Charlotte Observer: May 2009

Playwright puts faith at center stage

Kathy Larson and her church are creating theatrical works aimed at bringing religious ideas to real life

by Lawrence Toppman
Theater Critic
posted online: Friday, May 1, 2009

"Christ the Lord is risen today" says a wall hanging that shows a butterfly emerging optimistically into the light. But onstage, the caterpillars are still weaving the chrysalis that will let them take flight.

"LOUDER!" says director Kathy Larson. "It's 10 times better than Sunday, but still --"

A casual observer sees theater done on a shoestring at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church. But hang around a while, and you get the flavor of the drama program - a down-home flavor cooked up by shy newbies and experienced actors who use theater to get us thinking about God.

Two numbers tell the story of "Becoming Dad," which runs this weekend in the sanctuary along Rea Road. The first is 60. That's how many people volunteered ideas, labor, even property for the set - and Larson says that's roughly a third of the church's active congregation. The second is 200. That's the number of dollars she estimates this entire production cost: "We did spend $400 (beyond that) for a couch from IKEA, but we got a church member to agree to buy it from us afterward for $400."

The 31 year-old Larson has been with Good Shepherd for a decade, first as youth pastor and now Director of Christian Education and Creative Arts. The administration here understands those arts: Pastor Robert Austell has written songs for previous shows and was touching up the sound at Tuesday night's rehearsal. So after Larson completed Act One, a Christian screenwriting program in Los Angeles, she began to craft original work for her church. Six years later, she does one play each Christmas and one in spring.

God doesn't always have a principal role. "Becoming Dad" for instance, is about an executive in his 30s (played by Todd Rose) who discovers at a crucial time in his career that he has a 12 year-old daughter (Olivia Austin). He enrolls her in a Christian school, and she encounters serious religious ideas for the first time. Meanwhile, he wrestles with paternal responsibilities but has no encounters with the Lord.

"These plays are meant to open up dialogues," says Larson, who frequently directs the adults in them and lets collaborator Paulette Austin direct the younger folks. "I'm trying to get people to think. It's not like those Christian movies where somebody prays and then God gives all the good people presents."

The process is collaborative. Larson blitzes out a play in a few weeks, but she takes input from casts and crews. "Kathy's very open," says Rose, a financial planner who spent three years with a professional theater in California. "And you don't have to be a member of the church. I came years ago to do a show and joined the church later. What connects this group is a love of theater, love of communicating (with the audience), love of people here."

Love's a good motivator when you bring clothes and props from home and work in a small rehearsal room. (The set doesn't move onstage into the sanctuary until six days before opening, and the Sunday service prior to the matinee takes place in front of it.)

Olivia Austin, a sixth-grader at Carmel Middle School, likes the challenges here. "You connect things in your everyday life to the characters," she says. "I lost my brother this year, and when I talk onstage about losing my mother, it brings back the tenderness we had. A lot of these plays have some kind of loss in them. They're realistic."

That's Larson's aim: To get people contemplating religion in real-life contexts. "You can be an artist and a Christian at the same time, using your talents to glorify God," she says. "We just have to figure out how to do that."