Off-Off-Off Broadway: Theater Comes to Church

"It is 'Grease' meets 'Happy Days,' with a 'Peppermint Twist.' " That's how lawyer-turned-composer-playwright Lou Ann K. Behan laughingly describes her latest musical comedy, "Over the Boardwalk," which has its premiere tonight in Reston.

It is also another example of an emerging trend in religious outreach: Church meets theater, with a modern twist. The show is being mounted by the Theatre Ministry of St. John Neumann Catholic Community, one of the growing number of area churches using the performing arts to reach people.

At first glance, there seems to be separation of church and stage.

"Over the Boardwalk" is set in 1963 but highlights what Behan describes as widespread current efforts to "gentrify the boardwalk scene at shore towns from Atlantic City to Ocean City and down the coast."

The boardwalk-on-the-beach culture, with the attendant images of cotton candy, honky-tonk music and inexpensive, family-style entertainment, may soon be a thing of the past, she said, if developers continue to remove the old piers. "If we gentrify all of these vacation spots, where will the working-class families go?"

The show pits three generations of women against a greedy developer who is trying to take over their family-owned boardwalk amusement pier. The music is upbeat, pre-Beatles pop, with choreography based on the "freestyle" dance crazes, such as the twist, that were popular here before the British invasion of rock groups.

Behan, who lives in Fairfax County and is coordinator of the ministry, said the show grew out of her personal love for the lifestyle she enjoyed growing up on the New Jersey shore. Joey Dee of the early '60s pop stars Joey Dee and the Starliters was so enthralled with her concept that he donated his original recording of his mega-hit, "The Peppermint Twist," for use in the show. His group also is the subject of a plot point.

So the church message here is what, exactly?

"This is a musical comedy, but it does demonstrate that greed can sometimes become an overpowering negative force that impacts other people's lives," said the Rev. Thomas E. Murphy, pastor of St. John Neumann. "It may not detail an aspect of the life of Christ, but I think the message, the implicit message, of the Gospel is there. Ministry refers to reaching out to people, and I think you reach out to people with the gifts and the talents you have."

Churches have traditionally staged religious pageants and Christmas shows, primarily for congregants. Mainstream hits with religious themes, such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Godspell," became popular as church productions beginning in the late 1970s, as the clergy tried to keep young people in the fold. But the churches now staging plays and musicals tend to produce nonreligious but family-friendly shows.

"We're not preaching to anyone," Behan said. "It's not a religious show. Our Theatre Ministry is about bringing together people of all faiths, or no faith. We're helping people who need the relief a show can offer, such as in nursing homes and hospitals, and we're raising money for worthy causes, such as Katrina victims' relief and sending homeless children to summer camps." A production might raise $1,500 for charity, she said.

The St. John Neumann Theatre Ministry, which has produced five shows in the past two years, receives no financial support from the church, although it uses a church hall as its theater.