As a Festschrift
In Honor of
Dr. Wayne Ray Rood,
These Papers
Were Presented by Former Students
At the National Convention of the
Association for Theatre
in Higher Education,
The Fairmont Hotel
San Francisco, California,
August 11, 1995

Rev. Jana Childers, Ph.D.
San Francisco Theological Seminary

Making Connections : Preaching as Theatre

[pages 1 - 7]

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The Reverend Dr. Jana Childers is a Professor of Homeletics at San Francisco Theological Seminary. She served as interim Dean of the Faculty there during 1993-94. Jana and George Scranton [the chair of the Festschrift Panel] were students of Wayne’s at the Pacific School of Religion and the Graduate Theological Union together, but she was much quicker than George. (Jana started her program a year later than I did and completed her Ph.D. well ahead of George.) Wayne also directed Jana in Berries Red, a one woman show. Her area of interest presently is the intersection of Homeletics and Theatre. Jana did her undergraduate theatre training under the direction of M. James Young at Wheaton College, and earned her Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Lauren Friesen, Ph.D.
University of Michigan-Flint

Drama and Religion: The Search for a New Paradigm

[pages 8 - 15]

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Lauren Friesen is Professor of Theatre and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Michigan-Flint.  His recent publications include “The Problem of Transcendence in Modern and Postmodern Plays” in Theatre – Ritual – Religion, edited by K. Hoffmann and the translation of Hermann Sudermann’s comedy The Storm Komrade Sokrates. His translation of the Holocaust novel …but stones can’t speak by Carlo Ross is at the press.  He is the recipient of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s Gold Medallion for Excellence in Theatre. 

Lee Krahenbuhl, Ph.D.
Calvin College

"God in Three Personae, Blessed Trinity"
Theatre Education to Subvert the Puritan Antitheatrical Prejudice

[pages 16 - 25]

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Dr. Lee Krahenbuhl has taught various combinations of Theatre and Communications at Judson College, Calvin College, Manchester College, and Western Michigan University. He holds the Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of Oregon and the M.A. in Theology and the Arts. It was at PSR that I [George Scranton] first met Lee. We were in a production of Christopher Fry's A Sleep Of Prisoners together. Wayne both directed the play and acted the part of "Meadows." Lee is a teacher, historian, director and musician, and a past Chair of the Religion and Theatre Focus Group for ATHE.

Reverend George A. Scranton, Ph.D.
Seattle Pacific University

The Theatrical Process as Priestly Oblation:
Teaching and Doing Theatre "Christianly"

[pages 26 - 37]

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The Reverend Dr. George A. Scranton is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Seattle Pacific University. He earned his Ph.D. in Theology and Theatre under Wayne's mentoring at the Graduate Theological Union and Pacific School of Religion from 1985-1994. Prior to that he completed an M.A. in Theatre History and Criticism at the University of Washington. An M.A. in Religion and Drama and a B.A. in Biblical Literature and Speech/Drama at Seattle Pacific College were completed under the mentoring of James L. Chapman. He is currently the Chair/Focus Group Representative of the Religion and Theatre Focus Group of ATHE.

Dale Rott, M.F.A.
Bethel College

Intersections Between Theatre and the Church in the United States: 1930-1990.

[pages 38 - 107]

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The Reverend Dale Rott is a Professor of Theatre at Bethel College, St. Paul, Minnesota. He studied with Wayne at Pacific School of Religion and the Graduate Theological Union from 1981-1983. He earned his MFA at Boston University under Harold Ehrensperger’s mentoring. In his verbal presentation Dale presented a brief summary of the field of religious drama in the Christian Church from 1930 to 1990, which paralleled Wayne's work in the field. He gave special note to Wayne’s significant contribution to that movement. The following paper is the full text from which those summary comments were made.