Youths to present ‘Dreamcoat’

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BANGOR – Youths from local churches have come together in a unique way so they can continue to help others.

Twenty young people will present “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” over two weekends, May 4-6 and May 11-13, to benefit youth mission programs such as All Souls Students In Service To Jesus Christ, known as ASSIST-JC.

Members of ASSIST-JC are predominantly from All Souls Congregational Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church, though the group also has members from other churches.

The purpose of the program, said the Rev. Renee Garrett, minister of Christian nurture at All Souls, “is for our young people to discover that the family of Jesus is huge.”

The young people do so, she said, by showing love through acts of service and demonstrating the goodness of God that they have come to know.

Every year since 2000, members of ASSIST-JC have gone on missions to such places as Nuevo Sacramento, Honduras; and Maine’s own Eastport. The youths provide help building and repairing homes, painting and repairing churches and other facilities, and offering spiritual instruction and focus.

Colleen Smith of Bangor, a senior at Bangor High School, attends St. John’s Episcopal Church and has been involved in several youth mission events, including the 2004 trip to Eastport and the 2005 journey to Honduras.

She has one of the lead roles as narrator in the upcoming play. Smith has been in chorus since age 11, sings both soprano and alto and plans to attend William Patterson University in Wayne, N.J. She will study vocal jazz performance.

In Smith’s view, the people in Honduras who have so little materially actually exhibit more faith than many people.

“It was such an eye-opening experience to see,” Smith said. “They’re so deeply happy.”

The tin-roofed, basically cinderblock homes in Nuevo Sacramento are considered “very poor even by Honduran standards,” Garrett said.

“It’s so [educational] to go to a foreign country,” Smith said, referring to the many cultural differences between Honduras and the United States.

“Just to start, the language is different,” Garrett said. Smith said she really appreciated the simple things in Central America, like being able to use a shower. Indeed, the shower was set up with hot water running near wires, requiring the young people and adult leaders to use caution when using the facilities.

“[The Hondurans] just don’t think the way we do,” Garrett said. “That’s part of the adventure.”

What the average American might consider a basic lunch staple was not appealing at all to the people of Honduras.

“They hated the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” Smith said. The Hondurans thought they were too sweet.

“America is not the way most of the world is,” Garrett said. Those who go to Honduras are touched by the experience and, while they are glad to come home, “the perspective gets changed dramatically,” she said.

Smith certainly found that to be true. Returning to Maine, she was struck by the sight of people shopping in a department store with full carts and kids asking for more toys. Just days later, Smith went to New York City for the summer as a nanny for a wealthy family who lived in a penthouse.

“I had a horrible cultural shift,” she said.

“The cultural shock of returning is more difficult than that of going,” Garrett said.

The missions are a powerful experience for the participants, and now the youths are planning shows to help raise funds for this summer’s trip to Eastport, where they previously worked on a church, as well as future trips to Honduras and mission projects at St. John’s church.

Admission to “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is free, but donations will be accepted. Historically, the youth program has done well with the effort, Garrett said. “We have typically raised between $8,000 and $12,000.”

This year’s mission to Eastport will concentrate on building a food pantry. The volunteers also will perform the musical while there, with proceeds going to the food pantry.

Cast members are: Colleen Smith, Adam George, John Lanham, Joe Bearor, Steve Schley, Colby Civiello, Grant Batchelder, Nathaniel Ver Lee, Joey Sherman, Travis Hall, Cameron St. Peter, Jeremy Milton, Jamie Ver Lee, Mike Amato, Scott Sherman, Brianna Batchelder, Catherine Strauch, Jane Strauch and Molly Hunt.

They are from All Souls, St. John’s Episcopal, St. John’s Catholic and Greater Bangor Area Seventh-Day Adventist churches.

Performances will be held:

. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 4; 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 5; and 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 234 French St.

. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 11; 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 12; and 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at All Souls Congregational Church, 10 Broadway.

Each show lasts an hour and a half, with no intermission.

Stephanie Laite Lanham of Bangor is the play’s director, Sam Lanham is the musical director, and Jeremy Milton of Bangor is the assistant director.

ASSIST-JC is open to young people of different faiths who are high school age and older. The youths are encouraged to remain active in their own churches, Garrett said.