[page 66]

COMMUNITY AND PROFESSIONAL THEATRES: Regional Centers of Christian Actors and Actresses.

After the 1960's Broadway no longer was the theatre center of America, because the regional theatres, such as the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, became locales where companies brought professional theatre to numerous regions in the United States.

A similar regional professional theatre movement for Christians involved in theatre started in the late 1960’s.  This movement now boasts more than twelve theatres.  These regional [page 67] theatres are professional in nature, conservative in theology, servant-minded in commitment, and evangelical in message or themes.

The development of these theatres was a natural outgrowth of drama graduates from Church related colleges, from churches involved in drama, as well as from Christians already in professional theatre.  There was a desire to act in non-biblical church plays, and still associate with Christians in order to serve their God.  Each theatre originated independently from a church or another theatre, and developed different structures and scripts.

The AD Players in Houston Texas began in 1966, the first of several regional community based theatres with a Christian emphasis.  Their goal was to produce quality theatre for the community.  Their twenty five member staff and twenty-six member acting ensemble is paid.  Their main stage theatre facility has performed mostly plays written by Jeannette Clift George, and other recognized scripts such as Godspell.  They continue to tour, write their own scripts, offer workshops, perform children’s theatre, conduct an annual National Christian Drama Seminar, and offer an internship program.

Lambs Players in San Diego California was originated in 1970 by Steve Terrell while he was a theatre professor at Bethel College in St. Paul. Originally patterned after the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s street theatre, the troupe toured to college campuses, prisons, hospitals, and festivals with an original script entitled Hark, The Ark, a humorous contemporary rendition of the Noah story.  The troupe toured with volunteers until locating in San Diego in 1972.  Currently the organization has a theatre space, and a repertory theatre season which is well recognized in the Southern California region.  The five play season has included St. Joan by G. B. Shaw, The Foreigner by Larry Shue, and Godspell  by John Michael-Tebelak.  The organization has a paid staff and cast, which produces a regular season of plays in the main theatre, tours, leads workshops, continues to originate scripts, and perform children’s theatre.  Lambs Players has [page 68] become an integral part of the community through helping numerous community projects and organizations.

Taproot Theatre Company originated in March 1976 when six young actors (five of whom had recently graduated from Seattle Pacific University) discussed their Christian faith versus philosophies which were entwined in much of the secular theatre world.  They organized both a road company, and a resident theatre.  Their resident theatre emphasizes both new plays by Christian playwrights and secular plays which affirm Christian standards.  They do workshops, seminars and classes for schools, churches, and conferences.  They also offer acting classes for all ages and levels of actors within the community.  Taproot is an independent non-profit organization overseen by a Board of Directors.  Taproot’s purpose is to  "preserve the integrity of Christian values and perspectives on life.”  The scripts they select to produce reflect “a belief in the dignity and worth of people, the necessity of moral absolutes and the positive virtues of faith and hope."  The organization has their own theatre space in the Seattle area.  One touring troupe tours to churches while the other tours to schools.  Their main stage plays have included Fish Tales by Ron Reed, Christmas Cards  by J. D. Magee, Red-letter Days  by Paul Burbridge and Murray Watts, The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote, as well as You Never Can Tell  by G. B. Shaw.  On Saturday evenings, following their mainstage production, are improvisational comedy nights with audience interaction.

The Master Arts Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan originated in 1985.  Executive Director Priscilla McDonald initially operated out of her home and rehearsed in available spaces.  They staged Arts Day Camps, classes and festivals, and toured to churches.  In 1994 they leased a space in the Grand Village Mall, which now serves as their offices, rehearsal, storage and performance spaces.  They continue to hold workshops and acting classes, teach creative dramatics and storytelling, tour, perform dinner theatre, and do experimental theatre.  They support local churches in developing drama programs by advising them on scripts and performance techniques.  They consider themselves Western Michigan's Creative Resource [page 69] Center.  Besides performing original scripts, Mountaintop by Bob Hughes and This Rock by Alan Poole represent some of the published plays they have performed.

The Christian Arts Company was incorporated in 1982 by Gillette Elvgren  and Kate McConnell.  The Christian Arts Company is a "non-profit organization that creates, produces, and sponsors arts events that reflect the hope and wholeness we share in a redeemed world. Through drama, dance, music, literature, and the visual arts, the Christian Arts Company seeks to provide visual and performance arts events, speak to spiritual, social and intellectual needs of the community, provide the community with opportunities and education necessary to evaluate and enjoy the arts, encourage the development of artists seeking to integrate their faith and their art  and demonstrate the healing and renewal that occurs when the arts are integrated in everyday life.”  Saltworks was a theatre division of the Christian Arts Company with Kate as artistic director and Gillette as playwright.  They wrote and directed original scripts on social issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, child abuse, AIDS and violence.  They have averaged over 300 performances per year to children and youth.  They "bear witness of hope and recovery to students who face difficult situations and choices through powerful, professional theatrical presentations combined with compassionate actors who practice what they preach."  Currently only Saltworks is operative in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

During the Wayne Rood era these theatres arose and continue today.  Some of these theatres born during this era also died, but the community theatres with a religious emphasis that have remained are staffed at times with students, and students of students, from Wayne Rood’s classes.  These theatres also perform plays written by Wayne Rood’s students and “grandstudents.”

The above sources came from interviews, programs, brochures and letters in the writer’s files.  The above five community and professional theatres with a Christian emphasis serve as a representation of the many groups performing in theatre spaces throughout the United States. [page 70]

SUMMER OUTDOOR THEATRE PRODUCING RELIGIOUSLY ORIENTED SCRIPTS

            Related to the Pageant and the Passion Play is the play that centers on the performance of a religious character, or of a religious historical event.  The following representative examples indicate the variety of these plays being performed.

The Book of Job originated at Georgetown College in Kentucky in 1957, but was moved to the Pine Mountain State Park in Kentucky in 1959.  Here on a slight slope with a pine tree background the Book of Job was presented.  The play’s plot is taken from the Biblical story of Job, but is stylized in facial masks, costumes, and through the use of a speech chorus narrative technique.  Cast members are college student and local community people.

Shepherd of the Hills began in 1959 in Branson, Missouri.  The plot revolves around a New York minister who moves to the area to recuperate from poor health.  As he discovers the scenery and the people, he begins to personally relate to them, and they to him. Various stories of their daily lives and community struggles are woven into the plot.  The plot has been filmed four times and translated into seven different languages.  The production takes 80 actors, 25 horses, 30 sheep, 3 mules, 3 buggies, 4 wagons, dozens of guns, a 1906 Dewitt auto, and a football size stage containing a permanent set with interior and exterior settings.

The Cross and Sword was first performed in 1965 at St. Augustine, Florida, and in 1970 was listed as Florida’s Official State Play.  Located on Anastasia Island near the state park it is surrounded by tourist sites.  The script was commissioned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine.  The plot includes the coming of the missionaries, the conversion of the local Indians to Christianity and the conflict between the French and Spanish.  This play involves the interaction of religion and theatre since both countries are Catholic.  The script was written by Paul Green who has written numerous "symphonic [page 71] dramas."  The two thousand plus seat amphitheatre has a main stage and two side stages.  On these stages there is a permanent set depicting the harbor with ships, interior house and fort scenes, and war and treaty sites.

From This Day Forward traces the persecution of the Waldensians from the early Middle Ages to their coming to North Carolina in the 1850’s.  The plot traces their religious persecution in the Cottian Alps, the violence, deaths and disease involved in their lives, plus the younger generation departing their homeland for the United States.  The play is presented Thursday through Sunday in July and August.  It is billed as being in the heart of the Western North Carolina Vacationland, and it surrounded by state and Waldensian history sites.  The performances began in 1967.

Sword of Peace is sponsored by the Snow Camp Historical Society of Snow Camp North Carolina.  Its plot reveals the theological and personal struggles of Quakers in balancing their pacifism and their patriotism during the revolutionary war.  The performances began in 1974, and by 1977 a repertory of four plays was performed during the summer months.  The seventy-five professional cast and crew members perform in a wooded setting with permanent buildings for the set.

Trumpet in the Land reenacts the struggle of the Delaware Indians who had accepted Christianity but had to resist superstitions, racism and the revolutionary war.  The Paul Green play was first performed in 1969 at New Philadelphia, Ohio.  The eighty actors, singers, dancers and theatre technicians include professional lead.  Performances are given nightly during July and August, in a 1600 seat amphitheatre.

Beyond the Sundown is performed near Livingston, Texas.  The Lost Colony at Manteo, North Carolina, and The Battle of Tippecanoe at Battle Ground, Indiana are other examples of religious events and characters being portrayed in summer outdoor theatres.

[page 72] Throughout the Rood era paid and professional acting and technical positions became available in numerous religiously oriented theatres.  The religiously oriented person could seek full time work opportunities in theatre in a variety of churches, colleges, community theatres, touring troupes and interdenominational organizations.

PASSION PLAYS

Passion plays seem more in vogue now then any other period in history.  Germany’s Passion Play in Oberamergau, or Brazil’s Paixao De Christo, have nothing over those performed in the United States. There appears to be a sacramental mystic motivation in reenacting Christ's last week on earth.  The United States Passion Plays seem to be a continuation, or a remainder, of the medieval corpus christi  performances, the 1930's biblical one-act reiteration of a biblical event, and the era of the church pageant.  These three strands culminate in the American style passion play.  One sees the corpus christi  annual revival in United States churches’ renewing or revisiting the last week of Christ’s life through their yearly theatrical visualizations.  Performance purposes are similar to the medieval corpus christi  because the performance is treated as a reminder, a teaching tool, or a sacramental event.

There are hundreds of church productions throughout the nation every Easter, from children's casts on a church platform to adult pageant spectacles in civic arenas.  There are also summer outdoor theatres, especially in the south-eastern section of the United States, which perform passion plays every week to thousands of tourists.  There are also numerous organizations producing Passion Plays indoors in large auditoriums during the Easter season. [page 73]

SUMMER TOURIST ATTRACTION PASSION PLAYS

Of the more than one hundred outdoor summer theatres producing in the United States four broad genres of plays are produced each summer: 

1. Pageant style productions visualizing some historical event;

2. Historical productions highlighting a religious event or character;

3. Passion plays;

4. Shakespearean plays.

Summer Outdoor Theatres perform Down in Honodoo Hollar and Viva El Paso, as well as Worthy is the Lamb, and Sword of Peace.

Currently there are at least twelve major outdoor passion plays located mainly in the southeastern United States, with some in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  Between 1940 and 1990 several of these productions performed for a few years, and then stopped.  Today there are economic as well as spiritual reasons for these performances.  Most summer outdoor Passion plays are located in tourist areas, so the Passion Play becomes an evening entertainment after the day's sightseeing.

The Passion Play Production Profile reveals some interesting data regarding various productions. Some productions include partial professional cast, others are all volunteers.  They range from one-hundred-fifty to three-hundred member casts, include live animals, have huge unit sets reproducing Jerusalem and relevant locales, make attempts at authentic costuming,  and use original scripts in their reenactment of the crucifixion week of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

There are some differences between the Passion plays of the early 1900’s and the current performances.  Examples of these differences include the bathrobed angels of the early years [page 74] that have been transformed into artfully costumed humans, flown in on wires from the balcony to the stage, as at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.  The plain narration of miracles, which was sufficient in earlier productions, has been transformed through electronic apparatus, smoke machines, and sound effects of thunder, as at the North Heights Lutheran Church in Shorewood, Minnesota.  The cardboard cut-out animals of the past have multiplied, and become live animals as at the First Church Passion Play in Atlanta Georgia’s Omni area.

The Black Hills Passion Play, in Spearfish, South Dakota, was originated in 1938 by Josef Meier, a German actor who had portrayed the Christus role in a German Passion Play.  Performances continue today, and since 1953 include a winter season (February and March) in Lake Wales, Florida.

The Great Passion Play, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was first performed in 1968.  The Elna M. Smith Foundation currently sponsors the April to October performances, four nights a week, along with a Bible Museum, a 7 story statue of Christ, and a re-creation of the City of Jerusalem.  In the 4000 seat auditorium the unit set depicts Jerusalem and relevant locales.  The 300-400 member cast is mainly local volunteers, but includes a few paid actors.  The sound track includes the voices of the characters, so when the timing is off, there can be some interesting, but undramatic moments.

The Smokey Mountain Passion Play, in Townsend, Tennessee, started in 1973.  In 1978 they added Damascus Road, the story of Paul's missionary journeys, because it would enrich the season and increase attendance with "modest and economical production costs."  Two nights the forty member cast performs Damascus, and five nights they perform the passion play in the 2000 seat amphitheatre. Annual auditions are open to anyone, with many people returning every year.  A Young Actors Guild was formed in 1976 to train people for the play.  Many of the cast members have theatre experience via church and college drama performances (with some having majored in drama).  One minister expressed the play’s purpose by stating "I'm deeply [page 75] interested for many reasons, but principally for the significant thrust it gives to our Christian ministry. . . . The Association looks forward to each season with confidence in the demonstrated value of the drama as an effective and attractive expression of the gospel message, and also a solid cultural and economic advantage for residents and visitors in eastern Tennessee.”

The Living Word, in Cambridge, Ohio, is the result of the dream of Methodist minister Frank Roughton Harvey, the producer, writer and Christus portrayer.  During his years in seminary, Mr. Harvey presented Biblical monologues.  His seminary thesis was a scale model of a Passion play production, which later became the set for a passion play in Atlanta, and for the Ohio locale.  The Passion play first performed in 1974 with the purpose that "you may know of God's love for you revealed through Jesus Christ."  Performances are twice a week from June through September, with the plot presenting the story of Jesus’ last three days on earth.

The newest of the outdoor passion plays, Jesus of Nazareth, is located in Puyallup, Washington on the campus of the Meridan Christian Ministries Church.  Begun in 1981 as one of the ministries of the church, it now has a 2500 seat amphitheatre with a unit set depicting Jerusalem and surrounding locales.  The volunteer cast of two-hundred incorporates live animals in their twice a week performances during July and August.  An altar call is given following the play and the cast members are dedicated church members.  Program highlights include: "The Spectacular.  Authentic Costumes.  Cast of Thousands.  Dozens of Live animals.  The Gospel of Christ brought to life.”  Ads also promote free pizza.

Worthy is the Lamb, of White Oak River, North Carolina boasts one-hundred-fifty Shakespearean actors performing twice a week from June through September.  The Promise, in Glen Rose, Tennessee has the life of Christ presented through the eyes of a grandfather relating the story to two grandchildren.  The plot emphasizes the relationship of Christ to children, and is performed from June through October, on two nights a week. [page 76]

INDOOR PASSION PLAYS

Besides the hundreds of local church and community performed Passion Plays, there are at least fifteen large indoor passion plays being presented by churches and other organizations in the United States.  The point of view of the Passion Plays originating in the 1970’s and 1980's is likely to be seen from the eyes of Peter, or an extra-biblical character.  Passion Plays have also been influenced by the structure, or form of the American musical.

Possibly the first indoor Passion play presented in the United States was in 1915 by the Holy Family Church in Union City, New Jersey.  It was originated in 1915 by the congregation to promote peace rather than war.  At first it was performed in an 800 seat auditorium.  The performance is now housed in a 1450 seat auditorium.

The American Passion Play  in Bloomington, Illinois, began in 1924 as an Easter pageant, and continues today.  The producers emphasize the play is literal, using the King James Bible text in content and language with no sectarian interpretation.  The script "takes no dramatic liberties which cannot be reasonably implied from the stories themselves."  The dialogue and action are realistic.  ("When the Bible text calls for a certain action it is there.")  The sets, properties,  and costumes are elaborate "to fully suggest the actual New Testament scenes, without leaving everything to the beholder's imagination."  The organization experimented in 1939 and 1940 with an all day production.  Since both the audience and cast reactions were unfavorable it currently is a 4 hour presentation.  The play is performed every Easter season on the stage of the Scottish Rite Temple, by volunteers from the Masonic Rite organization and community friends.  Many people return year after year to portray the same characters.

The Tucson Arizona Passion play, entitled Simon Peter, began at the Tucson Civic Center in 1977 under the direction of Katherine Genders.  It is performed during passion week of the [page 77] church year for five performances.  It is performed by amateurs and professional actors.  The three hour musical production performs to 20,000 people annually, and is sponsored both by Tucson’s business and church communities.

The newest indoor entertainment venture is produced by Sight and Sound in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The large one-thousand seat auditorium includes a huge main stage, where the opening scenes of the story are reenacted, and two side stages.  After the rains cause the flood the two sides of the auditorium open to show the family and the animals inside the ark.  This three-sided staging seems to wrap around the audience to give the effect of being inside the ark during the performance.  The cast then performs the remaining portion of the flood travels within these animal stables.  The plot remains true to the Biblical account.  Thousands of tourists are bussed into the Lancaster tourist area and most of them add Sight and Sound to their tourist sites.

PAGEANTS

The early 1900’s saw many pageants on church platforms usually performed by young adults, youth and children.  The general character of the pageant in the 1910's was a dramatic representation of several scenes, either in tableau or miniature integral events, unified by prologues.  Esther Bates describes it as "a symphony of dramatic types and aesthetic elements which in a highly spectacular way carries a sublime effect." (59)   The famous Harvard Drama Workshop originator, George Pierce Baker, also defined the pageant as a "free dramatic form which teaches, though not abstractly, by stimulating local pride for that in the past which takes the best incentive to future civic endeavor and accomplishment."(60) Usually a pageant portrays, in some elaborate spectacle, a heritage, commemoration, movement, heroic person or ideal.  The pageant presentation is an act of veneration, or of patriotism, or a great civic rite.  The theme of [page 78] the pageant is the vehicle for the purpose, and determines the general form or progression of the scenes or events.  The key to the pageant is the integration and use of a variety of dramatic forms such as the tableaux, pantomimes, dance, operetta, parade, processional, and picturesque scenes.  Rather than the usual play casts of three to ten, group participation of one-hundred to two-hundred, or more is essential for the production.  Elaborate historical costumes, vivid and numerous colors, panoramic settings, mass groupings with banners and properties (set and hand), symbolism, and music combine to create a "dramatic symphony."(61) All of these factors produce a flow of line and color in the processional, in the presentation, and in the recessional of such pageants.

It seems that churches and denominations tend to commemorate their centennial or their historical events with a pageant.  The following is a list of representative pageants which commemorate a centennial, or an historical event, in the life of a individual church or denomination.

1. The Golden Days of '41 , a pageant drama (Golden Jubilee 1891-1941) by Mildred Eigenbrodt, for the Board of Christian Education, Evangelical Church, Cleveland, 1941.

2. Pilgrimage, a pageant about the Brethren in Christ, by Norman A. Bert, Grantham, Pennsylvania, 1942.

3. These are They, a centennial pageant of the India mission work by Pearl Setzer Deal, for the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Lutheran Church in America, Baltimore, Maryland, 1942.

4. Upon this Rock, centennial pageant of the Christian Reformed Church by Betty Duimstra, for the Christian Reformed Church, Centennial Pageant held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, February 27-28, 1957.

5. Saddlebags to Satellites, a historical pageant in five scenes with a prologue and an epilogue by Carrie Smithgall Ebert, for the Evangelical United Brethren Church, Dayton, Ohio, 1966.

[page 79] 6. As I remember, an historical pageant of the North Lima Mennonite Church by Maxine Bartholmew, for the North Lima Ohio Mennonite Church, August 27, 1976.  

When it comes to pageants, the Church of the Latter Day Saints has more pageants throughout the United States than any other denomination.  The City of Joseph in Nauvoo, Illinois has eight performances in July and August.  The outdoor pageant with song, dance and dramatic pageant recalls the struggles of the Mormons in that city.  Jesus the Christ Pageant  at Mesa, Arizona, is a passion play pageant of the life of Christ.  The pageant And It Came To Pass... was first performed in 1964.  It continues in the Auditorium of the East Bay Interstake Center on the grounds of the Oakland California Temple.  Unique in the church, the Oakland Pageant is a completely live performance, with full Symphony Orchestra, a 450 voice Balcony Chorus, Actors, Soloists, Stage Chorus and Dancers.  The Hill Cumorah pageant in Palmyra, New York occurs near the site where the Angel Moroni is reported to have given the tablets to Jospeh Smith.  The pageant recalls this incident, and ten stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  More than 10,000 people view the pageant annually.  America's Witness for Christ  has been presented nearly every summer since 1937.  The Mormon Miracle  pageant is free while providing 4 to 6 performances every year during July.  It is presented at the Manti Temple Hill.  Using 300 cast members it relates the struggles of the Mormons leaving Illinois and arriving in Utah.  More than 15,000 people view the pageant annually.  Martin Harris, The Man Who Knew, is performed at Clarkston, Utah Memorial Amphitheater every August.  The Castle Valley  Pageant  is performed at Castle Dale, Utah, on a hillside adjacent to Nauvoo Visitor’s Center, every August.  The Calgary Nativity Pageant is performed every December at the Calgary Heritage Park near Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

At the beginning of the Rood era, the pageant form was very strong on church platforms.  The pageant form has not changed much over the years, except to add modern technical [page 80] apparatus to provide spectacular visual activity during a production.  Currently the pageant form is usually seen in outdoor settings during the summer, and explores either a life of Christ, or some other historical figure’s story line.

PLAYS

One of the most obvious changes which occurred during this era was the content and style of the plays being written and produced in churches and church related colleges.

During the 1920’s and 1930’s the main content of plays for churches was the one-act reiteration of a Bible story.  Plays were accepted because the content closely followed a Biblical story and characters.  The play was almost a sermon or biblical message in dialogue form. Dorothy Clark Wilson was a playwright during the 1930’s who wrote plays based on Biblical Stories and Christian Service.  The plot of the play, The Release, in 1933, was set in a prison where Barrabas and the two thieves were being held prior to their crucifixion.  Edna Baldwin, Mary Hamlin, Eliot Field, and Louis Wilson are also playwrights of this period who wrote one act scripts for church productions.

During the Second World War playwriting for the church somewhat ceased, although the annual Christmas and Easter performances in churches continued.  During this period, however, Paul Allan’s Church For Sale centered around parishioners who wondered what would happen when the church building was sold.  The sale did not take place after people realized the contribution of the church to the community.

Following the war the writing of plays revived and changed, from the one act reiteration of the biblical drama to more freedom in style and content.  Plots read between the lines of the Biblical stories.  Serious one act plays were replaced with humorous one act plays.  Theatre as “entertainment” was repudiated by church parishioners in the 1920’s and 1930’s. However, in [page 81] the 1970’s and 1980’s the children of those church members laughed and clapped for encores when the humorous or comedic twist was given to a Biblical character or story.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s Albert and Bertha Johnson wrote scripts for their Touring Drama Trio out of Redlands University.  These include: The People Versus Christ  (An experimental Easter Drama, 1961),  Adam and Eve Meet the Atom, (which asks the question: “what will Human Beings do with knowledge?” 1961), Even the Hater (which updated the Cain and Abel story, 1962), The Innocent  (a Nativity play, 1966),  Look Who's Playing God  (in which God is a female, 1976), Beloved Betrayer  (1977), and Oh Rose of Sharon (1978).  The plays were toured and then published.  The focus of these plays fell upon the costumes and the characters, since no sets or lights, and few properties were required to perform the scripts.

Philip Turner’s Christ in the Concrete City was a British import to the United States, and quickly became the most produced play in churches and Christian colleges in the 1960’s.  The plot switches from contemporary England to approximately 33 AD in Jerusalem, thus portraying the similarities between the two different time periods. The playwright’s use of Speech Chorus, time differences, poetic dialogue, and double casting for historical and contemporary characters were stylistic innovations which created interest, and appealed to both actors and audiences alike.

In 1961, a new form took over church theatre.  In August of 1961, For Heaven’s Sake spawned the religious rock musical, which was followed by numerous others such as: The Carpenter, Good News, Tell it Like It Is, Life, Natural High, Decisions, New Vibrations, Who Wants Me,  and Show Me  during the 1970’s and 1980’s.  The rock beat was universal throughout all these musicals, with the life of Christ, or following Christ’s concepts of life, as their themes.  These youth oriented scripts are in the stylistic forms of vaudeville, or the musical review.

[page 82] In the 1970’s the Broadway musical danced and sang on stage.  Some of these musicals were Biblical in content but very entertaining in appeal.  Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Godspell (1971), Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1969 & 1975) were all produced on Broadway and then in regional and community theatres, and then in churches.  Godspell originated as a Master’s Thesis at Carnegie Technical Institute and toured the world several times.  Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which originated in England for a Boys Choir, has been produced and revived uncountable times as a spectacle.  The 1960’s church musical form was replaced by the Broadway style musical on the church platform.

Professor Earl Reimer, from Bethel College in Indiana, was similar to the Albert and Bertha Johnson playwrights of the 1960’s as he wrote one act plays for his touring troupe, and then Bakers Plays published the scripts.  The scripts did not require sets, only costumes and properties.  The plots were mainly based on Biblical stories, but added characters and dialogue which were non-Biblical, or extra-Biblical.  Puns, jokes, one-liners and comic antics propel the audience toward laughter.  Sample scripts include:  Ten Miles to Jericho (The Good Samaritan story in the Inn, not the road. 1972), The Long Road Home  (The Prodigal Son story after the son is home. 1976), The Lion's Den Was Never Like This  (The Daniel story. 1982), and Jonah and the German Whale (The Jonah story, 1983).  Professor Reimer also wrote musicals, and scripts that were more serious in tone.

In the 1980’s Paul McCusker wrote humorous one act plays and skits for church presentation.  Sketches of Harvest  (Skits for a variety of church youth activities, 1980), Souvenirs  (1982), The First Church of Pete's Garage  (1982), Batteries Not Included  (1984), The Case of the Frozen Saints  (1985), Void Where Prohibited (1989), The Revised Standard Version of Jack Hill  (1988), were some of his scripts which were performed by youth and young adults in church religious and social meetings.

[page 83] At the end of the 1980’s the skit form, different from previous years, took over from the one-act script, and began to be performed in the new mega-church movement.  Usually the skit was a five-minute sketch performed before, during or after the sermon, with the skit’s theme strongly related to the sermon’s theme.  It became then an “illustrated sermon” which was used to propagandize and entertain the congregation.

During this time Dr. Rood was active in producing a variety of the play styles and previously mentioned forms of theatre for the church.  Through acting, directing, producing and writing, Dr. Rood worked with musicals, operas, classics, medieval plays, original scripts, and children’s plays.

As a high school actor and singer Dr. Rood appeared in numerous plays and operettas including the opera Carmen  and the play Everyman.  In college he appeared in at least ten plays, including roles in Our Town and The Inspector General.  As Professor on the college scene he staged religious classics such as Dr. Faustus  and Murder in the Cathedral.  And during his long tenure in Berkeley he added to his repertory of previous plays, the theatre of the absurd with The Zoo Story, originals such as Star Eternal, medieval classics such as The Second Shepherds Play, touring scripts such as Noah, and Berries Red, and contemporary scripts like The Sign of Jonah.

Although Wayne Rood called himself an "adapter" of stories and plots, he was a playwright in his way as he wrote numerous scripts, which include: The Magical Mystery Tour, Alpha– Omega: The Book of Revelation, Scenes on The Bridge, The Unique Luke and I, Paul.  These scripts covered a broad scope in content and style, one of the unique traits of Professor Rood, which made him different from other playwrights of this era.

Thus by the end of Dr. Rood’s career in theatre and theology, he had worked with almost every theatrical style and form.  Not only did this range make him exceedingly well read in [page 84] plays, but his audiences and students benefited from this range of knowledge and experience.