children of eden

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Longtime readers of this blog know that my favorite musical is Children of Eden. This past summer I was extremely blessed to have taken part in a production of it by the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. Well, if you’ve never had the pleasure of beholding this amazing show and you live near Greensboro, North Carolina you’re in luck this weekend and the next. Jay Smith, who played Cain in our production, is directing Children of Eden at The Sanctuary, located at 900 Sixteenth Street in Greensboro. The show begins Friday, February 20th at 7:30 p.m., and runs through February 28th. Many of the same faces from Theatre Guild of Rockingham County’s production will be in this new show, including Neil Shepherd returning as Father. Click here for more information, and hope you can come check it out! 🙂...

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Last night at Rockingham Community College the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County held its season-ending banquet, followed by the 2007-2008 Golden Guild Awards. That’s the annual ceremony that honors those who volunteered during the previous season. The various award winners are chosen based on votes cast by the cast and crew of the shows.

In addition to the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, Best Production etc., there is what is called the Spirit Award. There’s one given for each show during a season’s run. I was told that it goes to the person who “best exemplifies enthusiasm for a show”.

The last Spirit Award for the 2007-2008 Golden Guild Awards was the one for Children of Eden.

And I’m still reeling in shock after the envelope was opened and hearing “Chris Knight” announced as the winner!

I barely remember staggering on stage, and the first words out of ...

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This is the way the world begins: not with a whimper but with a bang!

Yesterday was the final performance of the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden. After the amazing reaction that the show got on Saturday night, could Sunday afternoon possibly be any better? Judging by the approval of the packed auditorium at Rockingham Community College – the biggest audience of the entire run – the answer to that is an emphatic “yes”!

The show went great! One funny thing that happened came during the scene where Father (Neil Shepherd) is banishing Adam (Stephen Hale) and Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) from the Garden: when Father smites the Tree of Knowledge, the special effects crew had the tree rigged so that there was a very loud flash of light and smoke,as the tree splits in two. Well, they must have put some extra ...

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Last night we had our fourth performance of Children of Eden. Widespread consensus is that this was the one thus far most plagued by mishaps. A keyboard went out, there were problems with the microphones early in Act I, at least one cast member fell ill (but bounced back and rejoined the show), Noah’s Ark almost crashed, and I tried hard to hold back a sneeze immediately following “The Flood” and just when I was about to leave the stage, it happened anyway.

But all things considered, the audience seemed to have really enjoyed last night’s show!

Following the performance, just about all the cast and crew met at Pizza Station in Reidsville for a party that stretched well on into the night and may have gotten a little too wild for anyone’s good…

All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Names and identities have been withheld to
...

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The Snake (left to right: Jessica Reed, Ashley Meeks, Marlo Nall, Brittany Thompson, Samantha Toney, and Tisha Owens) tempts Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) with knowledge during “The Pursuit of Excellence” in the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County’s production of
Children of Eden

Tonight begins the final three performances of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden. The hit musical takes to the stage tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 and then one last performance on Sunday afternoon at 2:30. All shows are in the auditorium at the Advanced Technologies Building at Rockingham Community College. So far the show has been a huge success, and many patrons are swearing that it’s one of the best musicals that the Theatre Guild has ever done! Word is that the shows for the next few nights are selling fast so if you wanna go, get yer tickets now and ...

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Here are some more pics from the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden. Some of these were taken by my wife Lisa and others were taken by Dean Brown…

Father (Neil Shepherd) realizes his dream and creates the universe in “Let There Be”, the opening song of Act I in Children of Eden

Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) listens as Father tells her and Adam what they must do as they begin “The Naming”

Adam (Stephen Hale) and Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) are cast out of the Garden as Father (Neil Shepherd) curses the Tree of Knowledge during “The Expulsion” in Act I

Young Abel (Jasper Thomas III, left) and Young Cain (Aaron Boles, right) join their father Adam (Stephen Hale) in asking Father to accept their sacrifice

Cain (Jay Smith) brings Abel (Winston Sims) and Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) to a place that they
...

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Are we really halfway through our performance schedule already? Sure doesn’t seem like it.

This afternoon was the third performance of Children of Eden, produced by the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. It was the biggest audience yet! And the show went great again. Today’s performance was especially important for me personally because I was finally able to do something that I’ve been working on all this past week: have some serious tears flowing when I played Seth at the end of Act I. It worked… but man, that was tough! Will try to do it again for the next three times we do this.

My parents got to come and see the show too. One neat moment happened when I got to introduce my real Mom to Rose Cutuli Wray, my “Mom” (she plays Eve) in Children of Eden. Also got to see a lot ...

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Just got back from our second performance of the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Children of Eden. Somewhat larger crowd tonight than our opener last night. Hopefully word of mouth will bring in bigger audiences tomorrow and next week.

Well, I honestly can’t remember what much of the audience reaction was during the show itself last night ‘cuz we were all so busy making sure we were in place for our cues and such, but tonight I was able to let myself see how the crowd was taking it. The reaction was incredible! There was lots of laughter and applause, but what really caught my attention was what happened as we were about to head down the aisles toward the stage for “Ain’t It Good”: people in the audience were bopping their heads and clapping and snapping their fingers right to the beat! And then ...

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Tonight, the shared sentiment among the cast and crew of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County’s production of Children of Eden is TRIUMPHANT!

The show went beautifully! It was the first time that it had ever been performed in Rockingham County. And judging by the applause and the kind words that members of the audience gave us after the show, this was a huge hit! Lots of people said that they loved the uplifting and powerful message of the story and that the music was “wonderful!” Cast members also received a lot of praise for their acting.

We just got back from a very crazy opening night cast party at a Mexican restaurant in Reidsville (which included the strangest rendition of “In Pursuit of Excellence” that I’ve seen since this production began… and that’s saying something). Everyone involved is ecstatic about what happened tonight. Some have said that this might be ...

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