December 2022

• Rosenberg, Stephanie et al v. OSG, LLC et al, Summons and Complaint — Supreme Court of the State of New York County of New York, 20 September 2021

• Rosenberg, Stephanie et al v. OSG, LLC et al, Affirmation in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss — Supreme Court of the State of New York County of New York, 20 March 2022

• Rosenberg, Stephanie et al v. OSG, LLC et al, Decision + Order on Motion — Supreme Court of the State of New York County of New York, 4 October 2022

• Horn/Gans/Klein Cult — Cult Education Institute forum posts dating back to 2007

• One ironic documentary — by Jeanette Walls, MSNBC, 11 March 2002

• Rosie Refutes Cult Connection — by Josh Grossberg, E! News, 22 March 2002

• Yearning for Meaning Lecture Series - New York and Boston — Yearning for Meaning, 24 February 2011

• Sharon Gans left San Francisco amidst scandal in 1978 — by Rick Ross, Cult Education Institute, 15 November 2002

• O’Donnell Wants Out of Oscar-Nominated Film — by Christy Lemire, The Washington Post, 21 March 2002 

• Go read this report about a Google contractor who claims he was fired for calling out cult activity — by Emma Roth, The Verge, 20 June 2022