I saw "Savior of the World" the other night and have been mulling over ever since how I was going to say what I am going to say about it. It has certainly caused me to think a lot . . . however, my thinking isn't anything near what I'm sure the producers want me to think. They want me to be thinking about my savior and . . . and I don't know what else. A good friend is in the show and she got me tickets for a preview performance. We've had a few discussions about the play, and how it came about, and how it has changed and lots of other things -- mostly, how it is to work for the church on an artistic endeavor. We've come to the conclusion that . . . well, we're depressed. The play (which is a term that can only apply loosely to what this is actually, which is a pageant, but it's not grand enough for that either) was written by committee. And the committee was given specific parameters; a play about Christ in which Christ does not appear, that is very heavily reliant on the use of scripture -- quote it as often as possible, and some others that I have either forgotten or haven't been told.

I wanted to like this play. I was excited to see what the church was going to do with this rather splendid new state-of-the-art 900-seat theatre -- which doesn't feel that big, by-the-way. For some time now I have been hoping that at last, the church would head in a new and provocative direction in the field of the arts. Not yet. The play was bland. Nothing dynamic about it at all. The scenes that had potential for that -- Mary telling Joseph that she is with child, the shepherds watching over their flocks by night, the visitations of the angels -- all were static and emotionless. My friend, who's in the show, assures me that there was a little more action, a little more emotion and conflict, before a small committee made up of three of the Council of the Twelve came to preview the show a few times. Thereafter there were pages and pages of changes every day for two weeks that stripped the play of any kind of exuberance. The injunction was to make the play more reverent. The angels were not allowed to talk TO the other charcters any more with any kind of lively feeling, rather they were to talk AT the other characters with flat, solemn attitudes.

My friend has had, generally, a positive experience working on the show, but she is very disappointed in the way that things were handled in producing the thing. She says that she is unlikely to ever work for the church again in the capacity of an artist. As she would discuss with the director her disappointment in the watering down of the script she got a lot of justification along the lines of, "The church is not in the business of trying to produce great plays; the church's mission is to save souls." It's quite possible that "Savior of the World" may help to save a few souls, but I can't make myself believe that a play that challenged my thinking and my feelings about the savior would be damaging to the church's mission. In fact, I think it would probably save MORE souls than what this one will do.

Here's the thing that depresses me about the church producing mediocre theatre; whether they mean it to happen or not, the plays produced in this theatre will be held up by a mojority of the membership of the church as the standard to which we should all look. I know what that will do to the audience I am trying to reach with plays like "Stones." I will hear this kind of comment, "If your play is worthy of a faithful audience it would be done by the church wouldn't it? If your play is not one that could be produced by the church, it's not a play that should be produced at all." I know this will happen, I've seen it happen. I have heard those words.

Here is what I have been thinking ever since I saw the play Friday night: When did exuberance become synonymous with irreverence?

I am glad that all the seats for all the performances sold out within days, but I think a play should be appreciated for its merits, not simply because it was produced by the church.

When did solemn become synonymous with reverent?

When did boring become the ideal?

J. Scott Bronson--The Scotted Line
"World peace begins in my home"
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"Anybody who sees live theatre should
come out a little rearranged." Glenn Close