The Making Of, Part 1

It’s already time for me to post the first part of the behind-the-scenes story of The King and the Bride! As I know most of my current readership comes from the cast of KATB, you may be saying, “Hel-lo, William, we were there. So why do we need to hear the history?” In my opinion, it is vitally important that we are constantly reminded of the roots of this play, so that we can’t possibly lose sight of the essence of its original message. So without further ado, here it is.

For about six years, the church's children's group KidsPraise! has met every Wednesday night. In September 2008, the group began to discuss the idea of kings and of brides, and more specifically, the King and the Bride. As this teaching went on, the Lord impressed it upon Deacon David in January 2009 to tell the children a story. He began the story with this:

“God’s been giving me a teaching about the church being the Bride [over the last few years,] and he’s given me a story to go along with it. But he hasn’t given me notes...he hasn’t given me props...and he hasn’t really completely filled in the details for me. But he’s given me the sense that tonight I should tell you the story. So I’m just sort of counting that he’s going to tell it to me so that I can tell it to you.”

What followed was the tale that would eventually become The King and the Bride. Many of the play’s eventual detail was absent; some parts were wildly different. But one thing remained constant between the two versions: The boy loved the girl unconditionally.

By the end of the original telling of the story, the girl’s life is a wreck, and she knows she’s helpless to change anything about it. The boy, on the other hand, has become a king, creating a vast gulf between them. Yet bizarrely, improbably, impossibly, he still loves her. And when finally he’s able to convince her that all she has to do is love him back,

“...all of Creation began to sing praise for the event. All of Creation began to praise a king that could love so deeply and without care for worth. And all of Creation–I don’t know if you can picture this–but all of Creation could see what exactly was going on because the light from the king could make everything so obvious, but what they praised had to do with how great his love was and how unrelated it was to the worthiness as the world saw his bride...

“This was a singing that all of Creation had waited for ever since its birth–a time when the king came to his bride.”

Rather prophetically, Deacon David closed by saying,

“I believe that we--you all--will act that story out sometime here. That we’ll do that as a play and tell that story to the world.

“We increasingly live in a world that has less and less hope in it. But God wants us to know that we have the hope of the King who loves so much and has no interest in worth. Worth matters nothing. He loves because he loves.”

The recording of the story was passed out to various members of our church...and that was when Sarah Howell approached him about writing the script. But that’s another story for another time.

Check back next week for Part 2!

–William

P.S. By the way, apologies to anyone who used RSS to subscribe to this blog and who received a super-long version of this post a few minutes ago. Blogspot mysteriously and underhandedly posted an unedited version of this article. Obviously, the computer has got its own agenda.

Acting in One Dimension

For the first time we rehearsed part of the final scene in the play (scene 4.) In many ways, this part of KATB* defies explanation; at the risk of revealing spoilers, I'll try to keep it brief. Suffice to say that everything comes to a head at once; all of the characters's emotions and thoughts are expressed in their rawest and most explicit way.

When I first thought about playing a part in KATB, I wanted to play the antagonist (I won't tell you his name for the sake of the plot.) Frankly, an actor portraying him has got it easier. His lines are rarely delivered sincerely, and much of the time it's easier to display sarcasm than pure besotted infatuation. Plus, he's a very complex character. What was his past? Why is he so incredibly bitter? Has he always been this way? There's a lot of leeway for a correct portrayal of such an ambiguous character, probably because we've all acted exactly like him at some point in time. In a way, he's unique in the play as being the only nonspecific allegorical character. He doesn't "stand for" any one individual; rather, he's a kind of combination of the deceptiveness of Satan and the destructive pull of earthly guilt. Perhaps nowhere else is this made more clear than in scene 4, when he says,

"You can't be something if you're nothing!...And that's all you are...nothing."

In contrast, I was cast as Jesus's allegorical character, Sam. If there was a single more concrete, pre-formed character, I would love to hear who it is! Every aspect of Sam's character can be traced back to a Biblical reference. In addition, he's never angry and certainly never sarcastic–in fact, the only emotions he regularly shows is a doggedly persistent besotted infatuation and an innocent wonder at the sheer beauty of His marvelous Creation.

So as I've been struggling to accurately play Sam, I've grown to realize that exactly this sort of "one-dimensional" character is what we're called to be as Christians. Men and women who constantly spill over with faith, forgiveness, hope, wonder...and love. And as hard as it is for me to overcome emotional boundaries on stage and show only one emotion (for lack of a better word)...it's what we must do every day of our lives.

Rehearsal went brilliantly, and I was reminded again how truly fortunate I am to work with such great and talented (and experienced) people! Even the Tyrant herself seemed pleased by the end of practice. :)

And until next time, your wishes await!

–William

*P.S. "KATB" is my very convoluted acronym for "(The) King And The Bride." It's pronounced "Cat-bee." Thanks for bearing with me.

A Wish Come True

Welcome to the blog of the cast of The King and the Bride, a one-act play which encompasses all creation. First, a little background information: The tale of The King and the Bride is one facet of the colossal story of Jesus, specifically, that of his divine romance with his bride, the church. This play will be hosted by the Church of St. Peter the Fisherman in Wilmington, NC. It was conceptualized, scripted, and, eventually, will be produced by the same (with a little help from the Creator of the Universe.)

By now you may be asking, "Why do you guys even need a blog, anyway?" Well, I must confess that, as the lead male actor, our wonderfully dictatorial director leaves very little time at rehearsals for me to talk endlessly about the whole exciting process. So here I am, with you as a captive audience! I'm so excited. Well, you could press the "back" button on your browser and just forget the whole thing, but I'd really rather you didn't. Really. At least let me explain my Master Plan! Just sit right there...thank you.

This play will be performed on two sequential nights: March 19th and 20th, 2010. So on each of the seven Sundays leading up to the performance, I will post an installment of the story of this play's creation. I think you'll agree with me that it's a wildly improbable story, but it's all true. Or so I've been told. Also (and here's where the fun begins), I will post from time to time photos, anecdotes, scathing stories about the Tyrant-Director (kidding!)....whatever comes to mind.

And until then, look out for falling stars!

—William