A Unique Christmas Experience, "The Birth" Takes the Stage
Boiling Springs, N.C. - Almost four years ago, Nathan Rouse, a 2002 GWU graduate, was sitting on a Florida beach reading The Magnificent Defeat by minister and Pulitzer prize-nominated author, Frederick Buechner. As an actor, these essays inspired Rouse to create a production based on the chapter, "The Birth."
Rouse will be performing a portion of his production at the Dimensions Service on Tuesday, December 1, at 9:25 a.m. in the Lutz-Yelton Convocation Center on the Gardner-Webb University campus. This event is free and open to the public.
"‘The Birth' was designed to usher the audience into an encounter with the single most important event in human history," Rouse said. "Eschewing traditional Christmas play pageantry, it utilizes a broad range of artistic mediums to invoke the audience's senses in imagining what it would have been like the night Jesus was born."
For the fourth consecutive year, Rouse will perform "The Birth: A Reflective Celebration of the Coming of Christ" four December nights at Actor's Theatre of Charlotte located at 650 East Stonewall Street, in Charlotte, N.C. Performances are scheduled December 13 & 14 at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. and on December 20 & 21 at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
Throughout the performance the audience meets characters including the innkeeper, wise man and shepherd who give first hand accounts of their involvement with the birth. With a mixture of dance, live music and theatrical performance, "The Birth" artistically unfolds literally within arms reach. The venue creates an intimate atmosphere with its 50-seat arena circling the small, black-box stage.
"My hope is the audience will see that Christian 'art' doesn't have to fit the mold it's often relegated to of having to be strictly evangelical or, worse, is often unwilling to be honest about the brokenness of the world," said Rouse. "The Birth goes to lengths to portray characters who are flawed and quite imperfect. Moreover I hope it inspires young actors in the audience to pursue their artistic and creative dreams."
Rouse graduated from Gardner-Webb in 2002 with a major in theatre arts and a minor in religious studies. He looks back to his career at Gardner-Webb as a time of formation and development as an actor. "I wouldn't be in Charlotte right now doing what I'm doing if it weren't for Gardner-Webb and the connections and relationships I've built there that steered my life in the direction its gone now."
To see a schedule of performance times and to learn more about the production, visit www.thebirth.net.
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