Bethany Joy Lenz + Dana Brown: Dinner for Vampires – New York, NY

Join us for an in-person event with actress Bethany Joy Lenz for the release of her new memoir Dinner for Vampires – Life on a Cult TV Show (While also in an Actual Cult!). Joining Bethany Joy in conversation is writer and producer Dana Brown. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store’s 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

All tickets will include a copy of the book.

Bethany Joy Lenz will personalize copies and pose for photos with attendees after the discussion.

Can’t make the event? Purchase a signed copy of Dinner for Vampires here.

ACCESSIBILITY:

Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator. Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at events@strandbooks.com by October 7th to request.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact events@strandbooks.com.

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A deliciously witty and inspiring memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free.

In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult.

An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.

Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith.

Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.

Photo credit: Robby Klein

Bethany Joy Lenz starred in the hit TV series One Tree Hill. Her other acting credits include Guiding Light, Grey’s Anatomy, Charmed, Felicity, Suits, Dexter, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She is also a recording artist who has released several albums. Lenz currently cohosts the podcast Drama Queens and is the founder/editor-in-chief of the broadsheet newspaper Modern Vintage News.

Dana Brown is an author, screenwriter, producer, columnist for Airmail, and the former deputy editor of Vanity Fair magazine. His memoir, Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster, was published by Ballantine Books/Random House in March 2022, and is being developed into a television series by Warner Bros. Television. He has written and developed films and television pilots for Hulu, AMC, Imagine Entertainment, and CBS, and co-wrote and produced the upcoming Miramax film Harvest Moon. He lives in New York City.