Sun, Oct 8 / Worship Music (St. John's Lutheran Church)
Wed, Oct 18 / Workshop + Concert for Catawba College Students (Meroney Theatre)
Sun, Oct 22 (5pm) / Concert (Grace Chapel, Lenoir-Rhyne University) More details on www.lr.edu
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In God’s Own Country
Premiering at the Meroney Theatre
Thu, Oct 12 / Premiere 7.30pm
Fri, Oct 13 (7.30pm) / Sat, Oct 14 (7.30pm) / Sun, Oct 15 (2.30pm) / Wed, Oct 18 (7.30pm) / Thu, Oct 19 (7.30pm) / Fri, Oct 20 (7.30pm) / Sat, Oct 21 (7.30pm)
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Do not miss the North American premiere stage production of “In God’s Own Country,” a unique collaborative effort between St. John's, the State Theater Company of Landesbuhnen Sachsen (Germany), and the Piedmont Players. The play serves as the Piedmont Players first production of the 2017-18 theater year, incorporating 17 cast members from Germany and an equal number from the Salisbury community.
On the surface, "In God’s Own Country" tells the story of Lutheranism in America; but the broader story tells the dramatic and multifaceted ways in which religion was foundational to our country’s founding. The play makes it clear that we simply cannot understand American history without an understanding of religious history.
The play is centered on Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, the German pastormissionary whose call was to plant the church in America during the early and mid-1700s. His journey begins on a treacherous sea voyage from Germany to Charleston, SC, and later continues by horseback throughout Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas. “Muhlenberg churches” were established in every part of the mid-Atlantic, including multiple congregations in the Rowan-Cabarras area. There is no doubt that Michael Brown’s time in Rowan County was influenced by Muhlenberg, widely known as the Father of American Lutheranism, but whose impact reached far beyond the church.
“In God’s Own Country” is the perfect play for those eager to know more about early American history. It also tells the dramatic story of this small group of German Lutherans, many of whom were escaping severe persecution, who remained steadfast and faithful to a single call: “The church must be planted.”
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Mon, Oct 23 (7pm)/ matinee performance (Grace Chapel, Lenoir-Rhyne University: 625 7th Ave NE, Hickory, NC 28601) More details on www.lr.edu . (Tornado hits Hickory - Performance cancelled
PERFORMANCES without us and theatre cast from Landesbühnen Sachsen: Augustus Lutheran Church Trappe (Pennsylvania) matinee performances: Fri, Oct 27 (7pm) / Sat, Oct 28 (3pm) > More about our early departure here.
Pictures, cast, videos and other details about the project on www.ensemblenobiles.de/ingodsowncountry .