Important Note: When our musical scripts were first written, the choral and accompaniment music for which they were written were current and available. But Christian music literature has a brief shelf life; it goes out of print quickly. (We do not compose music, but write dramatic scripts that work with existing published music literature.)
Rather than remove our scripts because the associated music literature may no longer be available, we have opted to give our users the opportunity to either locate the original music on their own, or substitute music of their own choosing.
Do not plan on using one of our musical scripts until you have made this decision.
The information below includes everything we know about the music literature originally used for this musical. Nothing is gained by writing us for more.
60 minutes / 19 characters
Description
Time: late morning on Saturday, March 4, 1933.
Place: a county park in the rural Midwest. The occasion is the annual church picnic and outdoor worship service.
Once every year the good people of the All Saint’s Community Church of Alden, Iowa celebrate the approach of spring by combining their weekly worship with a picnic, held in a small county park just outside of town. Ever mindful of the Midwest’s intemperate, and unpredictable climate, the townsfolk rally quickly to take advantage of good weather—no matter where in the week it may occur. That is why this year finds them holding their worship and potluck picnic early on—and on a Saturday: The local radio station’s weather forecaster had predicted freezing rain for the Sabbath and several inches of snow beyond, but sunshine and an unseasonable warmth for the day just before.
Theme
The country was going through hard times in the early Thirties. Families were losing their homes, their farms—losing hope in tomorrow. The “New Hope” of this musical is best expressed by Cousin Sadie, when she tells everyone…
Now, c’mon folks. Sure we got hard times. No argument there. And I know heaven starts lookin’ real sweet when things are lookin’ bad down here. But listen folks, there’s no reason in the world to be thinkin’ all’s lost. You think the Lord don’t see what’s goin’ on down here? You think His hand ain’t in it? Why, I remember the old days when things were really tough. (those listening raise their eyes: ‘here we go again’) My stars, we were lucky to even get supper before bed. We’d have to trudge a good fifty mile through snow up to here just to get to school. Why, this is nothin’. (more seriously) Now listen, don’t you go lookin’ for no easy excuse to stop singin’ His praise. The Lord’s still on our side. He’s still here with us. So when those blues start gettin’ to ya, you just think of Jesus lookin’ down from above. He’s still takin’ care of us–and if we only trust in Him, He’ll get us through anything comes our way.
A New Hope will be a favorite—both with the audience and the choir.
Notes
This new musical is a reworking of our older script, Movin’ Up to Gloryland. The dialogue has been deepened, and it uses new music from a book entitled Testify: Songs for the Soul-Winning Church.
For a “sequel” to this musical, consider Coming Home.
Characters
The Men of the Church
Albert
Henry
Merril
Frank
Sam Richards
Man #1
Man #2
The Women of the Church
Inez
Betty
Sarah
Woman #1
Woman #2
Wife of Man #2
Others
The Preacher
County Sheriff (Reuben)
Cousin Sadie
Mary Granfield
Delmar Granfield
Brother Harold
Music Information
This His Company script has been written to be used with the following music literature:
Testify: Songs for the Soul-Winning Church (WORD, 1998); compiled by Mike Speck; arranged by Mike Speck, Lari Goss, and Danny Zaloudik.
We strongly recommend that you contact your distributor or WORD MUSIC regarding the availability of choral books, Trax, or studio orchestration before deciding to produce this musical. At this writing, you may contact WORD at 1-888-483-0014.
Topics
Midwest Church Picnic Alden, Iowa Depression FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hard Times Thirties Musical 1933 Poor A New Hope
