Rent Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope

Synopsis

Part 1: Reunion or Farewell?

The story begins as Colleen and Newell Cerak first learn the doubtful, then shocking news that their daughter, buried five weeks earlier, may still be alive, Colleen's drive to the hospital with the dental records amidst desperate calls to Newell, overseas on a mission, and finally the reunion. The backdrop to the reunion are the faces of the Van Ryn family, strangers to the Ceraks, who are just coming to terms with the harsh reality that the girl whose bedside they have been posted at for five weeks is not their daughter after all and that their own daughter, Laura, has already been buried under the name of Whitney Cerak.

Part 2: Five Weeks or a Lifetime?

Part 2 begins the night of the accident and up through 'Laura's' arrival in the emergency room. The rest of this section will center upon those five weeks when the Ceraks believed their daughter to be dead, and the Van Ryns cared for a girl that was not their own. Woven into these chapters will be the back stories of both families and their daughters exploring the key questions of how each of these individuals reach a point where they could respond to this tragedy as they did. A strong element of this story is how they came to faith and how that faith developed to the point where they could trust God through the unthinkable. The characters all take on full dimensions in this part as listeners will identify with and feel a strong affection for them. In this section both families are still separated, traveling down two different arcs. These arcs come together in the night first described in chapter one. Finally, this section will explore the unfolding drama of Van Ryn's beginning to doubt this girl in the hospital is their daughter, thus fearing and finally discovering their daughter died in the accident.

Part 3: Barrier or Bond?

Part 3 explores how each family reacts and responds to this news. How can the Van Ryns accept this turn with grace and not bitterness? And how can the Ceraks go forward without being overwhelmed by survivor's guilt and how can they as parents go on without being consumed by fear that they might lose their daughter again? The responses of extended families, the two communities, the university world and the media world play large parts in this aftermath of discovery of mistaken identity. As events unfold, the two families begin to discover a compelling bond.

Part 4: New Identity or True Identity

Both families begin to live their “new” lives and discover the tremendous changes that have seemingly transformed their lives. Whitney’s recovery takes center stage in this section. The siblings play a key role here as well, as the accident had at first shattered, then seemingly redefined who they each were and the direction and purposes of their lives. The campus of Taylor University provides a rich setting for part of this section. The faith of each character, having been tested in the fire of tragedy and reversal of grief and joy, now reveals itself in new ways and the themes of personal identity give way to eternal identity. The challenges have not ended for these families, and the scars and adjustments they now carry with them are recognized, not glossed over, casting the final scenes in the same honest, vulnerable, and authentic tone true of the entire story. The story ends on a note of complex yet rich triumph.

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