Anna Fay Williams, Christ the King Church member, and Diana Howie of Houston believe their audiences found their musical, “The Jury,” much more entertaining than serving on a jury.
“The Jury” was presented in five performances at the Minnesota
Fringe Festival in the first weeks in August at the historic Bryant-Lake Bowl.
John Garrett, who has been directing with Stuart Ostrow’s musical theatre
lab at the University of Houston, was the director for the Minneapolis production.
Overall, the audience responses were positive, said Williams, who wrote the
musical/lyrics for the show and collaborated with its book author Diana Howie.
In its review, the Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that The Jury “nails
the conflict between New Testament mercy vs. the Old Testament’s ‘eye
for an eye.’On the website, www.thejurymusical.com, features samples and
the describes the Houston performances at Town and Country Playhouse during
2004. A scrapbook from the Minneapolis performances with more comments and the
cast recording is forthcoming.
Williams stayed in Minneapolis during July while rehearsals were underway. With the assistance of Pr. Beth Warpmaeker, previously associate minister at Christ the King Church, they were able to rehearse at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, where Pr. Warpmaeker serves in Faith Formation and with the youth ministry.ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, and many in-kind articles have been contributed and distributed.