"Yesterday we had one of the best Holy Day commemorations in St. Marys [Ontario, Canada] in a long time. The Dramatic Reading [see earlier blog post with Marlene's script] was a huge hit. It left several of us in tears. Everybody was moved by it, seeing both the early life of the Bab through the eyes of those who knew and loved him best as a child and young man, and learning a lot about those people, especially his mother and wife. Those were my two goals, and it is so satisfying they were sensed so convincingly by both the Baha'is and others in the gathering. We had a lengthy discussion about the events afterwards, and then it morphed into even more stories about the Bab and His mission."
For our part, we did an ambitious program at the International Museum of Cultures in Duncanville--an area not known for staging elaborate programs (we usually do these in larger communities, where we can do rehearsals beforehand). Nonetheless, it worked out well--we combined both programs into one and gave marked scripts to various individuals who participated as readers. We also used video and music and slide visuals.
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| our simple staging, not simple to set up |
One highlight for me was playing the video of "O
Baha'u'llah" from the World Congress. It was nostalgic for those who
had experienced that in 1992 and impressive for those coming to a Baha'i event
for the first time, with Susan Engle as soloist and a great choir and
orchestra.
Also, we used the song "This Newborn
Child," by Ramine Yazari, which has excerpts from one of the new
Tablets revealed for the Birth of Baha'u'llah in the lyrics and also an
instrumental version. So, I had Tim edit the music so that I could read the
Tablet and the excerpts would come up at the right place. Nice! We also used
Elika Mahony's "Arise" just at after reading the verse from
another Tablet that she sings. IN OTHER WORDS, the ARTS contributed much to
the program!
