JPII Shows...

Interesting how our English language allows for such great freedom. Take the title of this post, in exemplum. JPII shows... well, what is the object of that Subject and verb? The former pope shows us what? Lots of things, notably his call for sanctity in the laity and in family life, the call that we as actresses in a Catholic drama company take to heart. It is up to each of us as members of the Mystical Body of Christ to reach out to all of our brothers and sisters, to take action in the world as participants in His mission to save souls, as representatives of His Church.
On the other hand, the JPII shows are our mainstage productions put on in conjunction with our St. Louis-based troupe at the John Paul II Auditorium. This beautiful little theater was to be our home for the three shows that would conclude our Midwestern Christmas tour. Since we do not usually perform with much of a stage, or any solid tech systems to speak of, the MSP were greatly impressed by the technologically and spatially advanced situation we now found ourselves in. We actually had a set. We really did have heavy red curtains and two levels of lights from every directions and an amazing sound system to play with.
And we had a whole other cast too! The St Louis cast does a funny opening act, and we were all rolling with laughter every rehearsal and show as the script slowly morphed with much ad libbing and side comments to the audience.
Speaking of the audience, we were able to meet and greet many different age groups after each show and chat on topics ranging from what we do, what they do, plays we have all acted in, down to where a good site to find online movies could be found. The old cliche "Its a Small World" (accompanied in my head by that outrageously repetitive Disney song) was proved again and again over those few nights. "Hey, you went to TMC? Founded by Peter Sampo? He taught me when I was in college years ago!" "Hey, I recognize you from ..."
We also were able to watch the airing of EWTN's "The Surprise," a Chesterton play in which our director played a main role, between shows. We have a contract with EWTN to begin filming in May for our own series, Theater of the Word, in which the MSP will have a segment. Look for it sometime over the next year!