The Company of Job

Nov 6 2008

After the Westobou and Thomson, too

I guess this is why I never really started blogging. I have one nagging suspicion that says nobody will read it and another one that says if they do they’ll think it’s dumb. But the big problem is I get all these great ideas to write… while I’m driving in my jeep… and can’t write. Then, when I get time to do it, I can’t remember what I wanted to say. I should be writing this every week… or right after an event… not weeks later. Such is life.

Anyway, the Company did a fantastic performance at the Westobou Festival (NOT the Westobou ARTS Festival thank you very much, Brenda) on Friday, September 26th. The turnout was quite good and the sound, thanks to Williams Sound, was excellent. We had 17 pieces in the orchestra and 14 singers. We were very honored to be a part of the first annual Westobou Festival. I hope we can participate again next year.

On Saturday, November 1st, a somewhat smaller contingent traveled to Thomson, Georgia to perform a Dessert Theater for Thomson Presbyterian Church. They were very welcoming and appreciative and I am glad we were able to perform for them (and the dessert was delicious, also!). I was scrambling trying to figure out how we were going to get the sound needs accomplished because our regular sound crew was unable to make it. Thankfully, providentially, a very capable sound engineer in the person of Jim McGaw was there to take over and do whatever needed to be done to make it happen. Thank you, Jim.

As I watched the performance (how many times does that make?), I watched this cast of mostly amateur singers move and sing and emote like never before and I realized they were not just singing their parts… they were IN the story. Greg Hatfield was singing the part of Job as he has since we began and, being the consummate performer that he is, he has improved it a little bit each time. The interplay between Job and Job’s wife, and between Job and Elihu, seemed entirely rehearsed and natural… and yet I know they were making it up as they went because we did not even have time to practice more than just quickly going over some of the songs and yet I saw them move around and do things I had not seen them do before. They were in the story. And that, to me, is what it should be. We are not just trying to sing great songs and play great music. We are telling the most incredible story in the history of mankind. THAT, my friends, is what makes JOB special.

It has been an incredible journey thus far… and we have a long way to go. I thank everyone who has had a part in getting us here… and who has a part in carrying us on to the next step and the next level of performance. Please, help us if you can.