“Imagine…
The floor under your feet is dirt…
The only light is coming from candles…
…We’re in the catacombs…
…underneath Rome…”
“Afraid!” will be held on Sunday, January 29th, at the 10:15 am service.
What is AFRAID? Afraid! Is a one-man play, staged with dramatic lighting and entertaining audience inter-action. Its text is the Gospel of Mark, translated into contemporary American speech. As characters and settings and lights constantly shift, the Gospel engages the audience’s imaginations, surprises them with flashes of humor, and drives relentlessly forward with all the dramatic suspense you would expect from great theater.
Who is Frank Runyeon? Frank Runyeon has gained national acclaim in recent years as a translator and performer of Biblical texts. He has performed the gospel for hundreds of thousands of people in almost every state in America.
He is probably still best known, however, from his many years on television. He starred opposite Meg Ryan on As the World Turns, as Father Michael Donnelly on the Emmy award-winning Santa Barbara, and as tycoon Simon Romero on General Hospital, opposite Emma Samms. Frank has also guest-starred in recurring roles on L.A. LAW as talk show host Brooks Tapman, on Falcon Crest as chess genius Jovan Dmytryk, on Melrose Place as Father Tom, and on All My Children as Forrest Williams. He also starred in the feature film Dark Streets.
Mr. Runyeon received his B.A. in Religion from Princeton University, and studied at Fuller Seminary and Yale Divinity School before receiving his Masters, with honors, from General Theological Seminary. He continues his studies towards a doctorate while touring his current five productions:
• The Gospel of Mark: “AFRAID!”
• Sermon on the Mount
• The 3 ½ Stories of Christmas
• The Gospel of John: “SIGNS”
• SALT & LIGHT: a comedy for kids
AFRAID is Evangelism. Every Christian has wondered what it would have been like: to have been there, in Galilee, and met Jesus… Afraid! Is an effort to help those in the audience have that encounter. How? By doing exactly what the evangelist Mark did: by telling the story in the present tense, here and now, from beginning to end, in everyday language—and by making the audience members part of the action…
Audience members are addressed individually as the actor roams the room… They are healed, asked for a coin, or given bread… And they are challenged to “go out” and tell the story to others—if they’re not too afraid… (MK16:8) By the time the last candle is blown out, each audience member has a sense that they are part of the story God is writing—not simply spectators… That Jesus is a very real Presence among them… And that they are called, not to be afraid, but to follow Him.
For more details about Frank Runyeon see www.frankrunyeon.com
