My Freshman year, I played one of the leads in their Gospelrama fundraiser. It was a rewrite of the Prodigal Son, called The Prodigal Daughter. When the daughter left home, she met me and we started living together. After a few months, she comes home to an empty apartment. I had taken everything of value. Having nothing, she tries to stay out on her own, but eventually decides to go home and see if her family would accept her back. Her family was very happy to see her and threw a big party in her honor.
The next year's Gospelrama play was about preparing for Gospelrama. A confusing concept to explain, but a powerful message. Essentially the audience was eavesdropping on the decisions for this years Gospelrama. The directors wanted to do a mix of stories about Jesus from the Bible. For auditions, two people tried out for the part of Jesus : me and another black male. Now, the part that made this story work was that I looked like the stereotypical Jesus -- white, long brown hair, beard, blue eyes. In other words, I was perfect for the part -- except I couldn't act!! The part of the Samaritan woman was auditioned for by a white female and a hispanic female. Of course, the white woman fit the stereotype, but the hispanic woman performed the part better. So now the director's are arguing who should get the parts. Should it be the people who look right, or the people with the talent. The directors decide the people with the talent should get the parts, which meant I got cut for the part of Jesus, but I made another part. As a result, half of the cast left in protest. They refused to continue rehearsals until the two white people were given the parts. My monologue told everyone that their argument was pointless. We weren't doing this as a racial statement, but as a way to worship the one who created us. The whole cast minus one person decided to come back. The play ended one week before the performance was supposed to take place.
Due to my work schedule, I was only able to help minimally the next year. My Senior year, I participated in their talent show. I performed twice, once with the Vice President of P.O.C., Raymonique Davis, and the other was a solo guitar ballad. The duet was called a Bubbly Surprise. We dressed alike then got up on stage and blew bubbles to a short mix of songs (everything from hip hop to county to classical to rock). The crowd really enjoyed that performance. My song was performed on acoustic guitar. The music and lyrics were both written by me and was about two people who loved each other while they were together. The song tried to explore how strong that love was and if it would survive if they were separated by distance, or would their hearts separate also. At the end of the song, the singer still doesn't have an answer.
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Copyright © 1998-2003, Chad T. Lower, Revised -- 1 June 2003