Echo Winter 2025 - 27

read Scripture together and share ideas. We also record students' reflections before, during and after each
show to visualize their faith journey throughout the process.
Our students share incredibly profound thoughts, as the challenges of the characters they play often parallel
their own struggles in life. Several of our recent productions, such as " Our Town, " " Little Women, " " Radium
Girls " and " Into the Woods, " presented a lot of hardship and loss in the characters' stories, but our biblical
worldview encourages joy in the midst of hardship-not in the absence of hardship. What does it mean to
embrace suffering, and why is it so important? How do we love the Lord our God and others as ourselves
when we feel so unworthy of love? Our students will be the first to remind others, " Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or
sword? ... No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord " (Romans 8:35-39, NIV).
LBC: What was the inspiration behind choosing and performing " Our Town " for fall 2024?
SA: The Music, Worship & Performing Arts Department exists to prepare highly skilled artists to influence our
culture with grace and truth. To fulfill that mission, we must challenge our students to become the best they
can be regarding the gifts the Lord has given them. " Our Town " has incredibly challenging personal concepts
in this classic American play written by Thornton Wilder in 1938. As the audience is immersed in the everyday
lives of the citizens of Grovers Corners, N.H., they witness a wide range of timeless human emotion: joy,
heartache, beauty, simplicity, relationship, family, love, loss, the passage of time and questions about eternity.
Both the audience and the actors are challenged to consider life from a well-rounded perspective: Are the
grand things in life more important, or is life lived in the simple moments?
Few LBC Musical Theatre productions are " Christian " shows, per se, but ultimately, our students are earning
degrees to perform in the world with the desire to influence our culture with grace and truth. They need
to be prepared with challenging music, difficult characters and topics that may stretch our level of comfort
without compromising our integrity. When they enter the world of theatre, these are the very shows they will
be asked to perform. If we choose to insulate them within a safe Christian bubble, we do a great disservice to
our students. We must give them a safe space to think and grow in their understanding of how to deal with
challenging content while revealing the light and love of Christ through the show experience. Many of our
students are called to minister to the lost in the world of theatre. The best way we can prepare them is to do
shows with real-world issues, even if they feel out of place on the LBC stage. After all, Jesus never calls us to
be comfortable; He calls us to be obedient.
LBC: Are there unique challenges associated with musical theatre-a largely secular industry-on a Bible
college campus? And if so, why?
SA: Absolutely. Musical theatre is meant to entertain a wide variety of patrons as well as to present " real life "
on stage. This becomes very difficult when the content of most musicals would be considered offensive to a
conservative Christian population. Struggles are a part of life, and we can't shy away from reality on our stage.
Yet we can bring some of this to the LBC stage while being sensitive to the viewers. We'll never put things on
stage that condone sinful behavior, but we have a lot to learn from characters that fall, experience hurt and
loss, and yet must find a way to overcome and finish the journey. To me, that sounds a lot like life. We want
to reach the lost, but when we shy away from shows with difficult topics, we minimize the people who are
struggling with those issues.
A powerful example of this occurred with this year's presentation of " Our Town. " At the end of the play, our
actors addressed the audience directly, asking them to consider their own mortality and eternity and, without
mincing words, stated: " While 'Our Town' portrays death as a final end, with the departed observing but
unable to truly reconnect with the living, we believe that through Jesus Christ there's a promise of life after
death. " The cast then shared John 5:24, where Jesus says, " Whoever hears my Word and believes Him who
sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life, " encouraging attendees
to reflect not only on the preciousness of each moment in this life but also on the hope of eternal life that's
found through Christ Jesus. As Christians, our views of eternity differ greatly from the world's view. We are
secure in our future because of the gospel. And a commitment to biblical integration across every area of
curriculum at LBC equips us to find parallels and present them to others in a meaningful way-even through
a secular play written just five years after LBC was founded.
It can be easy for Christians to create a bubble around us where we're not engaging with culture. We must,
however, engage with culture in the Musical Theatre program so we can say to our students, " We're going to
prepare you for the profession, and that means we need to give you training in the classroom, experience on
stage, and the wisdom and discernment to do it well for the glory of God. "
ECHO 27

Echo Winter 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Echo Winter 2025