Honest to God

KEEPING THE FAITH The Civilians make a joyful noise for the Lord.

Photograph: Craig Schwartz

“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness,” President Barack Obama orated on January 20. “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus—and nonbelievers.” Those last two words made agnostics and atheists nationwide sit up; just a few weeks ago, it was inconceivable that an American President would acknowledge folks without faith, much less rank them as equal citizens. Even though we’re rid of a leader who seemed to take orders from on high, clearly the national conversation on belief—and nonbelief—is ongoing. Adding to that discussion is This Beautiful City, a musical docudrama by the Civilians that opens February 22 at the Vineyard Theatre. The comical but sincere piece anatomizes the fervent evangelical community of Colorado Springs.

Cowriter and director Steven Cosson, 40, has been shaping the show with the six actors, coauthor Jim Lewis and composer-lyricist Michael Friedman, 33, for the past three years. As with other Civilians efforts (Gone Missing, Nobody’s Lunch), the process involved extensive interviews, this time with residents of Colorado Springs, which were then edited into a script and rehearsed by actors whose job is to impersonate the interviewees. Sprinkled throughout, Friedman’s 12 songs draw on the populist strains of contemporary Christian pop, country and gospel; eight of the tunes have lyrics taken verbatim from transcripts. During the course of the show, we hear from preachers, pious followers, critics of the church and city officials. Each has a different take on the fact that Colorado Springs has become synonymous with evangelism. “It’s the kind of show that gets under people’s skin, hits people in a very emotional way,” Cosson says. “A lot of the music is very spiritual.”

Given that the majority of audience members coming to see This Beautiful City have probably never set foot inside a megachurch, you have to ask: Is this satire? Not at all, says Cosson. “A big goal of mine has been to let people speak for themselves and to have a point of view which is human,” the earnest, soft-spoken director insists. “Real people don’t fit the mold that a character in a story might, or our shortcut understanding of a person or a community. Reality is always messy, contradictory and complex.”

One spectacularly messy plot twist was handed to the Civilians on a silver platter: In early November 2006, the Rev. Ted Haggard, the toothy, charismatic leader of New Life Church—featured prominently in the show—admitted to buying methamphetamine and paying a male escort for sex. Haggard resigned from the church soon after. “That was actually very convenient for us,” Cosson recalls. “We had already booked airplane tickets for Colorado that week. I think the news broke on a Wednesday and we were scheduled to go Thursday through Monday. We were sort of freaking out and calling each other all day.” In another flash of serendipity, HBO is currently broadcasting Alexandra Pelosi’s new documentary, The Trials of Ted Haggard, which shows the former evangelical honcho being cagey about whether he’s gay and trying to eke out a living with his family in Arizona (New Life Church “banished” him from Colorado).

Despite the inherent black comedy (and pathos) of the Haggard episode, the creators of the show are striving to examine faith and social dynamics in a nonjudgmental fashion. “People turn to the church in bad economic times,” Friedman remarks. “Churches provide social services that the government doesn’t; your friends are there; when that’s what the church does, you’re gonna go.” Complimented on his hummable score, the songwriter notes that bands in the megachurches play tunes that are “far catchier than anything you’ll hear in the show. Each of us still has the song from New Life Church stuck in our head or in our iPod.” Say what you will about megachurches, but they understand the value of showbiz.

Over the course of making This Beautiful City, Cosson (a Unitarian turned laid-back atheist) found his own notions of faith and politics transformed. “It didn’t change my own general godlessness,” he says. “But something that was previously a more intellectual subject for me is now connected to actual people and the details of their lives. I can imagine better what it’s like to give your life over to Jesus.” Along with the cast and crew of his production (and probably President Obama), Cosson hopes to see evangelists and their pastors rethink their relationship to politics, but now, the issue is definitely personal. “When I think of evangelicals,” he says, “I think of particular places and people—some of whom are now my Facebook friends.”

This Beautiful City is playing at the Vineyard Theatre through Mar 15. See Off Broadway.

---

Video: Behind the scenes >>
Theater editor David Cote drops in on rehearsal to see how the cast gets into the spirit.

Leave a comment

Name

E-mail (will not appear on site)

Your rating

Comment The comment you type in this box will appear on the site500 characters left

Submit View our privacy policy