Posted: 12/4/02

Maranatha plans Christmas play

Jessica Foster
Staff Writer

After last yearís well-received ìChristmas Post,î Maranatha Assembly of God Church, Wyoming Township, is again planning a holiday program.

ìChristmas: Planet Earth, The Tourî is an original play, written by Robert J. Headley, director of worship and media arts at Maranatha for the last six months.

Headleyís show is a non-traditional Christmas production with music, comedy and culture.

The premise is two female rockers who show up to The Tour expecting a rock show a la Def Leppard, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Ozzy Osbourne. Instead, they are introduced to the story of Christmas.

ìIn the end, they get it,î Headley said. ìThrough the process of schenanigans, they get it.î

The rockers are played by Jean Peterson and Caron Sieber, who helped write the script. A solo will be sung by Pam Brigham. The show also features an 80-member choir featuring voices of teenagers to senior citizens from the church.

ìItís just regular folks who donít have to live up to being the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, we want people to live and have fun, watch it and grow,î Headley said.

The show will represent various cultures and display 44 flags of surrounding nations. The choir will sing ìSilent Nightî in seven languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Bengali and American Sign Language.

ìIím looking forward to ìSilent Night,î Headley said. ìIt will be a moving piece.î

Headley said a goal, as the production grows and changes over the years, is to introduce the audience to the various cultures hereówith, as Headley says, ìcolorful flair and colorful people.î

This yearís production, which Headley said is a seed for years to come, features Hope In Christ Assembly of God Church.

The Hmong congregation which hails from Minneapolis will join with Maranatha parishioners in sharing the holiday spirit. They also will share Hmong dance and song.

ìIíd like to see a pretty diverse group,î Headley said.

Described as a ìlift up your spiritî type of show, ìChristmas: Planet Earthî is many things.

It is a musical, a comedy, it is the Christmas story.

ìI have a great desire to do original work, write original music, script arrangement,î he said.

While the Christmas Post was a success, Headley said an original piece, which will grow and expand, better suits the church.

While this yearís show has an original script, next year that will be coupled with original music.

ìMy vision here is to do some original thing, that they can claim as their own,î he said.

ìThere is no telling where this is going to take us,î Headley said.

Future plans

Headley and others at the church already are working on an original Easter production.

Beginning with Christís resurrection, the show will be a graphic drama, Headley said.

Headley said he enjoys his work, taking parishioners who normally wouldnít participate in theater and bringing them to the stage.

ìIíve already begun dreaming and visioning about this,î he said. ìTo take people who donít think they can do something and show them they can.î

Tickets/showtimes

ìChristmas: Planet Earthî will be presented at 7 p.m. Dec. 13-15 at the Maranatha Auditorium, 24799 Forest Blvd.

Tickets are $5 each and are available by calling the church, at Salon Anja or at the door. Tickets are free for children 12-years-old and younger.

For more information call the church at 651-464-3131 or visit www.realchurch.org on the World Wide Web.

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