A VERY DRAMATIC SITUATION

"...whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (from I Corinthians 10:31)

All of my kids are very talented in the area of drama.  I've never done much acting except for very small parts in various church productions, and yet I'm a very good actor, so I assume they've inherited that ability from me!  Throughout high school, my kids were all active in their school's drama group, sometimes even having lead parts in plays and musicals.  Rachel is currently a Theater Arts minor at  Westfield State and is active in that school's Musical Theater Guild.  My son Jon played Captain Hook in a production of "Peter Pan" with the north shore's Mystic Players in late 2005 and currently is rehearsing with the Worcester County Light Opera Company as they prepare for nine performances in April of "Sweeney Todd".

Up until very recently, the Assemblies of God (like most theologically conservative Protestant groups) took a dim view of drama.  Really strict "low church" Protestants in North America traditionally considered drama "the work of the devil".  Catholics, Jews, and pagans could put on plays, dancing shows, make movies, etc. but NOT good "Bible Believing Christians".  One of the first "evangelicals" to make positive use of drama was Billy Graham.  His organization founded "World Wide Pictures".  Their evangelistic films of the early '50s were very hokey and corny, but their 1975 film "The Hiding Place"- the true story of the Ten Boom family of Holland who saved countless Jews, were eventually found out, and taken to a concentration camp, is a first-class film in every way.  Up until sometime in the 1970s the Assemblies of God forbad "attendance at theaters"; however, there's been a radical shift in the past thirty years, with many Assemblies of God schools offering courses in drama.  Ironically, one of the founders of "Blue Man Group" is a graduate of the Assemblies of God's Evangel University!

Forty years ago an Assemblies of God pastor would never approve of his 23-year-old son performing in a play like "Sweeney Todd" and certainly would never go to see it.  Well, times have changed!  Jon doesn't drive- maybe that will be a topic of another blog entry- so I've driven him to a number of his practices and I've hung around watching rehearsals.  I've been very impressed with the dedication of the Worcester County Light Opera Company.  They actually own their own theater/headquarters building  in a  residential neighborhood in Worcester on the far west side of the city near Webster Square.  I'm amazed at the time the members of the WCLOC put in-not only practicing songs and lines, but building sets, and physically maintaining their building.  They even run a camp for children during the summer to instill an interest in the theater in them.  In church work, it's sometimes hard to get people to show up for anything outside of Sunday morning, and often when there's hard work to be done, hands are few.  That's not true of this acting company in Worcester.   Maybe "Sweeney Todd" wouldn't be a lot of Born-Again Christians' "cup of tea" but some Christians could learn a thing or two about commitment from watching these hard working thespians.

The Worcester County Light Opera Company does have a website where you could find more information about their group and about "Sweeney Todd".  Their web address is www.wcloc.com