JOY

So, I haven’t posted a blog for quite a while. That’s because I was directing a production of Godspell.

And oh, y’all. It was so wonderful.

The show itself is wonderful. I was in a production almost 20 years ago, and the songs and script have had residence in my heart ever since. To be able to direct my own production was a dream.

Our audiences were wonderful. Small, but wonderful. So appreciative! So enthusiastic! But yes, smaller than we’d hoped for. It saddened me how many of my friends, who are always asking me to let them know about the next show I'm doing, couldn’t make it to the one I might be most proud of. But still, the people who were able to be there were responsive and complimentary.

The crew was wonderful. My daughter came back from Atlanta to be stage manager (she’s great at that), and she said she was almost bored because everyone was just doing their jobs like they were supposed to. She wasn’t having to remind or nag people. What a concept!

The cast was wonderful. I mean, WONDERFUL. They were all young people (aged 18-31). Most were alums from the theater, but several were new to us, and they just fit right in. They were energetic and positive and creative and so much fun. Rehearsals were absolutely a joy.

One young lady in the cast had to miss a memorial service out of state for a dear family friend the second weekend of the show, and I felt so bad for the sacrifice she was making. “No, no,” she said, “I need to do this. This show is bringing back the joy of my salvation.”

This past weekend, I attended the graduation of another young lady in the cast. She surprised me by mentioning Godspell in her graduation speech and specifically talking about the joy in the show, in the cast, in the rehearsal process. “Everyone needs that kind of joy,” she said, “but I really needed it now.”

JOY. That word pretty much sums up the whole experience for me.

We sang joyful, peppy praise songs to warm up.

We laughed constantly at each other’s ad libs and improvisations.

The cast practiced carrying Jesus out before every performance and sang a difference song each time. My favorite: I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more . . .

Godspell is a hard show. It requires a lot of focus, a lot of energy, a lot of stamina. We all walked in tired; we all left exhausted. And yet, there was so much joy.

And that's why I was so bummed about the people who missed it.  When you are involved in the creation of something so great, so powerful, so moving, so joy-filled, you want everyone to experience it with you! It wasn’t about getting the compliments from the audience (although those were great and appreciated). It was about sharing this gift with people.

Because that's what it was: a gift. A gift that God gave us to give to everyone else. And oh . . . I will be forever grateful for this gift.