The Kenai Performers have a new show opening this week that challenges perceptions of faith, community and leadership. The cast and crew say it’s a play that will leave the audience with more questions than answers.
It’s Kentucky, 1836, and a group of nine plainly dressed women are leading minimalist lives. They sing hymns in unison, rebuke embellishment and turn to their faith for guidance on all things. They’re Shakers, members of a religious community with roots in England.
But when the young Sister Fanny starts seeing angels over their field, her strong personality and firm convictions disrupt the established order of their close-knit community.
“They believed that they could physically shake the sin out of their body, that's why they're called the Shakers,” he said.
That’s Raleigh Van Natta. “As it is in Heaven,” is his directorial debut with the Kenai Performers. The play, written by Arlene Hutton, was first performed in Edinburgh in 2001. Van Natta says it’s an obscure production – he found the script at a used book store in Los Angeles and was drawn to its dramatic elements and spiritual themes.
“It's based on true events,” he said. “It's sort of a conglomeration of true events, this spiritual revival that was happening in the 1830s.”
Amy Burton plays Sister Hannah in the show, a stern character who struggles with the burden of leadership. Burton says it’s special to work with a cast of all women. She says their theater troupe usually has more women auditioning than there are roles in a show.
“It's really nice to have not just a script that celebrates women, but allows each of them to shine in their different ways,” she said.
The actors in “As it is in Heaven” range in age from 14 to 67 – actor Marah Ivy is a freshman in high school. Terri Zopf-Schoesser plays Sister Peggy and is the oldest cast member. She’s a former teacher who says she knows some of her costars from the classroom.
“They have this incredible energy,” Zopf-Schoesser. “And I've known the youngest in the cast since they were sixth graders, and so watching them come of age in this and other shows, and seeing how they love theater and they keep working with theater, I'm really happy to be with them.”
The show’s muted costuming and sparse set makes the acting all the more vibrant. The show’s narrative is punctuated by melodic ensemble harmonies that fill the theater with Shaker hymns.
Donna Shirnberg plays Sister Phebe and says the high intensity scenes can be taxing – she has four such scenes in a row.
“By the time we get to the end, I'm shaking backstage, because you just are so you're every ounce of energy and emotion is like pouring out of your body, and then you have to flip it and go right back out and sing,” Shirnberg said.
But when it comes to resolution, the ending is ambiguous. Here’s Van Natta, the director, again.
“The play asks more questions than it gives answers, and so I'm hoping that people will kind of formulate their own answers after seeing the play, and that it just makes them think about faith from different angles and different kinds of faith too,” he said.
“As it is in Heaven” opens Thursday, Nov. 6 and runs through next Sunday, Nov. 16. Catch 7 p.m. showings on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, or matinee showings at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets can be purchased on the Kenai Performers website.
