Posts by tedswartz
When Actor and Audience Find Themselves in a Show
Our newest show, Laughter Is Sacred Space, sold out its premier shows in Harrisonburg on Sept 14 and 15. Of course, like most premiers, there was anxiety. But when it’s an original work there are questions you don’t find with other shows, mostly around the script—is it sharp enough? Is it too long? Does it tell…
Read MoreThe Clarence Jordan Symposium
In 1986 while living in Pennsylvania, Jessie Glick, member of Plains Mennonite church where Sue and I were attending, handed me a VHS tape. It was The Cotton Patch Gospels written by Tom Key and Russell Treyz with music by Harry Chapin. The musical which played off-Broadway was based on the writings of Clarence Jordan- The…
Read MoreStories from the Road: Rhubarb Pie and Baseball
Baseball has been a constant presence in my life for the last 50 years. It marks the seasons, enriches spring, symbolizes the death of summer and as the days shorten, a growing cold of the autumn. I grew up playing with my brother, following the Giants and St. Willie Mays. Then there were the home…
Read MoreThe one where we’re put in our place by a 4 year old!
If you have seen a recent “I’d Like to Buy an Enemy” show with myself and Tim Reubke, you know the sketch “Cut-Outs.” Originally done by Ted & Lee, we hold briefcases in our laps, wearing bowler hats, cutting out increasingly larger and more ominous weapons out of poster board and threatening the other until…
Read More“Fish-Eyes” now featured in Swiss German
A few years ago, I , along with Lee Eshleman met an actor from Zurich, Switzerland at a conference in Sandy Cove Retreat center. It was the annual Christians in Theater Arts conference. His name was Beat Muller, and he too was a writer and theater artist with his own company. In 2011 Beat completed…
Read MorePies Promoting Peace: A Documentary
Documentary film is an art form that distills events into images, movements and highlights and let’s us feel as if perhaps we can engage in an event. The first Peace Pies and Prophets tour of 2012 in Eastern Pa was a three day event in three cities, Akron, Philadelphia and Souderton. Okay, one city, a…
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