It’s hard to imagine turning a story of unspeakable childhood trauma into a film that can make you laugh and fill you with hope. But that’s exactly what writer, performer and filmmaker Gerad Argeros did with “Fox Chase Boy,” a short documentary based on his one-man show in which he confronts his trauma of being sexually abused as a child.

In the early ’80s, when Gerad was 10 years old and served as an altar boy at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood of Fox Chase, he was sexually abused by The Rev. James Brzyski—one of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s most brutal abusers, according to a 2005 grand jury report.

Gerad stayed silent about his abuse for decades until the tragic deaths of two childhood friends, also victims of Brzyski’s, and the death of Brzyski (who evaded prosecution and died as a free man) moved him to speak out publicly.

In 2017, he broke his silence in a Philadelphia Inquirer article titled “Stolen Childhoods.” And it was the catalyst he needed to write “Fox Chase Boy,” originally a monologue he performed as a one-man show for family, friends and Fox Chase community members who had personal ties to Bryzski’s widespread abuse at St. Cecilia’s Church.

With clergy sexual abuse happening around the world, Gerad knew he wanted to reach a global audience that might find hope in his story. He teamed up with filmmaker Kaya Dillon to create the “Fox Chase Boy” documentary, which combines footage of his one-man show with reflections from friends and family.