Prepare ye! The way of the— new theatre company!? The Peace Players are the new harbingers of hope, after quite some years in the making, and are preparing their debut production of Godspell, arriving in the actual sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we’re sitting down with founders Albert and Lisa Boeren to talk all about the company, their inaugural production, and their hopes for the future when it comes to this blossoming new theatre company.
Thank you both, Lisa and Albert, for giving us some time to chat all about Peace Players! Tell us a little bit about this new company, like how did you come to the name ‘Peace Players?’
Albert Boeren: Well the name of the church is Our Lady Queen of Peace. We took the ‘peace’ from that, and the play on P and P. Peace Players.
Fantastic! Why start a theatre company? You’re both very well known in and around the Dundalk/Essex/Baltimore community theatre scene, so why get a new company started?
Lisa Boeren: It has a long history, our wanting to do this. How many years ago now?
Albert: About seven I would say.
Lisa: About seven years ago, during Christmas Eve mass, the roof of the church literally caved in.
Albert: A chunk of it fell down and hit a family. And the family is fine, just bruises and scrapes and stuff.
Lisa: That of course started a campaign to rebuild the church… literally to raise the roof.
Albert: We had to close down the church for over a year as they were redoing the whole thing. They had to restructure and rebuild the entire roof.
Lisa: They started a capital campaign but we weren’t in any position to make a donation so we approached the pastor with, “hey, let’s put on a show to raise money!” And we couldn’t do it at the time because when they closed the church for the repairs, they moved masses into the hall, which was where we would have been performing.
So the church was closed for a year, they rebuilt, they reopened. And then we said, “Okay! Let’s put on a show!” And then? Covid hit.
Albert: We had a year or so in there where we were so busy that we really couldn’t do it. And when we were finally ready— that’s when Covid hit. That knocked it out.
Lisa: We started to rebuild again after Covid… and the current pastor got relocated to a different church. We figured, okay, everything else has kept us from doing this so far, let’s try one more time. Al approached the new pastor, Fr. Patrick Besel, and he said, “Yeah! Absolutely! Whatever you need.” So we’re finally getting started with a great support system in our new pastor.
Albert: He is really big on the arts in general. Anything with the arts he wants to see done. They’ve laid out the money for the rights and everything that we need for the production. Any of the profits that we make will go right back into the church. The former pastor told me, when I had brought this to him originally, he told me that he just wanted it for the social nature of it. He said, “If we make money, we make money. But let’s do something that we can build and make a real social activity out of it.”
Lisa: We’ve always wanted to do Godspell in a church proper, in the actual church sanctuary. Al was having a conversation with the pastor and the pastor asked where he would do it. Al started going into, “..there’s the hall and we have the moveable stage…” and it was the pastor who suggested that we do it in the actual sanctuary. And that had always been our goal so that was fantastic news to hear him suggest that.
Albert: The church was actually built to be a school. They were supposed to build another church in front of the current building. That never happened. They don’t really have a hall, what they have is what was used to be the cafeteria. It’s low-ceiling, with tile, and they do have a portable stage that you can unfold and put in a corner. It only sits a couple feet off the ground. And initially I had going in trying to talk to the pastor about how we would work in that space and that’s when he mentioned the sanctuary.
And I said, “What about the eucharist?” It’s a Catholic Church so we have the eucharist right there in the sanctuary. And the pastor said, “churches have concerts and things like that. We’ll just take the eucharist out, we’ll move it from the tabernacle over to the tabernacle in the chapel.” That way nobody should complain and it will be fine.
That’s a great compromise and I’m so pleased to hear that the pastor is on board with all of this! Godspell does seem like the obvious choice as an inaugural production for a church-based community theatre company. What else motivated you to choose this production?
Albert: I’ve directed two other times at two other churches. I was youth minister at St. Anthony’s down the road and at Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City. I did at both parishes with the youth groups.
Lisa: It’s the staple first-show you do with your youth group.
Now Lisa, you tend to be more of the behind-the-scenes person? You’re more tech and production, right?
Lisa: Well, long story short, when I met Al I realized very quickly that I needed to find some way to be involved with theatre if I ever actually wanted to see him. That’s when I started getting involved backstage. I was a ‘theater widow’ before I was even married! I pride myself as a stage manager and I’ve pretty much stage-managed every show Al has ever directed. I enjoy stage managing. I’ve probably stage-managed Godspell three or four times.
A good stage manager is an invaluable component to a good production. Will you be stage managing this production of Godspell at Peace Players?
Lisa: Somehow I will make it happen. I’m currently stage-managing Our Town with Dundalk Community Theatre, which opens in March, and I have another one on the horizon for the summer. But I’ll fit it in there somehow.
When will Godspell be running?
Albert: It’ll be the two weekends after Easter. Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, four performances over two weekends. April 15th & 16th and the 22nd and 23rd.
Did you guys hold auditions, did you put out a community call to let people know about this new company? What was your process?
Albert: We held auditions with very few people turning out. But thanks to theatre buddies and some calls I made and some people saying “I would really like to be involved with this show but I’m unable to make it to the auditions” we were able to put a cast together. We would still like to get one or two more people in the show. We have a slightly lower number of cast members than what the show generally requires. But the voices I have are going to cover everything and some of them will get to perform a couple more songs than what that character might have originally sung.
That will make your production a unique experience for both audience and players.
Albert: A unique experience, yes. And that’s the problem— well not problem, the challenge? No. The joy. That’s the joy about this show. It can be done in so many different settings and the director can just put it where they want it. The first time I directed it, it was set in a park setting. The second time I directed it, it was set in a middle school. We did the classroom in the first act and the playground in the second act.
With this one being set in the church, it’s not really going to have a so-called ‘setting’ with a set, as we will be very limited in that regard. I’m only going to be using a couple of blocks, a couple of stools, and things like that. There are no walls or anything like that to really distinguish a ‘setting.’ It’s just going to exist in the community setting of the church.
This already sounds original in the sense that it’s going back to basics. I’ve seen so many people do Godspell, especially recently, and they feel like they have to reinvent the wheel with it. Can you tell me a little bit more about your vision for the production?
Albert: I’m going to have the cast come out of the audience. They’re going to be seated in the audience from the very beginning, and they’ll come right out of those seats to start the performance. I’m actually going to have a cross to tie Jesus to for the crucifixion. I used a fence in m previous two productions, as a lot of productions often do; it fit the setting of a park and the playground of the school. This time we will actually be carrying in a cross.
I really like the concept of having your cast rise up from the audience. For me it brings to mind this notion of “we are all one people”. Can you talk about your cast yet? Has it been made official, public knowledge?
Albert: Yes. Casting is set. My Jesus is a young man named Simon Gusso, who I didn’t realize it but he and I actually go all the way back to 1776 at Tidewater Players (May 2018) when I was playing McNair and he was Leather Apron. So we worked together on stage during that whole show. Judas and John The Baptist are being played by Sam Ranocchia. He is another old friend who came to the audition and we ended up just sitting and talking for about two hours while he was there. He’s a wonderful, nice person, a very good friend, I’ve known him for a number of years— I don’t even remember when we first met, but we’ve done a number of shows together. He comes to see and support me I go to see and support him, so it’s a real treat to get to work with him.
Lisa: We do have some parishioners in the show too. Carol Paul—
Albert: Yes, Carol Paul. She runs our contemporary music group at the church and she’s going to be in it.
Lisa: She’s also going to be the musical director.
That was actually going to be one of my next questions. Because we’re in a church, will we be having live music? Or are we using canned tracks?
Lisa: We are going to have live music.
Albert: Piano we’re still up in the air about who is doing it, we’ve got some people we’ve reached out to and are hoping one of them will work out. We also have my son, Andrew, who is playing drums. He’s been in the pit for a lot of shows. And we have Rosemary Podhorniak, who plays in the folk-group with Carol. She’s going to be playing guitar and singing backup on “By My Side” with Carol. They do that number already at church and have done it for years together. I’m going to just add Rosemary’s voice in for that part as the backup harmony.
Lisa: And we’re still looking for a bass guitar player.
Is that all of your cast members? I know you said you had fewer than what the traditional productions utilize.
Albert: I also have Lee Knox. He’s been around theatre for umpteen years. The first time I ever saw Godspell, I was in eighth grade and Lee played Jesus. He’s got to be on Godspell number 25 or 30 by now. I was actually in a production of Godspell at Mount Carmel with him. He directed and played Jesus and I was in it and did “We Beseech Thee” many years ago. Lee is an old family friend and he’s one of the canters we have at church, and he said ‘anything he could do to help me.’
Lisa: He’s also reworking some of the parables.
Albert: Yeah, so instead of using an actor to read all of the different parables, the big main ones like prodigal son, will be read by Lee. And he’ll read them from our pulpit area.
Lisa: Since our cast is much smaller than the more traditional sized cast for this production, having Lee read them frees up an actor to be used in the action of the parable rather than having them off on the side telling the story.
Albert: It was actually a suggestion of Lee’s when we were figuring out how to work him into the show.
That is an incredibly small cast!
Lisa: Well rounding out the rest of it are Mary Kramer, Lisa Rigsby, and Linda Brown. It’s seven total and that includes Jesus and John/Judas.
Albert: The script calls for ten. But I’m confident we will make this work.
This all sound really intriguing and I’m really excited to see this inaugural production play out. What is the future hope for Peace Players as a company?
Albert: I’d like to see how this one goes, but I would like to see at least one show a year. Maybe down the road, if we can start building up a company and a following we can move to two. We used to have a company not too far from us— Mount Carmel Players— who have since then dissolved because of issues in the church there. I’m hoping to pull in some of those people because they’re still trying to find a spot for their performative interests. And they’re a sister parish of ours so it would be really great to get them all involved as one big company.
What else are you doing to make this production of Godspell unique to you and Peace Players?
Albert: I’ve got to tell you right now that I do not like the beginning and I do not like the ending. Let me try that again. I do not like “The Tower of Babel” so that number has been cut. And I do not like ending the show with the death of Jesus when there is more to the story to tell. I have added a resurrection scene to all the productions I’ve done in the past. That’s where I put “Beautiful City.” At the end of the show, I’m going to have them all come out on stage, kneeling in certain positions. Jesus will appear behind them in his white resurrection robes. He comes up behind each of them and over their heads he will perform the sign that they do together throughout the show. He performs that, which then brightens their day.
Lisa: It awakens them.
Albert: Yes, awakens them. Then they sing “Beautiful City” and it ends with everyone in the audience building that beautiful city; it becomes a community of building a beautiful city with the audience. That’s how we wing and end the show so that everyone is singing. I struggle with the original ending because yes, that’s what happens, the crucifixion. But it’s a lively show. It’s got lively music. It’s so bubbly throughout the whole things and it’s a little different than Superstar (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar) where Superstar is a little more of a downer with its music, Godspell is lively. So it needs to end with a lively, community-building experience. I always end with a reading from the last paragraph in St. Matthew’s gospel, which talks about the disciples then going out into the world.
I’m going to have Lee read that like I’m having him read God at the beginning. Everyone will come out, kneel, and proceed with “Beautiful City.”
What have been some of the challenges, other than the timing that just kept not working out, with getting this company on its feet?
Albert: Our main issues is staging. Since we do not have a stage and everything would have to be done on those platforms in the hall, with the exception of Godspell which we’re staging in the sanctuary. But I can see us, moving forward, and maybe moving into a dinner-theatre type thing because we do have a full kitchen right there with tables there from the cafeteria. It would be great to bring together some of the other community groups like Knights of Columbus and really engage with the community.
I know a lot of your future plans with Peace Players will depend on how Godspell goes but do you have any shows in particular that you would like to see them produce one day?
Albert: There are actually two. Both of them are musical revues. One of them is called I Love A Piano. And its all Irving Berlin music. It’s got different settings and it follows this piano over the course of 60 years from tin-pan alley to Broadway.
The other one I would love to see done, and now thanks to Sammy Jungwirth and that recent concert production of Zelda, I feel inspired to try to contact the writers in London because this particular show has never been done in the United States, it’s only ever been done in London and Ireland. It’s called A Spoonful of Sherman. It’s Richard and Robert Sherman’s music. It also includes music from their father, Al Sherman, back in the tin-pan alley days, and it also includes music from Robert’s son. He’s the one that actually started it, he wrote a book and everything. The revue includes stuff from Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and so many others. So I would love to see that show happen.
They’re both smaller casts for musical revues and I think they would appeal to the church congregation. I do have an older population there and I know both of those shows would be music that they would be familiar with. One other good thing about our church is that it’s very diverse. We have a lot of Nigerian families and Asian families and black families at the church and we want to build Peace Players to be inclusive of all of our families, expanding it with a lot of recognizable, family friendly productions, which I think both of these revues would be.
I know you said that you are hoping that Peace Players becomes a social component of the community and the church parish. What are you hoping people are going to take away from coming to work with Peace Players? As we all know, there are a great many community companies in the area, and not everyone can be everywhere all at once, and nobody has yet figured out how to be in two or more places at the same time, so why should people come play with Peace Players?
Albert: Because, and I think we’re setting a good example with Godspell, it is a community for the community by the community. I just want everyone to feel comfortable, to feel a part of it, to feel welcome. Godspell is a great example. It is a show that lends itself to me being able to ask for input from everybody involved with the production. I’m not coming in and saying I’m directing it this way and this way only. I’m coming in saying we’re going to work on it together, we’re going to make it a collaborative effort.
I’m hoping that people see this down the road too as a place where they are welcomed, a place where they can express themselves in a way that is comfortable for them. I don’t want this place to be viewed as some place that doesn’t open its doors to everyone or is closed off like I’ve seen happen at other theatres.
Lisa: Our approach to the rehearsal process is unique too. We’ll have your regular music rehearsals and dance rehearsals and all that. But part of the rehearsal process is going to be building the community, building the team. We’re going to have a bonding day where we probably do nothing that has anything to do with the show but instead we work on building them together as a team.
It sounds like you really have a solid plan in place to actualize your hopes and dreams of becoming a solid community entity, being a theatre in the community and not just a community theatre.
Albert: Thank you. That actually reminds me of one of the other things I wanted to mention. I’ve had an outreach from Scott Babus, well known on the scene, and he is Jewish. And he offered to help us out in whatever way he could. He is going to attempt to get us a Shofar (a traditional musical horn, typically made of ram’s horn, often used during Jewish religious holidays and ceremonies) for the beginning of the show so we can actually blow it in the church, which is actually the way the show is written.
The other thing I’ve talked to him about doing is holding a Seder supper for the cast. Since the show takes place around The Last Supper, and Jesus had a Seder supper with his friends, and we’ll be in production right after Easter around the time the Jewish faith will be celebrating Passover around then, Scott is willing to do that for us. He’s willing to come in and show us what is done and explain it to us, and he’s going to lead the prayers and everything. We’re going to have a meal together.
Is there anything else that you either of you would like to talk about in regard to the process of finally getting this company up on its feet? I know it sounds like it’s been a long haul but it also sounds like it’s going to produce something unique and beautiful.
Albert: It really has been a process. I know I said before that when we were finally ready the second time around, Covid hit. And then when everything started opening back up and we were ready again, I was going to go to the pastor and then he announced he was leaving. And I was really worrying and wondering if I was going to receive that same support from the next pastor. And I got more support than I could have ever asked for from Fr. Patrick Besel. I saw him yesterday and church, very excited, and he was asking me all about how it’s going and he can’t wait to see it.
I have to tell you both, Lisa and Albert, I’m actually really excited to hear about this company. Because while I’m always a little skeptical when I hear news that a new company is launching in and around the Baltimore area, because as you both know we have quite a few, it sounds to me like Peace Players is actually going to be different. It sounds to me like you’re serving an underserved niche in Middle River that is actively building community and engaging with the community as an entity of the community that also produces theatre, by spanning gaps and building bridges within your community.
Lisa: Thank you.
Albert: Thank you!
Anything else you wanted people to know about Peace Players? Or the upcoming production of Godspell? About the two of you as the Artistic Founders of Peace Players?
Lisa: My whole thing is this man— my husband— sitting right here with me today. He loves theatre. I look at him as one of the most underrated actors and directors out there. He doesn’t get many chances because there’s the old adage of “what have you done” or “I can’t give you that big of a project because I don’t know your work” etc.
I’m here to tell you he is a different director. Like he said, he’s going to let the cast go and do, collaborate, and form things, but he will also tell them when things aren’t working. He doesn’t micromanage, he doesn’t sit at his desk with his head in his script calling out blocking instructions and line-direction. He is up on stage, actively working with them all throughout rehearsals. He’s one of the most active, immersive directors in town.
It sounds like you really have a creative approach to both this show and your company. Just in listening to what you’ve said today about your approach to the show as a whole, about how you’ve responded to the challenges of not having quite as many people as you’d hoped turn out for auditions, to the unique way you’re going to present the production itself, and the persistence and perseverance that you’ve shown in getting the company up on its feet, I can comfortably say that you really sound like you know what you’re doing and I think what you’re putting forth, both with the show and with the company will be successful.
Godspell plays with Peace Players for five performances only: April 15th & 16th and April 22nd & 23rd 2023, at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church— 10001 Bird River Road in Middle River, MD. For current ticket information please email the Peace Players at peaceplayersolqp@gmail.com and follow the event on Facebook for further ticketing updates.
