One-man show strives for message without preachiness

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"Jesus Phreak: The Story of a Very Unlikely Disciple"


When: Saturday at 8 p.m.


Where: Gay Community Center of Richmond, 1407 Sherwood Ave.


For more info: jesus-phreak.com

Writer and performer R. Dale Smith steeled himself for audience walkouts when he presented his potentially controversial one-man show at Richmond's 2008 Acts of Faith festival.

But the offended viewers never materialized. Instead, "Jesus Phreak: The Story of a Very Unlikely Disciple" met with such encouragement that Smith - a VCU creative-writing graduate student who has taught in the university's religious studies department - has taken it on the road.

With engagements in Chicago and Jefferson City, Mo., under his belt, and a performance slated for Washington, he will stage a "Jesus Phreak" encore in Richmond on Saturday at the Gay Community Center.

"Jesus Phreak" tells a fictional story of a young church pianist who becomes alienated from organized Christianity, until a vision of a welcoming God renews his faith. The protagonist's spiritual troubles result indirectly from his habit of wearing clothes made from different fabrics - a practice prohibited in Leviticus 19:19. In the world of the play, a pervasive literal interpretation of that Old Testament command leads orthodox Christians to shun heretical "mixers."

The tale is a parable about the difficulty homosexuals have sometimes had finding a place within Christianity, explained Smith, who is gay. In an interview at a Carytown coffee shop, the 38-year-old said he has aimed to get this message across without lapsing into preachiness.

"I hope it entertains," he said of the show. "I hope people can come to it and laugh." At the same time, he added, he wants to encourage audiences "to think about Christianity in a different way."

Key to the success of this project is the show's mixer metaphor, which Smith developed after noting that the interdiction against cloth-blending in Leviticus appears near certain passages that have been cited as prohibiting homosexuality.

"I want people to think, if people break this rule all the time, why do we have so much weight on this other rule?" said Smith, who knows his Bible, having earned a master's degree from Richmond's Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education.

The fabric trope, he believes, allows the show to explore the issue of inclusiveness without spooking theatergoers who might not want to hear the word "gay."

At the same time, the conceit ratchets up the play's humor quotient: In a society bred on cotton-polyester blends, the idea of anti-"mixer" discrimination may seem goofy. The metaphor "helps keep a lightness to the tone," Smith said.

A native of Cumberland County and a James Madison University alumnus, Smith began composing "Jesus Phreak" while at seminary. In a course that covered artistic images of Jesus, students were assigned a final presentation. "I asked the professor if I could do a monologue, and he looked at me a little strangely and said, 'OK,'" recalled Smith, who had no particular interest in theater at the time. "So on presentation day, there were, like, 12 PowerPoint presentations - and then I did this monologue."

The dramatic piece related a dream about Jesus that, in real life, had affected Smith strongly. When the performance concluded, "People were asking me, 'That was great. What happens next?'" So in an independent study the next year, he expanded the monologue. After graduating, he continued to refine the piece, dictating material to a tape recorder while driving between his Richmond home and a Charlottesville job.

"Jesus Phreak" premiered in the 2008 Acts of Faith, a festival of plays and spirituality-themed conversations. The Rev. Janet James, then a festival coordinator and now pastor of the West End's The Gayton Kirk, a Presbyterian church, said the play offers a revelatory perspective on Christianity and the phenomenon of feeling like an outsider.

"It was the kind of thing you want people to see and really talk about," she said. "It was wonderful for Acts of Faith, and I think it's great for any community." And, she added, "it is so funny."

The 80-minute show has resonated beyond Richmond, too. In March, Smith took the monologue to a youth retreat in Jefferson City, Mo. The Rev. David Jones II of First Presbyterian Church, which ran the retreat, said "Jesus Phreak" proved an "awesome" way to get the young people talking "about a hot topic in our church and in our country."

And after Smith performed in the chapel of Chicago Theological Seminary in mid-May, the Rev. Benjamin Reynolds, director of the seminary's LGBTQ Religious Studies Center, called the show "absolutely brilliant."

"I wish every student graduating from seminary would partake in this conversation," Reynolds said. "It's that powerful."

Celia Wren is a former managing editor of American Theatre magazine. Contact her at cmwren1@yahoo.com.