Encore Performance of
Joyful Noise
by Tim Slover

George Frederick Handel is in trouble: his last opera flopped, he is no longer in favor with King George II and preachers are raging that his latest work is blasphemous. In this climate, he struggles to present "The Messiah." Handel's travails are linked with those of his leading soprano. Forced into retirement because of a scandal, she is slated to make her comeback in his new masterpiece and fears a nasty reception. A malicious, back stabbing alternate is waiting in the wings to replace her. A devious bishop and Handel's bulky librettist add to the conflict in this true story of the politics and passion that nearly prevented "The Messiah" from ever being performed.

Produced by special permission with Samuel French, Inc.

Click Here for More Info

It's October, 1945. The war is over and America’s years of prosperity are just beginning. But there’s another kind of rite of passage at the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, where the Reverend Mervin Oglethorpe is giving his last service. Having been called to preach in Texas, he’s already bought a 10-gallon hat and is preparing to ride into the sunset with his wife June, who is eight months pregnant. Tomorrow morning, Dennis will take over as the congregation’s pastor. Join the Sanders Family as they send Mervin and June off in style, with hilarious and touching stories and 25 fabulous Bluegrass Gospel favorites.

The Cheaper by the Dozen family is real and wonderful and this play is about the time in their lives that begins shortly after Cheaper by the Dozen. Father, who was one of the great pioneer efficiency experts and who applied this brilliance to raising his large family, is gone. The special way in which the Gilbreths meet this crisis makes the finale a happy and satisfying theatrical event.

This play is not part of a regular season subscription.

Scout, a young girl in a quiet southern town, is about to experience the dramatic events that will affect the rest of her life. She and brother Jem are being raised by their widower father Atticus and by a strong-minded housekeeper Calpurnia. Wide-eyed Scout is fascinated with the sensitively revealed people of her small town but, from the start, there's a rumble of thunder just under the calm surface of the life here. The black people of the community have a special feeling about Scout's father and she doesn't know why. A few of her white friends are inexplicably hostile and Scout doesn't understand this either. Unpleasant things are shouted and the bewildered girl turns to her father. Atticus, a lawyer, explains that he's defending a young Negro wrongfully accused of a grave crime. Since this is causing such an upset, Scout wants to know why he's doing it. "Because if I didn't," her father replies, "I couldn't hold my head up."

Atticus fights his legal battle with a result that is part defeat, part triumph. As Atticus comes out of the courthouse, the deeply moved town minister tells Scout, "Stand up. Your father's passing!" This play is a meaningful work of art.

Hudsonville Youth Summer Theatre