Play portrays David as man, king

BANGOR – The boy David faces down the giant Goliath with a steely gaze in his eyes.

“You’re coming at me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin,” he says. “But I’m coming at you in the name of the Lord Tzavaot, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have challenged. Today, the Lord will hand you over to me.

“I will attack you, lop off your head, and give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines to the birds in the air and the animals in the land. Then all the land will know that there is a God in Israel and everyone assembled here will know that the Lord does not save by sword or spear. For this is the Lord’s battle, and he will hand you over to us.”

With that declaration, the boy takes a stone from his bag and carefully places it in his slingshot. He whirls it about his head, then, lets the stone fly. It sinks into the forehead of the giant, who falls on his face to the earth.

That is what most people know about David, king of the Israelites. Fans of biblical cinema epics may remember his “romantic” encounter with Bathsheba, and regular churchgoers, of course, know he wrote the Psalms.

Charlene Kent Witting of Castine, who has a master’s degree in theater, wrote the play “David the King.” She wanted to depict David as a man with many facets to his personality. It will premiere on Friday, Oct. 31, at the Union Street Brick Church in Bangor.

“David was charismatic and smooth,” she said at a recent rehearsal, “but he was also a warrior and a lover. The play shows David as a real person who’s constantly reaching for God. He was a guy after God’s own heart.”

The narration and dialogue for “David the King” was taken directly from 1 and 2 Samuel in the Old Testament. That is similar to the way Kent Witting, 53, wrote the Passion play using the Book of John from the New Testament. It was performed at the church earlier this year during Lent.

Kent Witting, whose husband, the Rev. Lee Witting, 60, purchased the former Unitarian church in 1998, brought together many of the same people who worked on the Passion play to perform David’s story. While the author believes both plays will entertain and inspire, “David the King” will have something the Passion play did not – sword fights and original music.

Adam Williams, 43, who makes theatrical weapons for a living, researched the Bronze and Iron ages to make sure the swords he forged in his Bangor shop were authentic. The weapon-maker made spears, daggers and clubs for the Israelites’ weapons, but gave the kopis to the Philistines.

“The kopis is 18 to 24 inches long with a single-edged blade,” he said in describing the weapon. “Basically, it’s a funky machete with an offset handle. It kind of looks like a question mark, so the user would grab the straight part. That makes it a nice hacking, chopping, cleaving weapon.”

For the past two years, Mike Billings of Winterport, has composed music for the advanced modern dance class at the University of Maine in Orono. Instead of writing the music first, the 28-year-old lobsterman composed it as he watched the dancers rehearse. He’s using the same method for “David the King.”

“Basically, I’ve been mapping out the music scene by scene with the play,” he said in a recent phone interview. “As I watch a rehearsal, I lay down a rhythm track on my drums so I know the length of the scene. I record that, then add the layers later.”

The Rev. Matthew McDonald wore his Red Sox jersey under David’s kingly robes at a rehearsal the first night Boston faced the New York Yankees in the American League playoff series. He said that he loves portraying David the King as a human being.

“He messed up royally,” McDonald said. “He’s definitely an Old Testament hero and model for hope. He was really passionate about everything. In war, in his relationships with women, he was the extreme bad guy. But, in the end, his passion also made him the extreme good guy.”

The 23-year-old minister is pastor of Faith Alive, a new church in Winter Harbor. During a rehearsal break, McDonald admitted that he probably could reach more people through the theater than many of his sermons can.

“I truly believe you can reach more people through the arts. Sitting through a traditional church service for some people can be boring,” he said. “A play like this is visual and aural – it works on all the senses.

“People who come will see some good fights, some good love scenes, get a few morals out of it and, in the end, be a little better for it.”

Christopher Slininger, 11, of Hampden is experiencing some new feeling playing the young David who faces down Goliath.

“I actually want to fight over someone,” he said of the role. “I don’t usually feel that way.”

Like MacDonald, the boy actor has gained quite a bit of insight into the character that he portrays.

“David really loves God, but he does stuff his own way instead of God’s way,” he said. “That gets him in trouble.”

“David the King” will be performed at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 and 2 and Nov. 7-9. at the Union Street Brick Church in Bangor. A reception will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 31 with the performance at 8 p.m. For more information, call 945-9798.