GOSHEN -- Mike Weber is the pastor of an inner city church where no one attends. Regardless of its abysmal popularity, though, death is denied to the house of empty pews because of a radio show the leaders must produce each week.
His church's struggle frustrates Weber enough. But issues within his family, a generation gap between him, the radio show's new music director and some personal disappointment complicate his efforts to do the right thing in a new play by Tedand-Company Theaterworks that appears on stage this weekend in Goshen.
Real-life religion as entertainment is the gift of Ted Swartz and Trent Wagler who, together with director and dramaturge Ingrid De Sanctis, created "What Would Lloyd Do" -- a play that injects humor and hope into some of the deep religious conflicts facing church leaders and the faithful.
FAMILIAR FACES
The play's two Goshen performances bring Swartz and Wagler back to a place they're familiar with. Swartz has two children attending Goshen College and his former business partner's friend is the father of cast member and musician Jay Lapp, who grew up in Goshen.
Swartz's familiarity with the city and its Mennonite identity obliged him to stage the play here at some point, he said by phone last week. But because the play's message resonates beyond the Mennonite church he looked for a cause to partner with that the entire community could get behind.
"There's a nice connection between what LaCasa is doing and creating homes for people," he discovered. So in a win-win-win solution, a portion of the proceeds from the shows will go to LaCasa's Helping Families Improving Neighborhoods program.
THE PLAY
"What Would Lloyd Do?" came to life a few years ago as a television pilot about the intricacies of a dying church, Swartz said. The plot line morphed into a live show that also examines the issues of what happens when a vocation dies and something has to come out of its ashes. How do we hang on to the things that are crucial about our faith, it asks, when in a post-modern world the church needs to look and feel so different from what we're used to?
When Weber brings aboard music director Wagler, the two clash but eventually discover commonality. At the same time, Weber falters in his relationship with his teenagers and wife and questions whether he should give up his vocation altogether. The changes wrought from both situations provide laughs and thought-provoking messages for the audience.
"It asks the question of 'If no one's here, should we still be doing this?' and also, 'Is God listening to us in our time of need?' The result is a flipping on its head of what a Sunday morning needs to be," Swartz said.
What the cast is hearing from younger adults who take in the show, he added, is that if church were like the play, they would go. At the same time, slightly older adults tell him they identify with the 52-year-old Swartz's character -- making the work a hit with the demographics that are opposed on stage.
CATCH A PREVIEW
Wagler wrote all original music for the show. He and Lapp will perform some of that music at a free venue during Goshen's First Friday celebration.
Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday shows will be on sale at the First Friday celebration tonight; or call 535-0808 or visit www.goshentheater.com.