About Godspell

I am a 76-year-old retired Episcopal priest and have lived here in Hendersonville for more than 10 years. My first experience of theater was in a Christmas pageant when I was five years old. The event was held in a 1500-seat auditorium with an orchestra, choir, and a cast of over 100 men and boys. I remember the hair rising on the back of my neck when torchbearers for the Three Kings entered the darkened space to ethereal notes high in the violins. That was also my first “God moment.” I have spent a lifetime recreating that moment for others.

I had a gifted drama teacher in grade school who knew how to teach and encourage play. We improvised stories around props and costumes, acted them out, and performed them for our parents. In middle and high school, I started out backstage with lighting and then stage managing, acting, directing, and producing in that order. In college I led the drama club, mostly producing and directing as well as taking basic courses in theater arts. While I was aiming for a career in the theater or possibly film, I felt “the call” to ministry. I was keen on social justice, and my church was involved with the Civil Rights movement and protesting the war in Vietnam. I embarked on the journey toward ordained ministry by enrolling at Yale Divinity School for the M. Div. degree and tacked on an additional year studying and performing liturgical drama.

Rather than several pages of titles of plays I have directed, written, or produced, I will describe the rest my theatrical journey that includes one-act and full-length plays, musicals, and an opera. Scripts have covered secular and religious themes. Casts range from amateur to semi-professional with performances held in proscenium theaters, black boxes, church sanctuaries, and on the street.  Many of the titles would be obscure, but some are not. I have directed Waiting for Godot (Beckett), Murder in the Cathedral (Eliot). Noye’s Fludde (Britten), – the last two with professional and semi-pro casts.

In every play I have directed since I entered ministry 50 years ago, I have made a point of building ensemble productions. Even when there were paid actors in lead roles, I insisted on a team approach from rehearsal to performance. Initially I did this as a practical matter of good technique for working with a cast consisting of people who are just starting to know each other. Now I see this as central to my approach to the theater that goes back to that “God moment” in the Christmas pageant. For me the best art in any medium is transformational. In performance art, all performers must be on “the same page of the script” – an orchestra, cast, or corps de ballet.

The notion that a good play can be transformational was driven into me in high school. The school drama coach directed Our Town when I was in the 11th grade, and I was deeply moved by this script and production. This was my first time as stage manager (backstage – not the role) and I was pleased to be part of a team offering a play that always offers a high-level perspective on what it means to be human in a vast universe. I wanted to do more of that. And I have.

The original concept for Godspell 50 years ago was the story of Jesus gathering a group of young adult disciples set in a gritty urban landscape, and it has has worked well for decades. I would like to bend that a bit. 

This production’s setting is unique – the physical therapy area in a senior living center. An inter-generational cast to represent residents, care-givers, and visitors will employ an exercise bike, a set of stairs, a walker…maybe even a Pilates ball. The key concept is that half the cast were teenagers when Godspell first became a “thing.” We know the music! I have assembled a top-of-the-line music director, design team, fundraising team, band members, and cast.