February 2008 Newsletter

People Connection

With our new year comes a new regular Newsletter Feature, "the People Connection."  Each month, we will select one or two people who have been involved in the cast and/or crew of our productions and have them tell you about their experiences.  This month, we have selected Ray Martin.  Ray, as Mr. Bendix in Tilly, is in his DTC debut.

Ray Martin

Ray Martin as Mr. Bendix has been doing dinner theatre and other plays at his church for ten years.  The last 8 years, he has also been doing community theatre, mainly in Crestwood.  He has been in over a dozen shows, many performing beside his son or daughter and occasionally his wife.  Each part has been great but some of his favorites were Reuben in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jerry in George M! and the mysterious man in Into the Woods.  He has enjoyed working with DTC because of the spiritual bond between he and the other actors.  In real life, Ray has his own actuarial consulting practice and his hobbies include Scuba diving and raising seahorses.  He gives thanks to the Lord for we can do all things through Him.  He especially wants to thank his wife, Leah, for putting up with the crazy rehearsal schedules.

This is my first time performing with Destination Theatre Company.  I have performed as a vocal soloist since high school and performed in dinner theatres and specials at my church.  I have also been in many community theatre musicals.  Tilly, however, is really my first drama.

For five years I was on the board for a performance group called Legacy Playhouse Ministries.  I have been supporting excellence in the arts and promoting Christian values for many years.  I have enjoyed working wiht DTC and the Christian atmosphere and values it provides.  I think that Tilly has a powerful message about life and God's forgiveness.  Everyone involved is working to reveal this message.  I also feel the incorporation of music and lighting will make this a powerful presentation.

I look forward to the presentation and additional involvement with DTC in the future.

Jonathan Gathman

Jonathan Gathman as the Composer earned a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from Wheaton Conservatory where he won several competitions and scholarships.  Jonathan prefers to give his talents to sacred and Christian affiliated efforts.  Most recently, he has performed for Broadway on the Driveway in Fiddler on the Roof and started building an orchestra for The Sound of Music.  Since then he has conducted and been orchestra director for The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, The Four Freedoms and Singing in the Rain.  For The Four Freedoms, an original musical by Emily and Lacy Miller, Jonathan played a large role in orchestrating as well as including original material. Jonathan first participated with DTC as music director for our first musical, Charlotte's Web last summer.

"It was a dark and stormy night"; thus begins Snoopy's quintessential first line of his novel...He never, to my knowledge, got any further. The popularity of this gag over the course of Peanut's creation shows a bit of the frustrated artist in all of us.  Mr Holland's Opus is another, where he works 30 years on a single piece (of dubious value).  The countless "I wish I had kept going with piano/voice/guitar" I've heard also speaks of this.  It's the internal desire to be artistic, to have an avenue of expression that is beyond 
the mundane.

I personally feel this inner desire is God given.  Who but the Master Creator who created sunsets, ocean waves against rocks and windblown sand sculptures could conceive of creating beings who themselves create?  Further, we see that God called specific artisans for specific tasks, such as workers of brass, cloth and gold for the Tabernacle objects.  We are often referred to as God's children, and what father doesn't love to see his son or daughter perform.

Of course, like most things God created, sin can mess things up.  The worst thing that can happen to an artistic gift is to attach pride or indulge in self-glorification.  When I was at Wheaton, I had the privilege to be the Student liaison to the Artist Series.  There was a certain amount of unpaid leg work, putting up signs in the town, etc.  However, I was also charged with picking up the Artists from the Airport, if they desired, and attempting be as gracious a host on behalf of the college as possible. I quickly found a general principle.  The truly great artists that I met, Robert Shaw, The Guarneri Quartet, Gillian Weir were gracious and kind.  Many of the up and coming/not-quite-top rung were, frankly, a bit rude to me, treating me like a nothing student.   At that point, I began to see a connection, that a certain pride and contemptuousness of others may very well hinder the art that you aspire to.  There are, of course, 
great artists who by sheer talent, still make an impact, but it makes one wonder what they could have done, if their art wasn't self-centered.

Personally, while being no artist of great caliber, I find that when I'm the most engaged in a performance, I am the least conscious of self.  I have the temerity to believe that is what God actually intended.  C.S. Lewis addresses beauty in a sideline story element in "That Hideous Strength".  Jane Studdock, who ironically, given the start of this article, can never really get down to seriously writing her book.  One lesson she learns from a wise teacher is that personal beauty is not made for oneself, or one's enjoyment, but for others.  The other big lesson is that God had other things mind for her other than writing. She had several important things to do in the course of the book, but none of them involved what she tried to take pride in, i.e. her academic pursuit.  In fact, her biggest lesson was actually to submit.  Submitting first to God, then in her marriage.  Those were her keys to unlocking the beauty that God had given her.  Only then did her frustrated artist side begin to see fruition.

For the young, let the drive to create and be artistic help drive the mundane that needs to be done to accomplish those goals: the repetition of lines, the scales, etudes and vocal warm ups.  For those 
who haven't seen much moisture behind their ears recently, there is still the disciplining and emptying of self, the honing of skill.  For the frustrated artists, perhaps you are in the wrong medium.  Ask God 
to show you why he put that there, and where He designed you to use it.   For all of us, let us recognize that man's works of beauty and worth should really be recognized as reflecting God's creative genius, 
and praise Him accordingly.

[February 2008--One Act Competition] [Back to February 2008 News]