The Fourth Wise Man’s Journey

It’s become my tradition here at Writers Who Kill (either for my first or last message of the year) to give a recap of the December production I direct at my church. I realized the latest was the 19^th program I’ve worked on for the St. Paul’s Players. In the beginning, we paid royalties for recognized musicals. We also have used a public domain script, The Living Last Supper, a “bringing to life” of the Da Vinci painting, which we perform every other year during Holy Week before Easter. In addition, we began writing our own plays and composing original music.

This year, I determined that we would base our play on “The Other Wise Man,” a short story written by Henry Van Dyke, an author and clergyman who is well known for composing the lyrics for “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.” We used one original song, but mostly adapted lyrics to traditional hymns or used carols and religious melodies (including “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” the tune Van Dyke selected for his words to “Joyful, Joyful”) as our music. It was particularly effective for this production, which we called The Fourth Wise Man, the story of Artaban, a magi seeking the king whose birth is foretold by the star.

Artaban tells his fellow scholars that he has sold all his earthly goods to buy a sapphire, ruby, and pearl to take as gifts to the king. He intends to join the magi, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, and invites the other scholars to go with him.

They either scoff at his folly or have excuses for why they cannot accompany him. So, he starts his journey, but is halted when he comes across a dying man in the desert. He sells his sapphire to provide care for the man and to buy supplies to help him catch up with the magi.

 

He arrives in Bethlehem after the magi and Holy Family have departed, on the day of the slaughter of the innocents by Herod’s troops. His ruby goes to spare the life of a child.

Finally, after a life of searching, he arrives in Jerusalem thirty three years later, on the day Jesus has been sentenced to crucifixion. As he heads toward Golgotha, hoping to purchase Jesus’ freedom, he is confronted by a young woman who has been seized as a slave to pay her father’s debts. Artaban gives his pearl to ransom the woman’s life.

Then, he is imprisoned beneath a column of the temple in an earthquake. As he lies dying, he mourns that his life has been meaningless. God’s voice from Heaven tells him, “What you have done for others, you have done for me.”

If you would be interested, please click on this link to read Van Dyke’s story. It has been adapted into many versions, including a one act play and an opera by M. Ryan Taylor.

When I first began writing the script for our production, I found it difficult to tell people the story without crying, it resonated that deeply with me. The production itself became a true labor of love. I asked a group of players who have participated in several of our programs to be in the cast. We all were good friends and worked well together. Because we had only seven in the cast, everyone except the actor who played Artaban had to play multiple parts. Our performers also had to accomplish all the scene changes with the help of one excellent stage manager (Pat Jarvis, the wife of Jim Jarvis who played Artaban).

Each of the actors brought unique talents to the production. At the beginning, Valerie Ward played a haunting rendition of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” on the flute. Mark Wade, a former sports broadcaster, dressed in Laurence of Arabia style garb, served as our storyteller, helping the audience navigate the different places and time periods. Our scholars included John Arnold, Olin Jenkins, and Randy Nolff, whose camaraderie from The Living Last Supper was apparent. John, Olin, and Randy also took turns as Roman soldiers. Brenda Byrd started as Artaban’s housekeeper, then played the young woman facing slavery in a later scene. Jim Jarvis, who often has excelled in more comic roles, took on Artaban, and I can’t imagine anyone else giving a more poignant performance. I told him at our cast party that I will always see his face as Artaban when I reread the story.

We were privileged to receive a generous gift from a couple who had been in some of our productions, Matthew and Tracy Davis Davenport, which enabled us to purchase body microphones for each of our actors. It truly made a marvelous difference in the sound quality. Several people commented that they were so pleased to be able to sit anywhere in our auditorium, without having to worry that they might not be able to hear.

Dean Long served as our lighting and sound master, ably assisted by Billy Itter, our spot light operator. Melanie Shull, an extraordinary musician, accompanied our cast and provided inspiring background music. Gary West sang two solos for our dinner theatre performance. John Henry, our wonderful producer and promoter, did extra duty assisting with the lights while Dean worked our new audio system.

Midway through rehearsals, one of the actors privately confided questioning how we would manage all the emotion and special effects required by the story. In the end, our cast, crew, and audiences were well pleased with the collaborative effort that brought everything together. And, I must admit that I took great pride in what we achieved.

Have you been involved in a theatrical production? What are your favorite memories?