Lazarus Rising at Half Moon Bay: A Musical by
Its Nationally-Known Playwright in Residence

Half Moon Bay -- March 19, 2007

Community UMC (CUMC) of Half Moon Bay, for the third year in a row, is producing Lazarus, a musical written by Gail Erwin -- director of its children's and youth choirs, and a nationally accomplished playwright of 30 plays (20 with music).

Although most of the Lazarus cast of 25 comes from CUMC, in an ecumenical outreach, two are from the Mariners Community Church of Half Moon Bay and some are from the town's theater group. Ed Dee, a frequent attendee at CUMC, and well-known guitarist in the Bay Area, wrote other Lazarus songs and is its music director. Erwin says she currently has no publisher for Lazarus but is interested in other churches doing it.

Many of the CUMC youth choir director's earlier plays were performed by the Omaha (Nebraska) Theatre Company for Young People, where she was playwright-in-residence from 1981 to 1996. Most of her work is thus for children and young people. Thumbelina, the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, toured nationally in 1995 with that company. Little Lord Fauntleroy premiered in Omaha in 1993 and later was performed at Coastal Repertory Theatre in Half Moon Bay. (She now makes her home in Moss Beach.)

Lazarus, definitely a musical for mature audiences, is presented at Community UMC (777 Miramontes Street) on Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31 (8 p.m.). The Rev. Larry Thomas is in a cameo role. Admission is free.

The Gospel of John, Chapter 11, tells the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead -- perhaps gossip of which led most directly to the crucifixion. The temple in Jerusalem was governed by entrenched elders, frightened by new voices and resistant to new teachings. The final authority was Rome. This was the world Jesus challenged. Erwin says the question of the play is: Who will follow Jesus? Those who followed him were surrounded by intrigue and power struggles.

Another serious adult musical -- White Woman's Blues about love, friendship, and getting older -- premiered in Omaha in 1988 and was performed at Coastal Repertory in 2003. Nevertheless, generally, "I write things that are fun to perform. I want everyone to enjoy themselves, actor and audience alike," Erwin writes on her website (www.playswithmusic.com). "When you look at how to begin making world peace...it’s okay to chuckle now and then. It might even help." Blending fun with the serious, in a play for a cast of older youth, is her Humpty Dumpty in which "a storyteller...enlists the help of the broken parts of the globe (Humpty Dumpty) to tell tales from around the world. In the end, the audience takes a hand to put the planet back together again."

She started writing plays after her third child was born because "someone dared me to do it. Or, to be honest, they bet me I couldn't do it. Well, that was hundreds of songs ago. I took my songs to people, and they told me I was a storyteller. Why didn’t I write the whole story? So I began writing plays with music."

CUMC of Half Moon Bay performed her Christmas play Frankincense on the Grill in 2004.