Happy November 1st! I’m Miriam Childress—and it’s always a joy to be with you!
Drama is thought to be the earliest form of teaching in the church. In 1978, our Session and our minister, Jeff Aiken, felt the need for a drama group in our church and asked me to organize one. The aims? Good fellowship and the use of talents in presenting different types of plays. Enthusiasm in our church was marvelous and the Paw Creek Players came to life!
Our first play. ON THIS ROCK, (about Peter and the disciples) was given in 1980, in the sanctuary on a small, portable wooden stage. Somehow, Danny McClure rigged up lights and sound—and everything worked!
The next year a musical was performed in the present Scout Hut — on that same portable stage. Kay Rudisill and her committee created doors, arches and props for the scenes out of whatever. Betty Barnette had almost everyone singing or dancing — and some (like Bob Childress) doing both!
Of course, Betty had already done some fine musicals with the children. She and I also worked with the youth one summer on a musical drama, SELECTIONS FROM MATTHEW (a Biblical drama with music from GODSPELL). Kris, Gerri Ann, Ken Scott, Libby, Sammy — all of them — were so busy with summer jobs that we had one practice at 7 A.M. on a Saturday morning! When show time came, though, these young people sparkled!
From the beginning, the Paw Creek Players have included music & people of all ages (from age 5 to 85 — and even somewhat younger or older). However, our historical drama, A CORNER OF THE KINGDOM, (in 1984) was the first to include 3 generations: Blair, Joe and Eric Cathey. For that play, Peg Overbeck and her costume committee succeeded so well that it felt like a meeting of the 1800′s and 1900′s when we gathered for prayer before the play!
By 1989, we’d done 7 plays — on that portable stage. By 1990, we were in our brand new Fellowship Building — with a large, solid stage, proper curtains plus real stage lights and sound for Danny — and Bill! Even the possibility of a Dinner Theatre now existed. Thanks to Barbara Joy and others, Dinner Theatres became realities! (One time, thanks to Shannon, lovely lighted castles graced the tables, too!). Our first play on the new stage that year, SEPTEMBER SURPRISES, held an extra surprise. Six inches from the stage you couldn’t hear a word! The sound panels recommended worked, though, and the performance went on, as scheduled.
Wonderful talents kept emerging in the folks working behind the scenes and those performing on stage! We’ve done many kinds of plays — from Biblical dramas to melodramas to small slice-of-life dramas (like THE FRONT PORCH) to variety shows, fairy tales and musicals! We’ve tried new things in all of them, too. Freeze the action when others speak? Clint, still as a statue, held his coffee cup in mid-air for minutes. Spearhead the creation of all four seasons on stage and sing in the play? Vernie did. Involve the choir? Involve the audience? Have a mime? See the Psalms interpreted? Yes to all. Create a bedroom, kitchen and front porch on a small stage? Ann and Tom Cashion and committee managed. Why, in TRIP OF A LIFETIME, it seemed we were actually visiting all those European cities — so well did the cast and committees do!
The Paw Creek Players are not only talented, but versatile, thoughtful and dependable, too — steadfast in times of personal and business concerns. Mary Ellen was on stage in spite of a job change. Kristen Turner did a whole play with her arm in a cast (Her mom, Karen, and the make-up committee made her and everyone look great, as always.) Jan Chapman finished a dance in spite of a costume malfunction. Larry phoned from his plane to say he would be at rehearsal (and he wasn’t even the king in that play). Of course, Ray Young started out as a poor lame man in the first play and ended up a king in a recent one! You just never know.
That Gary is an enthusiastic supporter of the plays, as are you — we so appreciate. I am immensely proud of the Paw Creek Players! They have presented 16 plays! Will all the Paw Creek Players please stand? As our granddaughter, Laura, would say, “You are amazing!” (Applause, please.) Thank you. I feel blessed to be a part of the Paw Creek Players and to be a part of you, my church family.
