Last Saturday saw my acting debut, at the tender age of forty. I was given one of four lead parts in our church play, “Go East, Old Men,” a modern retelling of the story of the wise men who visited Jesus and his family sometime after Jesus’ birth. We did one performance on Saturday, and two during the normal service times on Sunday.

The basic storyline is that four Berkley professors are given a sign in that all of their GPS devices tell them to “Go East.” The four men (four in our story instead of the traditional three) gather up some gifts for the Messiah, and head out from Berkley with no idea of where they are going; they simply follow the GPS. Along the way they meet some heavily-adapted Biblical figures, from a rich woman who is too concerned about her upcoming horse race to go see the Messiah, to the mayor of New York City, Mayor Harold (Herod). The play was meant to be light-hearted, and it was very funny for much of the play. The play ends when the professors find the holy family in Bethlehem Trailer Park, and they leave their gifts for the family.

The play was meant to stress how easy it is for people to come up with excuses not to go and see Jesus, and I think it did that in a fun way. Several of the actors improvised lines (they were given permission to) that brought the house down. The play was followed by a short talk by one of the actors about why he follows Jesus, and it was heartfelt and open. All in all, I thought the play went very well, which was by the grace of God, especially since we did not have any really good practices before Saturday (it is very hard to coordinate so many schedules, so often people were not able to make rehearsals).

I got to play the part of Thurston, whom I took to be the department chair of the Ancient History Department. He is the one who hosts the party that welcomes a new professor, and he always drives the vehicle, even though it was not his car. So, I took him to be the elder statesman (and I was the oldest of the professors). I had some liberty in crafting the character, so I based him to a large extent on Mer’s father, Dale. Dale loves words, and very naturally uses large words in normal conversation, so I went through my lines and edited them. I kept the meaning the same, but inserted large words wherever I could. It gave me focus for the part, and it worked pretty well.

Although I have been doing improvisational comedy on stage for the last eight years, I have never actually tried acting (at least not since I was in kindergarten). I was pleased to be given a chance to act in such a welcoming and low-stress environment. The play was about forty-five or fifty minutes long, and my lines totaled about seven minutes of the dialogue. I learned my lines by recording them and then playing them over and over on my iPod while I went running or while I was doing housework. It worked quite well.

It was a moderate amount of work for me to be in the play: it involved staying late at church on Sunday for about two months, with two additional practices thrown in. Altogether, I probably made seven or eight rehearsals – I know I missed one for going to London. I felt for Janet most of all. She is the pastor’s wife, and she wrote and directed (and had a small part in) the play. She had to coordinate everything, and it is not always easy to work with volunteers. She did well, and got a good performance out of us. I am pleased with how the play went, and am also pleased I can go back to the early service now that rehearsals are over!