One Act Theater
One Act Theater is a song that I wrote the lyrics to over 20 years ago (circa 1986). I was listening a lot to U2’s Joshua Tree release and, as I often do, wrote my own lyrics to several of their tunes… or actually, just used the rhythm and flow of the song to direct my words.
I tried several times unsuccessfully to get music written for the song and figured it would be like most of the other songs I’ve written that mildew in my files with nothing else ever being done with it (I have a long list of song lyrics that are there now).
Then, when putting songs together for the “Job” project, I read over the words to One Act Theater again and realized it could serve very well as a theme song. I showed Suzanne (la composer extraordinaire) how I thought the song should go and she picked up on it and wrote an amazing tune that is actually quite close to what I thought it should be.
If it works out as currently planned, One Act Theater will appear twice in the opera. The first time it will be played as a ballad with acoustic guitar accompaniment, sung by the narrator during the seven days and seven nights that Job sits in silence with his friends. The second time will be at the end as a finale, with full stage band, drums, and electric guitars, sung by the whole cast. I’m very much looking forward to hearing the full treatment!
This song did not come from the text of Job, but rather from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
“Man’s life is just a shadow, passing through
this one act theater on the stage of earth.
You live your lines – no rehearsal -
a one night stand that tests the substance of your heart”
— from One Act Theater; copyright 1986 Donald Paul Harris
�
A Brief History of “Job”
“Job” started for me in 1986 when I was reading the book of Job in the Old Testament for what may have been the first time. I realized it was an epic poem and was struck by its complexity, beauty, and emotional intensity. I decided to see if I could rearrange some of its verses to put them into modern verse that could be sung. Plenty of people had done the same thing with many of the psalms, but I did not know if anyone had attempted to put “Job” to music.
I started at the beginning ( which is a very fine place to start)…
“A long time ago in the land of Uz
Lived a man named Job and righteous he was”
It had somewhat of a Dr. Suess-ish quality (not to mention being “Yoda-speak”), but it was a start.
I got a fairly good start on a set of lyrics, having written the opening, Lucifer’s meetings with God, and even some of the friends’ discourses, but then life intervened and “Job” languished in my computer files for almost 20 years. Then, early in 2006, I decided to see if I could do any more with it.
In a matter of weeks, I had what I believed was a workable libretto for a rock opera. I printed it out (it was about 30 pages of nothing but words) and showed it to my wife, saying, “I wrote an opera… but it needs music.”
She looked at me incredulously and said, “What are you telling me for?” She was none too keen on the idea of spending the amount of time she knew it would take to write that much music… not to mention the fact that neither of us had ever done anything like this before. We tried many times to enlist others to write the music, but no one ever came through.
In the meantime, Suzanne had read through most of the lyrics and started organizing some of them into separate songs.
Then the music started coming. At first we tried to work it where I would tell her how I thought the song should go and she’d attempt to make it the way I thought it should be. That wasn’t working at all, so she started writing what SHE was hearing for the songs.
I think “Windblown Leaf” was the first song Suzanne put to music. She wasn’t sure I would like it because it sounded nothing like how I told her it should be. When she played it for me, I literally wept. I had never heard anything more beautiful in my life and I had no idea the music for these words could be so moving.
More songs followed. I would sometimes wake up in the morning and realize that Suzanne, who is rarely an early riser, was not in bed. She was in the music room writing down the music that she eiher dreamed about or woke up hearing in her head. Most of the time she would not quit until she had it at least in a workable form that she could finish later.
Preview Postview Redux
We just came out of a couple of weekends of back to back preview performances. The first was Friday, June 1, at Lakemont Presbyterian Church. We performed in the sanctuary this time, making use of the new speaker system that was installed not long ago. It sounded quite awesome.
Our regular sound technician, Al Milliron, was in Florida with his lovely bride Cathy, so my good friend Bob Williams (owner of Williams Sound Company) agreed to step in and take care of the sound needs. He did a stellar job, of course, and deserves much more thanks than I can give him here.
Our second performance was on Saturday, June 9th, at Mosaic United Methodist Church in Evans. We had a smaller turnout than we hoped for, but they were a good audience. Pam Bowman was not able to join us this time as she was with her brother in St. Louis, who was in the hospital. Our prayers were with them. Our regular cellist also was not able to be there, but we were able to contact a local cellist, Justin Resley, who agreed at the last minute (literally that morning) to learn the parts and play with us. He did an outstanding job and we will no doubt be in contact with him for future performances.
Don
2-point takeaway
If there are any main “points” that I think you need to come away from a study of Job with, I think they would be…
1. No matter what you believe to be true ‘about’ God, you could be wrong; and,
2. God is. Deal with it.
The majority of the book of Job, in all of its excellence and poetry, is comprised of Job’s friends extolling the virtues of their particular brand of theology/philosophy/belief system. For the greater part of his life, Job believed pretty much as they did.
But then his experience challenged his belief.
It is precisely in this challenge that God is revealed as being NOT what was believed… but much more. It was not so much that they believed wrongly, but rather that their belief was too limited.
Job’s three friends, Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz, each represent a common and familiar line of reasoning. They each represent a trend in the philosophy of religion; and yet, at the end of their debates, God declares “you have not spoken rightly about me”.
Could it be that, whatever our belief about God, we are left somewhat lacking? Could it be that, regardless what you claim to be true about God… and regardless how close to the truth you may be… you still come up short of being able to express the totality of truth that is God?
I think that may be the essence of what Job has to teach us; that no matter what we think is true about God… we are wrong, because our capacity for thinking is too small. AND no matter how much we may think rightly about God, we are still far from the God who really is.
We cannot box him in with our finely tuned explanations and religious word bytes, because he is more than can be expressed.
We cannot reduce him to a finely crafted set of beliefs, which is what most of our modern religions try to do. God is beyond, and above, our abilities to believe… reason… express.
God is.
And it’s not our ability to express our belief about him that is important. What is important, as revealed in the story of Job, is our ability to trust in Him… regardless what may seem to be true.
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Job 19:25.
Preview Postview
A preview of “Job: a Postmodern Opera of Biblical Proportions” was presented Sunday night, February 4th in Lakemont’s fellowship hall. We were blessed with a larger than normal crowd in attendance who seemed genuinely appreciative and moved by the performance (were those “whoops” I heard??). Thanks to all who attended.
We rearranged the order of a few of the songs for this preview, plus added some narration to help the overall flow and continuity of the storyline. I think it helped. I have not heard the recording from Sunday night, but overall I think our sound and balance was better than ever. Kudos to Al Milliron for being so diligent about getting it right and congratulations to Al and his new wife Cathy.
Three of the singers who participated in previous previews were unable to make it this time. Literally at the last minute (well, ok… two days before) Jolene Peters jumped in and learned two songs (“So Many Questions” and “Wisdom”), performing them excepetionally well. Thank you, Jolene. I (Don) also had to fill in the gap and sing two songs (“One Act Theater” and Elihu’s song “Hear My Words”). This is why we are looking for more singers to participate. If one of our major parts is out, we need to be sure it is covered. If you are interested in joining us, please let me know.
A couple of additional musical items were added this time, also. Suzanne wrote a “mini-overture” to get everything started and we also added a verse to Elihu’s song that moves it closer to being an accurate reflection of what he said in the biblical account.
For those of you who wanted to be there, but couldn’t, hopefully you can make it next time. We are scheduled to perform again on Wednesday, March 14th at Broadway Baptist Church (on Barton Chapel Road). If you would like for us to come and peform Job at your church or other performing venue, please let me know. We would be thrilled to have an opportunity to share it with you.
—>Email Me<---
Job… opening narration
The story of Job is one of the oldest stories known to man and is believed to be the oldest book in the Bible, which is itself a collection of ancient books that mysteriously – mystically – connects our souls to the cosmos.
It is an artistic work of immense sophistication that is removed from any particular historical context or crisis. Its tension strikes a chord that rings throughout history… from ancient Israel’s exile to modern Israel’s Holocaust… from the genocide perpetrated by Genghis Khan’s Mongol warriors to that taking place – today – in Darfur.
Job is a story about a man who accepted the basic premise that if you are good you will be rewarded and if you are bad you will be punished… until his experience challenged that belief.
She whose name is unspoken
Job’s wife has been much maligned and, in my opinion, misunderstood. Much of that misunderstanding is understandable, I suppose, since she is mentioned in only one verse in the entire book of Job and in that, we are not even told her name. In chapter 2, after all the calamities have fallen on Job and he is sitting in a pile of ashes scraping his sores with a broken piece of pottery, his wife comes to him. Verse 9: “His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
You can see why so many preachers and teachers love to heap abuse on her. She doesn’t give you a whole lot of reason to think she deserves better. But, I think she at least deserves another look.
Let’s consider Job’s wife, old what’s her name. We’re told that Job had seven sons and three daughters, which means we can safely assume that Job’s wife gave birth to those ten children, carrying them inside her for a grand total of 90 months… that’s 7.5 years that she was pregnant, plus another 20 years or so of carrying them around in her arms, feeding, bathing, and nurturing them just to get them into toddlerhood. With Job taking care of his flocks and other business interests, it was his wife who raised the children.
Then, in one day, they were all dead. There is arguably no grief greater than that of losing your own child. Job and his wife suffered that times 10. She was carrying that unthinkable pain when she came upon the sight of her husband… the man she loved and cared for and pledged her life to… having been struck down with some sickness that caused an outbreak of sores all over his body. Her grief was compounded by more grief. She surely thought that the only thing left for them both was to die and she looked at that prospect as a welcome relief to their pain.
“You think I’m a bitter woman, well, mister, I got a word for you:
You just hold that accusing tongue ’til you walk a mile in my shoes!
You know all about my husband. Well, we both suffered the same.
Now he’s the famous man and you don’t even know my name!”
—from “My Man’s Got the Blues”; Job: a Postmodern Opera of Biblical Proportions
R.I.P. J.B.
James Brown, the undisputed Godfather of Soul, the self-proclaimed “hardest working man in show business”, has taken his final rest at age 73, after battling a bout of pneumonia. James Brown named as his home town Augusta, Georgia, a town with more than its share of people who have always been reticent to acknowledge the musical contributions made by Mr. Brown, preferring to point out his many personal problems, as if the bad in some way negates the good. R.I.P., J.B.
National News Hits Close to Home
Just this morning I found out that Kelly James, the climber found on Mt. Hood in Oregon, was the brother-in-law of one of our customers at PowerServe. Had I known earlier, I think I would have taken more interest in the details. I feel like I need to apologize to Caroyln Custis James, our customer and one of my online friends, for neither realizing nor taking the time to find out. I know it’s probably a factor of how we’re wired that we lack interest in events that we don’t think affect us personally, whether it’s climbers lost on some distant snowy mountain or reports of genocide in Darfur or mass starvation in North Korea. And yet, as John Donne wrote so many years ago in what is probably the only quotation anyone remembers by him, “…any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind…”.
Carolyn, our prayers are with you and your family. Hold your husband closely.
So long, Joe: 1911-2006
Joseph Barbera, one-half of the genius creative team Hannah-Barbera, died today at age 95. Surely no one alive has escaped his influence, having created more than 300 series during his six-decade partnership with William Hannah, including Tom & Jerry, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, and Jonny Quest.