Sharon Gans

Sharon Gans
Born	July 29, 1932 (1932-07-29) New York City, New York
Occupation	Cult Leader Stage and film actress

Sharon Gans (born July 29, 1932, in New York City) is an American actress. She played the part of Valencia Merble, Billy Pilgrim's wife, in George Roy Hill's the 1972 film version of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Or--The Children's Crusade that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had published in 1969. In the 1960's she was a member of the "Open Theatre" and taught a few acting classes. She also performed in a couple of small plays in SOHO directed by Peter Feldman, an associate from the "Open Theatre" After divorcing from her first husband she moved to San Francisco where she created "The Theatre of All Possibilities" that was late revealed to be a cult. When confronted by a previous fellow actor from New York who had studied with her, and had been in two plays with her (Marc Pomerantz) she denied ever having been in NYC or recognizing him. Gans later starred in the award-winning documentary Artists and Orphans: A True Drama, which Rosie O'Donnell narrated. However, she was not known to have appeared in any other feature films or any television programs as of late October 2011.

Gans married Alexander Horn, known more often as Alex Horn, a self-styled playwright, in 1972 immediately after divorcing Ezra Kulko, her first husband and father of her 2 children. Horn is reported to have died September 30, 2007.

"The Theater Of All Possibilities"

.In the middle 1970s, Gans and Horn began a theater group in San Francisco, which they called "The Theater Of All Possibilities." Eventually, however, the theater was revealed to have become a cult when an investigative article titled "Strange School" was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on December 23, 1978. According to the article, "police and social welfare investigators heard allegations by ex-members and others close to the theater of beatings, child neglect, and a student fee structure that reportedly yielded huge revenues." The San Francisco Progress also published a series of five articles from December 22, 1978 through February 25, 1979 which detail investigations by Jack Brooks of local TV and radio station KGO. Rick Ross, a cult awareness expert, compiled extensive information on Gans and Horn on his net-site, "rickross.com," pointing out in very clear terms that they were both fraudulently representing themselves as "teachers of 'the Work.'" ("The Work" to which he referred was a system of ideas that George Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky had developed.) Yet as he pointed out, neither Gans nor Horn had ever studied the Work with any authentic teachers. Hundreds of former victims, or "students," of Horn and Gans gave accounts of families being destroyed, emotional abuse, slave labor and brainwashing. As of late October 2011, Gans was believed still to be running the cult in New York City.

In October 1988, Gans directed the play The Legend of Sharon Shashanovah, presented at the 47th Street Theater in New York City. In cooperation with Jordan Charney, she also co-wrote A Chekhov Concert, which the Moscow Contemporary Theater performed.

As of late October 2011, Gans was believed to be living at "The Plaza," Unit No. 405 of a building located on 768 Fifth Avenue, which she had purchased on January 25, 2008 for $8,423,402.
Known property data:
Floor space: 2,162 square feet.
Owner: Unit 405 Plaza LLC.
Correspondence: C/O Joseph Stillwell.
111 Broadway, 12th Floor.
New York, New York 10004.

External links

• Sharon Gans at the Internet Movie Database