|
In
The Spirit
Michael Brunk, the hardest working director in the Northwest, is still at it. Coming off a year when Mike directed The Singer for World Stage Ministries and While the Lights Were Out for Redwood Theatre, and acted in Homecoming for DIM, Mike is continuing his string of award-winning efforts by directing the Noel Coward classic Blithe Spirit at Redwood.
The play is a gentle farcical account of a seance gone wrong. When the conjured dead wife of a writer actually shows up, and then refuses to leave, problems arise in the marital bliss of the household. According to Mike, it's been a joy working with a truly professional script. He is so confident of this
 production, in fact, that he's taking Hell Week off -- well, not really. But he has been called out of town on business, and left the production in the capable hands of assistant Andy Carroll. A good script, Mike says, almost directs itself.
Oddly enough, DIM founder Greg Wright made his directorial debut at Redwood a decade ago with Blithe Spirit, filling a gap in the schedule at the last minute.
Blithe Spirit runs October 17 thru November 1 at Redwood Theatre in Redmond. Tickets are $10, with Senior Citizen, Student and group discounts available. Further information is available at the Redwood Theatre web site. Check out Mike's new show!
|
In Good Health
In May of this year, DIM announced plans
for a summer melodrama, and the launching of a new
mobile theatre troupe. Then, trouble hit.
Over Memorial
Day weekend, Jenn Wright was struck with a
severe illness that went undiagnosed for nearly three
months. In the meantime, Jenn's weight dropped thirty
pounds, she lost a contract for web development, and every
consideration not related to literally keeping Jenn alive went
out the window.
In mid-August, after a life-threatening
visit to the emergency room at Highline Hospital, Jenn was
finally diagnosed with a severe duodenal ulcer and a prolific
h. pylori
infestation
of the stomach. Oddly enough, Jenn exhibited none of the classic
ulcer symptoms.
Because Jenn's weight dropped so
drastically, doctors have only recently begun the first phase
of antibiotic treatment for the bacteria, while waiting for the ulcer
to subside.
As Jenn's health has been making first
steps toward recovery (which still remains months away), she
has been learning about new callings from God: to
a new job as Unit Secretary at the Regional
Hospital in Riverton Heights, and to a new ministry through website
Hollywood Jesus.
Not only has Jenn begun contributing
reviews of such movies as The
Fighting Temptations, she will begin partnering next year
with husband Greg on the multi-year coverage of the
Narnia
movies.
The year has been extremely difficult --
physically, financially and spiritually. But it has also
yielded great blessing. We may have our
own plans in life, but they often differ from
God's; and sometimes, He has to go great lengths to get
our attention!
|
|
In
Absentia
So what does DIM do when its plans get
derailed, when God steps in and takes the reins? After
last December's production of the final Chi-Rho
chapter, Homecoming, DIM has been pretty silent --
and by necessity, in part. For eight years, most of
DIM's programming was coordinated with seasonal events at Normandy
Christian Church: Good Friday, Arts Fest, Christmas.
When making the move away from
Normandy, however, in faithfulness to God's calling to a
writing ministry, DIM founder Greg Wright
knew that planning
would be difficult. The prolonged illness of wife Jenn
then threw a big wrench in the works.
 When Greg wasn't
carefully monitoring Jenn's health, the little remaining spare
time went into the final publication details of his first
book. Tolkien in Perspective, from VMI
Publishers, was introduced at the Christian Booksellers
Association convention in Orlando in July, and Greg has been
very active promoting the book since.
Jenn keeps Greg motivated, too. Though
he would just as soon keep a low profile and move on
to the next book, Jenn reminds him that it's
not about him -- it's about the book, and the
message it has for the church.
Besides, the book
has opened up new avenues of ministry for Greg, while
planned DIM activities remain on hold.
Look for a return to form in 2004! |
In Other Words
Ordinarily, published scripts are handled
as commercial commodities. When performed, they bring
income from two sources: script sales, and performance
royalties.
In Christian
drama circles, this often takes a slightly different form:
script clearing houses, which charge a membership fee for
unlimited access to online scripts (performance royalties
included).
So what does
DIM do with its scripts, when many are co-authored, and there
is no corporation to handle financial transactions?
For most of
DIM's existence, this has been a moot issue. Script
publication has never pariticularly been a part of DIM's
mission, and there have always been other things to pay
attention to.
This summer,
though, the magic of internet search engines brought the
subject to the fore. How much, a drama minister in
Georgia asked, whould the script for Mary Had a Little
Lamb be? A search engine had brought up a link to
the DIM website, and browsing the website led to the discover
of script titles on the History page.
So an answer
was needed. Greg's first instinct was to merely send off
the script for free -- then a thought occurred to
him.
DIM might
not be particularly interested in income, but other charitable
organizations certainly would! Greg and Jenn had just
done a presentation on the work of Global Music Ministries,
and the solution was evident. Starting this fall, DIM scripts and performance rights
are now available in exchange for a tax-deductible donation to
Global Music Ministries.
|
