Jeff Barker of Iowa's Northwestern College puts the testes back in the Old Testament with Terror Texts. Looks promising ... definitely the opposite of the well-scrubbed Bible stories one often sees on stage.

i am a freshman at NWC iowa and a theatre major. i also have the privilege of being part of the 2008 production of Terror Texts to be performed this november.

www.myspace.com/terrortextsthemusical

at first glance many people assume that the show is more about glorifying the creative team and cast rather than putting focus on God (where it belongs). However, i believe this show truly reclaims the OT stories of the Bible that have been forgotten and interprets them in a new way that allows the audience to rethink their old ideas of these stories. if they are infact a part of the Word of God, what can we learn from them? enacting the OT helps flush out different interpretations. For example a few days ago in rehersal we discussed some different motivations for the ehud and eglon story. the phrase "Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber." has been interpeted with sexual connotaions between ehud and eglon or simply implying eglon was relieving himself in the restroom. our team played out both version and decided which reference gave the most motivation to the story.

our production puts a contemporary goth/emo atmosphere into the stories. the goth/emo culture is percieved as "different" and misunderstood. so are these stores. the Bible is usually seen as a source of "good" but why are there stories of death and depravity? terror texts depicts not just the "good, happy" tales, but the gory and horrific ones too. human depravity is a major theme throughout the entire show. judges 21:25 defines the show best:

"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

the stories of terror text can be found in: II kings 6:24-7:20; II kings 2:23-25; II samuel 6:1-23; judges 3:12-30; joshua 7:2-26; judges 19-21.

war, fear, and lies. where has God gone? He's still there, we just fell away. the show ends with a rewrite of the song "do lord" sung in an eerie minor key.

"when this world's on fire, do remember me? do now, oh do now, do remember me."

Thanks for that - sounds interesting

Matt

Only people who don't understand theatre would assume something like that, methinks. Are you actually getting that reaction from NWC students?

not many but a few, if i recall correctly one of the cast member's parents had a problem with the show last year and was not impressed.
our theatre program is generally well received and the profs do a good job of picking a variety of shows that the audience can related too while making them open up to new possibilities.

it's very exciting though, the show opens this weekend. we've been working really hard, and are about to collapse, but i think the adrenaline of opening night keeps our spirits and bodies moving forward

if you are in the area this or next weekend and would like to see the show general information can be found here:

http://www.nwciowa.edu/news/contentID.2611/article.aspx

music ranges from classic musical theatre style, contemporary rock, screamo, gospel, and native rhythms.