Following their last show, “Walking Into a New World,” Asbury University’s Theatre Department is hosting their next show, the world premiere of “40 Acres,” from Nov. 6 to Nov. 15, with seven showtimes across those dates. The play is written by Media Communications and Theatre professor Jim Shores, and is directed by Theatre professor Harvey Johnson.
Professor Shores sat down with the Collegian and expressed his intentions with the show.
“This play is seeking to answer the question of ‘who is my neighbor,’” said Dr. Shores. He followed, “The play is asking about who we tend to consider a neighbor, and more importantly, make us realize who we’re leaving out of that conversation.”
The play, set in a rural Texas church in north Dallas, was written by Shores over the last few years and will premiere this November. The play was inspired by Shores’s time in a white-minority country and his experience with discrimination while there. Afterwards, he began researching the history of race and discrimination during his sabbatical from teaching.
Following the completion of the script, Shores asked Harvey Johnson, who previously directed Asbury’s production of “The Tempest,” to direct his new play. Johnson, like Shores, also feels deeply about the script.
“The story of this play is working to invoke a connection from its characters to the audience,” Johnson said. “The play isn’t cut and dry, it’s much more than that. It has to do with people’s mindsets, and asks where Christians find themselves regarding race. Sometimes you can be operating in a bias that you don’t even know.It opens up a whole area and asks people to look within themselves and see where they are in their bias, and then open up questions they might not have asked before then.”
Johnson, along with Shores, Rev. Dr. Esther Jadhav, and others held “Spill the Tea,” which was used to not only show a glimpse of the play to others, but also discuss both Shores and Johnson’s thoughts on the significance of the show. Shores is also teaching a public relations class this semester which teaches students how to communicate with, understand and appreciate other cultures.
Other events this semester, such as “Couch on the Green,” have asked students to consider the question “Who is your neighbor?”, and tasked students to understand who others are more efficiently, and more Christlike, which is what 40 Acres is aiming to do.
“The play is not here to make white people feel bad,” Shores said. “It’s more about making us go, ‘huh, I’m part of this history of the United States, what can I do as a Christian to include others that I may have to go out of my way to include, but that Jesus would want me to include.’”
Johnson expressed his own thoughts regarding the play. “I look at some of the countries of the world with people that are blatantly evil,” he said, “but then I see that he is the God of love, and I see his hand move in lives like that and change them forever. I’m hoping 40 Acres changes people in that way.” He concluded by stating, “I’m hoping people will be confronted with these questions, because that’s a part of the journey that God places us in.”
If students are interested in attending the premiere of 40 Acres, the first show takes place Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Performance dates also include Nov.7 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 8 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Nov. 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. Students can purchase tickets at onthestage.tickets/show/asbury-university or buy them at the door of the Greathouse Theater in Asbury University’s Miller Center for Communication Arts, depending on availability.
Photo courtesy of Esther Jadhav.
