My girls were eager to be in their schools spring musical Oliver! So I figured I would use the oportunity to spend some time with our girls by volunteering to direct the show. We had our final performance last night, and after all was said and done the girls had a great time and the folks who came to out seemed to enjoy the show. I was struck again through the whole process how important telling stories are for children and their families, they become an important affirmation of much of what we value, and hope to express to our kids, and the community involvment that emerges from these events become an important expression of our responsibility to one another. I've attached my director's note from the play program below, they express some of these sentinments
Director’s Note:
My three girls (two of whom are in the cast of Oliver) and I have been reading through Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince these last weeks of rehearsal. During these times, I have been struck by a similarity of thought expressed in Antoine’s tale of the Little Prince who fell to earth with that of Dickens orphaned Oliver. Both tales seem to suggest to the world that Love is something to be sought after and nurtured when found.
The Little Prince comes from a tiny star where he tended three volcanoes and a single rose, and the flower becomes an intimate and loving friend to the boy. Eventually the Prince leaves his little planet and his own rose and finds his way to earth, where thousands of roses can be found in peoples gardens. Yet amidst the Little Prince’s travels and amidst all the flowers on earth, the young boy felt a loss of meaning for his life. People where you live the little prince said to his pilot friend, grow five thousand roses in one garden yet they don’t find what they’re looking for and yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose, and he added But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.
Of course Jesus reminds us that finding Love is more than just a matter of looking with the heart. For the heart to see rightly, the hand needs to give generously. That’s the deeper wisdom the Little Prince goes on to reveal when he responds to the rose’s simple request, “Would you be so kind as to tend to me?” This gift of Love by the Prince made his rose the only one in the whole world. It’s the time you spend on your rose that makes your rose so important, the wise fox told him. Take that gift away, and the one special flower blends into 100,000 other roses. In the same way, the character Oliver, one of thousands of orphans littering the streets of Dickens London, was looking for someone to be so kind as to tend to him. Roaming the markets, he questions the world as he sings out the memorable song Where is Love?
For many of you tonight, your attendance at this play is an answer to Oliver’s question. You are tending to your rose tonight and - through many, and late rehearsals, through the sewing of costumes, running sound, giving up work time, free time, missing weekends and spring break, driving, waiting, and more driving - all for the sake of spending time and caring for your rose. The more you tend, the more important they become to you; and the more alive you, we and they are!. The production team thanks you for this gesture. We know that it comes from a heart that is learning such things from Him who loved first I Jn 3:16.
In His Grace,
Hunter Barnes
A web address resurfaced today, and I was delighted to hear Orson Wells and the famous Mercury Radio Theatre telling the Wonder(filled) story of GK. Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday". This is one of my favorit of Chesterton's work, am still waiting for the day when I see a stage version of the book. This radio production was originally aired in 1938. Radio is a great vehicle for this story...oh for the glorious days of radio theatre!
Mark airs over NYC! I was given the privilege of performing Mark's Gospel on Easter Sunday at our Church. Our services are broadcast on WAWZ on the following Sunday
My girls were eager to be in their schools spring musical Oliver! So I figured I would use the oportunity to spend some time with our girls by volunteering to direct the show. We had our final performance last night, and after all was said and done the girls had a great time and the folks who came to out seemed to enjoy the show. I was struck again through the whole process how important telling stories are for children and their families, they become an important affirmation of much of what we value, and hope to express to our kids, and the community involvment that emerges from these events become an important expression of our responsibility to one another. I've attached my director's note from the play program below, they express some of these sentinments
Posts
