In 2011 St. Andrew’s began a daring experiment. We founded a drama troupe, the St. Andrew’s Players, inspired by years of including short plays in our annual Walks to Bethlehem.
It is certainly true that some think drama aligned with church “oxymoronic” at best; church being sacred and drama, pagan. And yet the arts––drama among them––have always found a home in the Church. Why? Because both artists and believers have much in common: a search for truth, as for God; creativity; spirituality; and a deep honesty about the human condition. Like the Word of God itself, the greatest dramas, both ancient and modern, not only plumb mysteries, but set up mirrors and tear back curtains. “The purpose of playing [i.e. drama],“ says Shakespeare, “. . . was and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature: to show virtue her feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure” (Hamlet 3.ii.20-24). No wonder the revival of Western drama in the Middle Ages took place on the steps and in the courtyards of medieval cathedrals. Indeed, the greatest Art has always been a conduit to Faith.
Our first production, A Victorian Christmas (2011), wove together scenes from A Christmas Carol and Little Women, and featured both readings and great choral music from the period. It was so well received that we quickly pressed on to more challenging territory. Since then we have produced a number of full-length plays:
- It’s a Wonderful Life (2012, 2018)
- Miracle on 34th Street (2013)
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2014, 2016)
- Twelfth Night (2015)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017)
- A Christmas Carol (2017)
- Drinking Habits (2019)
And once we have shaken free from Covid-19, there will be more. Please stay tuned, and watch for Casting Calls in the very near future!