God's Man in Texas
Cast (In order of Appearance)
Mark Woodard...............Dr. Jeremiah Mears
David Silverthorn...........Hugo Taney
George Gray..................Dr. Phillip Gottschall
REVIEW:from the Blowing Rock News
By David Rogers. September 10, 2010. BLOWING ROCK – When the curtain came down on the opening night of Ensemble Stage Company’s “God’s Man in Texas” Friday, the raucous applause from a two-thirds capacity house was more than mere high praise for a terrific production of a well-written stage play. Indeed, it was a standing ovation for the return of professional theatre to Blowing Rock and the High Country.
Dramatic art with religion-themed subjects often risks offending an audience. There are some things better left sacred. Playwright David Rambo’s “Man in Texas” script deftly dodges the booby traps and delivers an alternately funny, learned, meaningful, tension-filled, poignant and inspiring stage play.
At its core, “God’s Man in Texas” is very simply good drama with a sense of humor. Indeed, the evolution of mega-churches in America and their highly commercialized evangelism invite artistic, if not skeptical scrutiny. Any organization, church or not, with upwards of 6,000 intersecting individual stories is bound to produce conflict, as well as rapture. At once, “God’s Man in Texas” produces giggles, guffaws, and even a few tears.
Humankind is fraught with sin: men and women charged with ego, self-interest, covetousness, anger, jealousy, lust, corruption and evil wrong-doing. With increasing frequency, the well-publicized scandals involving Christian televangelists only serve to underline the very real potential for human drama in large organizations: church, corporation, or government agency.
While we tend to hold evangelical icons like Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Garner Ted Armstrong, and so many others in various degrees of mostly deserved high esteem, we can only wonder at the drama and comedy that goes on behind the scenes while marveling at the salesmanship that has made them “stars” in every sense of the word.
“God’s Man in Texas” skillfully ponders these dramas -- and their inherent comedic moments -- while focused on a fictional mega-church in Houston, Texas.
The three-man cast includes a young “innocent,” a rising star in the religious arena (Dr. Jeremiah Mears, played by Mark Allen Woodard); an aging, evangelical “headliner” proving reluctant to give up his mantle as pastoral leader of the country’s biggest church (Dr. Phillip Gottschall, played by George Gray); and a seemingly insignificant audio/visual technician, who keeps the intertwining stories tied together -- and has a major story of his own (Hugo Taney, played by David Silverthorn).
Gary Smith directs the Blowing Rock manifestation of “God’s Man in Texas.” He uses this production to unleash professional subtleties not seen in earlier Ensemble Stage Company productions, including the hugely popular “War of the Worlds” last October and the mostly forgettable “Queen of Bingo” earlier this summer. As Ensemble Stage Company grows and garners more patronage, we look for even more creative genius from Smith, who is a veteran actor (Senator Sam, Peter Pan, among others) as well as director.
In “Texas,” Smith has assembled a terrific "trinity" cast and helped each actor craft convincing, near-perfect caricatures of their roles. A couple of flubbed lines are quickly forgotten as we become immersed in the three characters’ individually unique, but interactive stories -- and the aplomb with which they are told by the actors.
Blowing Rock’s production of “God’s Man in Texas” is not-to-be-missed theatre. Not to unfairly discount in any way the fine productions elsewhere in the region, it is far and away the best show we have seen since Blowing Rock Stage Company’s final production of 2009, “Lonesome Highway,” which was staged in the now-dark Hayes Performing Arts Center.
After only nine days of rehearsal, including tech rehearsals, we can only imagine that any minor flaws of opening night will be worked out in the coming days.
