GODSPELL

Welcome to Godspell! Originally written in the 70’s as a protest piece to the Vietnam War, Godspell was the first of its kind to try and humanize the Jesus story.  What would Jesus do if he was alive today and what social issues and principles would he fight for? That is the question we asked your kids! Everything you see onstage today was a full blown collaboration. Your students had a hand in the blocking, characterization, storytelling, and all the social commentary that you see today. Our students here at AAPA come from all sorts of religious and non-religious backgrounds, so Rachel and I really wanted to remove the religious context from the play as much as possible. We have set our stage in an abandoned church in the not so distant post-apocalyptic future. Here you will find a group of kids experiencing homelessness after being deserted by the violent world that the generation before them has created. The only books they have available to them in this world is that of a few philosophers and the King James bible. In our effort to modernize and humanize this story you will see the addition of different lifestyles, genders, and many alternate interpretations to the bible. At first glance, Godspell is a series of parables from the book of Matthew told by a random group of individuals, but what the show is really trying to convey is the importance of community and found family and how one person can bring even the most unlikely group of people together for a common cause and the good of the world. On the first page of the Godspell script, composer Stephen Schwartz says “Godspell is a deceptively difficult show to direct.” I couldn’t agree more! What a wild ride this has been! What I’ve loved most about this process is our own continuous formation of community here at AAPA. Many of us consider this place our second home but even that doesn’t quite
encapsulate what this place means to many of us. This is where we feel safe, this is where we get to do what we love, but most importantly, AAPA contains the people that make up our chosen and found family. Thank you for supporting your kids in all their creative endeavors and enjoy the show!