- April 24, 2024
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The Narrow Way Players a presenting “Gravedance” starting April 1.
The congregation of the United Brethren in Christ Church are no strangers to miracles.
Due to spinal meningitis, Musical Director and Associate Pastor Matt McKeown has been deaf in his right ear since he was 18 months old, until his hearing was randomly regained during a worship service in 2003. He had just finished a skit where he played a deaf man.
“It freaked us all out,” he said. “We stopped the service. My ear still works today and there were a coupled 100 people in the service to witness. It was very unnerving.”
Because of this experience, McKeown said he has a special connection to people who have unexplained things that happen to him. It’s why the song “All I Know” from the upcoming performance “Gravedance” is his favorite.
“It’s song about a blind man who gets healed,” he said. “It’s special to me.”
McKeown wrote all 10 songs for the Easter musical being put on by the Narrow Way Players, a drama group at UBCC. Together with Deronda Meyer, the writer of the original script, “Gravedance” was written from a perspective not usually seen in typical Easter play.
“It’s about Jesus, but you really never see Jesus,” McKeown said. “It is difficult to give a fresh perspective of Easter. The story is the story. It’s the story of how Jesus had an affect on lives. You see him briefly, but it’s more about how lives changed because of him.”
Ormond Beach residents Tree and Bill Hazard both have parts in the play. Tree Hazard has a small singing role, and Bill Hazard plays Micah, a man who’s struggling with forgiveness after he discovers his wife hasn’t been faithful. The couple has been acting on and off since high school.
“Mostly off,” Bill Hazard laughed. “We met in a song and dance at Seabreeze in the 70s. There was a reunion 10 years after that, and we started seeing each other.”
They’ve been married for 27 years, and Bill Hazard said it’s important for them to still share a common interest and activity.
“It’s nice doing things together,” he said. “Everybody is so split up. It’s nice to come together and do something.”
McKeown said characters like Micah, and their struggles, are the main focus of the play. They used a Bible character that is often not discussed, as one of the main targets of the story.
“Zacchaeus, a tax collector that cheated his clients, is central to the story,” he said. “To me, he’s on the of the best examples of a changed life. He pays back everyone he stole from four times the amount he stole. That’s a big deal to me. It was Deronda’s ideas to bring him in.”
The play is directed by Clark Adams, and opens at 7:30 p.m. April 1 at United Brethren in Christ Church.
If You Go
