...if you're in the area, I hope you can join us.
Unmasked
Next week I'll be teaching and performing at this...
...if you're in the area, I hope you can join us.
...if you're in the area, I hope you can join us.
Living Water
This fountain is created on what used to be a prayer labyrinth two blocks from our apartment. I've been blessed by a number of labyrinths around the world. As you journey to the center you focus on drawing closer to God. On the way out, you pray that you will more effectively take the presence of God to the world.
We were eating dinner next to the fountain tonight, and we decided to make it an enacted prayer: That as people splash in its waters, the Spirit of Christ, honored in the former labyrinth, would wash over them, making them long for Living Water.
The Amazing Month of MasterWorks!
We had an amazing month at the MasterWorks Festival!
Ken Wales (far right), producer of Amazing Grace, Christy, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the original Pink Panther films, among many others, met with most of our students to help them see how their unique giftings can help them fit into the entertainment industry. This was his fourth year, and the reason he didn't get to every student this year was because he was hard at work on another film he hopes to shoot in Winona Lake, just before MasterWorks.
John Kirby (next to Ken), acting coach on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Count of Monte Cristo, Déjà Vu and about 20 others, shared about his work as director of The Word of Promise: Next Generation and directed us in Our Town. People were saying our production was better than renditions they'd seen at Notre Dame University, New York and London! One faculty member attended at least two performances and told me that the third act of the play got him thinking about eternity years ago. That was what started him on a journey toward Christ, and we're confident our four performances planted and watered a lot of seeds.
Bev Holloway (next to John), casting director for Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, The Ultimate Gift, An American Carol, and about 30 others, did a casting session with our students, and some of the roles they read are for two upcoming films! A man who lives in the community came up to me with tears in his eyes and shared that he's always enjoyed MasterWorks, but when he attended Bev's workshop and watched her giving direction and the students taking that direction and instantly making great adjustments, it finally dawned on him: MasterWorks is really training up the next generation of professional artists!
Patricia Mauceri (center), called us the week before she arrived, saying that she'd been given a script she couldn't perform. She made rewrites, but they were refused, and the role was recast. Her bold stance was a great witness to our students.
All four of them participated in one of two panel discussions, set up to answer questions the students had. Both panels were recorded for Romanian radio by one of our students, Krisztina Fekete, far right in the photo below.
This panel featured (from left to right), myself, Kohli Hessler Calhoun (dialect coach at NYU and the Stella Adler Studio, and our first master class instructor who attended the program!), Susan Sommerville Brown, and Harvey Johnson.
I was so thrilled with all that Harvey, Susie and Kohli brought, not only to this session, but to each one-on-one and class session they had with our students. The level of artistic and spiritual growth that was achieved because of their efforts is mind-boggling.
The only master class artist who wasn't around during a panel was Mac Nelson. He shared stories from his work with Liz Taylor and Jerry Lewis, from his most recent book, Memoirs of a Hollywood Adventure. He also shared from his first book, Waiting for my Fingers, about how he was healed from near-paralysis of both arms through surgery and the Lord. After the surgery he only had one note in his vocal register, but during a faculty recital he sang with his full range and tap-danced, swinging both arms with full-strength, to the Glory of God!
One of the spiritual highlights of the festival was when Joyce, my bride, led our students in a foot-washing. After we finished, the presence of the Lord was so palpable that I didn't want to lead them in anything. I just said, "Do whatever you want to do." They chose to wash each other's feet.
By the end of the month, one of our students asked to be baptized. Since Joyce is an ordained minister, we made plans. Another student had been taking baptism classes but had never been able to follow through to actually being baptized. She was delighted to do it with the close friends she'd made over the month. We went down to Winona Lake, the site of our festival, before church on Sunday. Their parents read scripture and prayed over each of them. Joyce baptized them officially, and then I got to dunk them. As we were walking off the dock singing, "Down To The River To Pray," Joyce yelled, "We've got another one!" The friend of one of our students was so moved by the service he asked to be baptized, too.Photos from top to bottom by Nathan Nesbitt, Rich Swingle, Bernie Bernhardt (last two).
To download a PDF of this article, click here.
To audition for MasterWorks 2010 visit MasterWorksFestival.org.
Happy Fourth of July!
Wishing you a great Independence Day from Winona Lake, where we're at the half-way point of the MasterWorks Festival.
MasterWorks is off to an amazing start!
The students we have this year at MasterWorks are amazing! Their gifts and talents, as well as their hearts for the Lord are just mind-blowing.
What do I do?
Last night I performed The Acts at the downtown Orlando Salvation Army. Afterward a gentleman in a Salvation Army Adult Recovery Center (ARC) came up to me and said, "So what do I do?" I asked him what he meant, and he said he'd prayed the prayer during the close of the play to commit his life to Jesus, and he wanted to know what the next step was to grow in his relationship with the Lord! There was another ARC resident who got a degree in theatre before getting off-track. I'm putting him in touch with a dear friend who went through the ARC program in NYC, and is now working in the arts full-time.
The poster is for the next event where I'll be performing The Acts. Appreciate your prayers that it will help bring about more life transformations.
In the shadow of justice there is Compassion Corner
We had an amazing sociodrama with their clients. Our warm up was done in four small groups in which they had to come to concensus on a shared dream. Two of the groups had a dream of greater compassion in the world. They beat out dreams of family and a home.
The scenario was a rich man (played by a client) walking past a homeless woman (played brilliantly by a CITA member). Someone gave her a back pack, which she put on her back. The clients said, she wouldn't be wearing it because she'd have been carrying it too long. So we put her on a park bench. On the first pass the rich man moved away from her with a grunt. Then we talked about how the rich man could show more compassion. He took some suggestions from the group, and stepped back into the scene (this time played by a second client who tagged in with some great ideas). The rich man struck up a conversation, and he happened to comment on her sun glasses. She said she got them at the Salvation Army, and he said he used to go there. We talked about how we all have had low spots in our lives, so we prayed that people would be less inclined to look down on people who are there right now.
Orlando
Star Lake
Now we're on lunch break, and I have to say that they're quite a talented bunch. We're having a ball!
In the fiery furnace
Linda Braaten, missionary to South Africa, spoke to our church tonight.
She shared how her pastor was called to minister in a place quite closed to Christianity. He went to call on a leader in that place, and the security guard asked him why he was there. He told the guard that he was there to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. The guard told him to throw his Bible in a furnace before entering the house. The pastor told him he couldn't do that because God's Word was too precious to him The guard said, "Then put your arm in the furnace." The pastor did, and when he pulled it out, it was unharmed. Not a hair was singed. The guard had him put it back again and again. Each time the arm was unharmed.
Pray for God to do even more work in South Africa and around the world, including the US.
She shared how her pastor was called to minister in a place quite closed to Christianity. He went to call on a leader in that place, and the security guard asked him why he was there. He told the guard that he was there to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. The guard told him to throw his Bible in a furnace before entering the house. The pastor told him he couldn't do that because God's Word was too precious to him The guard said, "Then put your arm in the furnace." The pastor did, and when he pulled it out, it was unharmed. Not a hair was singed. The guard had him put it back again and again. Each time the arm was unharmed.
Pray for God to do even more work in South Africa and around the world, including the US.
Don't miss King David!
Art, who was paralized from the neck down, was telling us how (before he worked his way up to 150 push-ups and 6 mile runs) he couldn't even communicate with anyone but God after his swimming accident. Now he's grateful for those extended periods of connection with his Healer.
Ellen reminded us how, as an 18 year old she turned down the opportunity to have a West End credit when she read the script of the show in which she'd been cast: Hair.
David, who has miraculously overcome death and other ailments, continues to perform his one-man musical, King David (KingDavidMusical.com) through the end of June.
Don't miss it!
Read my review, posted here on 6/6, which includes a link to Art's book.
Living as a Called Person
While prepping for MasterWorks, which starts in a matter of days, I decided to recommend Chapter Five of Gordon MacDonald's Ordering Your Private World: "Living as a Called Person". I first read the book when I was the students' age. Back then I set out to read at least part of the book every year. Rediscovering this chapter makes me want to get back on that pattern.
Concert on Sunday
MasterWorks students (from left to right) Caroline Chehade, Paulina Papölöne and Laura Hairgrove will be performing. The concert will be a fundraiser for a tour they're doing with a number of other MasterWorks students later this summer. They will perform in Finland and Hungary.
Donna East returns to Westchester Chapel
Christian Comedienne, Donna East (DonnaEast.com), will perform at WCCC on Saturday, June 20 at 7pm. She'll be bringing clean comedy for the entire family. Speaking of which, she's got plenty of fresh material based on her new role as mommy.
Get prepared for the healing art of the belly laugh.
Send your friends to WestchesterChapel.org/DonnaEast.
Admission is free, and an offering will be collected.
Directions: WestchesterChapel.org/Directions.
May we be like the ESB
> city, which can be so dark at times.
We're rooting for David Lander!
Our friend, David Lander, was nominated for a Tony Award. Just being nominated is a great honor, and the plaque they gave him is huge, but we're hoping his name is called tonight.
The nomination is for his lighting design on 33 Variations, which featured Jane Fonda.
David was the lighting designer for our Off-Broadway run of Beyond the Chariots, paired with my friend Roger Nelson's The Man from Aldersgate.
The nomination is for his lighting design on 33 Variations, which featured Jane Fonda.
David was the lighting designer for our Off-Broadway run of Beyond the Chariots, paired with my friend Roger Nelson's The Man from Aldersgate.
The People's Choice: Irena's Vow
Irena's Vow won the People's Choice award for best Off-Broadway Play (for its pre-Broadway bow), and Tolvah Felshuh won Best Actress for her portrayal of Irena: BroadwayWorld.com Announces Results of the 7th Annual Theatre Fans Choice Awards 2009
I was sorry our friend, David Lander, didn't win for his lighting design on 33 Variations, but we'll be rooting for him Sunday night when they're handing out the Tony's! David's plaque for his Tony nomination is HUGE! GO DAVID!
I was sorry our friend, David Lander, didn't win for his lighting design on 33 Variations, but we'll be rooting for him Sunday night when they're handing out the Tony's! David's plaque for his Tony nomination is HUGE! GO DAVID!
King David Sanborn
We saw our friend, David Sanborn's one-man musical, King David, Off-Broadway at The Promise Theatre. The New York Times was right! It's a "first-rate" production. He does impersonations of one Hollywood superstar after the next. As fun as the impersonations were, there were moments where he was deeply emotionally connected. Despite having performed it since April (quite a nice run for these parts), there were times that his face was drenched with tears. At other times he's like a little kid playing in a sandbox.
In these days of so many distractions I always feel so rewarded by the intense focus and energy it takes to perform a one-man play. David made me appreciate it from another angle: I forget it takes focus and energy to follow a one-man play! We become so used to the artists providing all the details, but there's something akin to reading a novel that happens when the brain gets a chance to fill in some of the gaps in solo theatre.
David and his mother, Ellen, chose their cuts judiciously from Christian and Jewish translations of First and Second Samuel, and they've found a great dramatic arc from his confrontation with Goliath to the birth of Solomon. They've interspersed it all with Davidic psalms set to music which delightfully foreshadows the Sanborns' musical, Judah Ben Hur, advertised as coming to Broadway in the fall of 2010.
David and I recently saw Irena's Vow on Broadway. He took inspiration from how Irena's daughter came out and spoke after the play. David (Sanborn) came back after a robust applause to briefly tell how, like King David, his life had been impacted by G-d's relationship with man. He then went on to tell how his own father, Art, had been paralyzed at the same level as Christopher Reeve, but Art now runs six miles a day. Then he invited people to stick around in the lobby (don't miss this!), where they begged him to tell more details. He talked about the accident, the recovery, starting with the miraculous movement of a pinkie, to his three repetitions of one push-up, to his three reps of 50!
When I arrived in Singapore to perform in the world premiere of Judah Ben Hur in 2001 the accident was quite fresh. Everyone was abuzz about his near-drowning and the recovery. I was told that I would have no idea to see him that he had been completely paralyzed below the neck. Because I have experienced miraculous healing in my own body and in the lives of those I know well, I was on high alert. But it wasn't until I was in conversation with him that I discovered that was Art!
The whole story is told in Art's book: Walking Miracle.
Going public
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
