A Review of Calvin Theatre Company’s “As It Is In Heaven.”

Published in Perspectives, June/July 2002

By Robert Hubbard

West Michigan experienced an unusually miserable spring this year. The snowy, wet, and dreary March tested the faithful hypothesis that sunnier times would ever come. As if designed to break the collective misery of the inhabitants of a seemingly God-forsaken sliver of land locked between two Great Lakes, Arlene Hutton’s drama “As It Is In Heaven” ushered in a sunshine that was both literal and figurative.

Produced by the Calvin College Theatre Company, this episodic rendering of life in the 19^th Century Shaker village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky ran through the second and third weekends of April. It also played as part of Calvin College’s high profile Festival of Faith and Writing. Earlier productions include two off-Broadway runs and a showing at the Fringe Festival in Edinboro, Scotland. Featuring a cast of nine women, the plot of “As It Is In Heaven” hinges on an issue that ironically makes many Christians uncomfortable: how should a community of faith respond when some of its members see holy visions? The content and validity of these visions rock the foundation of the small Shaker colony. In dealing with this touchy issue, Hutton taps into widespread and contemporary interests in spirituality and Shaker life. Hutton’s deft handling of these themes promises to carry her riveting drama far beyond the Calvin College Midwest premier. Indeed, Dramatist Play Service recently picked up the rights to the script. It will soon see productions across the United States and beyond.

Of the many memorable Shaker hymns beautifully sung throughout the show, “It is a Gift to Be Simple” best describes the production’s overall aesthetic. From staging, to design, to music, the performances resembles a piece of Shaker furniture: well-made but with little ornamental dressing. The appearance of simplicity should not imply a lack of creativity. Stephanie Sandberg’s direction is case in point. With only a few benches, chairs, and hand props, Sandberg skillfully and seamlessly stages multiple locations and moods. Her deceptively complex direction enhances every element of the story, from a farcically kinetic scene showing the Shakers’ hapless attempts to catch escaped chickens, to a cacophonous and unnerving climactic scene of multiple visions. The lesson here is that, in theatre, as in life, achieving simplicity often requires serious craft.

Likewise, David Leugs’ scene design at first appears minimal and restrained – the opposite of spectacle. Closer examination of the woodwork, however, reveals a level of detail and texture rarely realized in college theatre but reminiscent of Shaker architecture. The design also benefits from the innovative choice to place two banks of seating on the stage, thus casting the audience as participates in a Shaker meeting. At times, Leugs’ lighting design, replete with moving gobos and multiple colors, pushes the show away from its simplicity motif. Still, the frequent use of psychedelic lighting does succeed in conveying the “other-worldly” vision scenes laced throughout the script.

Similar to the scene design, Heather Leigh Brown’s vibrant costumes again prove what “a gift it is to be simple.” Identical except for differences in color, the dresses shatter the incorrect perception that Shaker clothing is dark and lifeless. A rainbow of stately dresses, the beauty of the simple yet meticulously constructed designs serves the production well. At intermission, a woman sitting in front of me whispered to her companion, “those dresses are so beautiful. I want one.”

As a piece of theatre, the great victory of “As It Is In Heaven” comes through in the way that the play simultaneously interrogates and celebrates a community of faith. Make no mistake, parts of Shaker theology warrant interrogation. They believed their founder, Mother Ann, to be the second coming of Jesus Christ! In light of this revelation, some of the visions the young women receive during the performance resonate as cultism and spiritually troubling. For the most part, the play leaves the audience to debate the truthfulness of the visions. Were they divinely inspired visitations, the result of overzealous and psychologically imbalanced imaginations, or something darker?

Other discernment dilemmas include the play’s depiction of the Shakers’ segregated and cut-off mode of living. Especially from a Reformed perspective, such cloistered lifestyles seem anti-biblical in that they provide little opportunity to fulfill either the Great Commission or the Cultural Mandate. Also troublesome are the ways in which the established leaders within the Shaker colony negatively stifle all forms of individuality and creative expression. The play reveals a fairly narrow understanding of the gifts of the spirit. Indeed, many facets of “As It Is In Heaven” force an audience to take a hard and often unflattering look at Shaker belief and life.

But along with these spiritual questions, the audience participates in a celebration of faith and community rarely witnessed in the theatre. It is clear from the start of Hutton’s drama that these women deeply love and care for one another. The ways in which they find joy and humor in simple facets of everyday life should serve as lessons to us all, Christian or not. Moreover, their genuine faith evokes several parallels with the norms of other, more familiar religious communities. The Shakers work hard; they see their work as instruments to glorify God; they see themselves as striving for perfection but as ultimately depraved and fallen. The play begins with a litany of sins willingly and humbly confessed by each of the women in the cast. Such qualities strike a familiar chord. Personally, I often observe similar tendencies in my colleagues and in members of my Christian Reformed Church. In preparation for writing her play, Arlene Hutton conducted extensive research on the Shakers. I do not think it a coincidence, however, that she is also a member of the Reformed Church of America.

One of the most frustrating components of live theatre is its ephemeral and fleeting nature. After completing their runs, productions simply disappear, living only in memory, and sometimes not even there. Fortunately, certain images created by certain performances earn a secure home in memory. Because of the timely themes expressed, because of excellent direction and design elements, and because of the elegant construction of the her script, Arlene Hutton’s “As It Is In Heaven” will live on, a play impossible to forget and worth seeing again.

“As It Is In Heaven” brought with it needed sunshine to a cold and rainy West Michigan spring. Through future productions, this lovely play promises to deliver similar bursts of light.

Robert Hubbard is a professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College where he also serves as the Director of Theater. He will join the faculty of Theatre and Speech at Northwestern College in the fall of 2003.