House, Divided
 La Tempestad
 The Ballad of John Wesley Reed
 Girl Science
 The Allure of Oriental Wisdom
 Memorial Day (formerly Varia)
 Pride of the Lion
 The Dostoyevsky Man


 Monica for Chanukah
 Angie and Arnie Sanguine
 Edward and Ellie Supine
 The Lion Eats His Lunch
 The Lion in His Lair
 The Lion Leaves His Mark
 Prayers


 But Who's Counting?
 Emma Goldman Imagines the Millenium


 Just Before the War Between the Plates
 I Can Handle That


 Talking  with Lee Blessing

...with Tom Coash
...with Mary Fengar Gail
...with Richard Kalinowsky
...with Jamie Pachino
...with David Rambo
...with Jason Sherman
...with Naomi Wallace
...with Tom Gibbons
...with Dick Goldberg

INTERACT: I understand that many of the characters and situations in GOD'S MAN are loosely based on actual events which played out in a large Texas church. What intrigued you enough about that story to write about it?

DAVID RAMBO: The events in Texas came into the news as megachurches were suddenly - it seemed - proliferating. As I read about all this, I was struck at how much of the world of theatre could be found in megachurches: stars, settings, scripts, lights, sound, music, supporting players, attendance, weekly receipts. Starting with the stars - the preachers - I researched their world and was intrigued by their "onstage" and "offstage" lives, meaning in and out of the pulpit. Fascinating. I want to stress that GOD'S MAN IN TEXAS is fiction, it's not at all a depiction of those events in Texas.

INTERACT: Were you raised with a religious background? How did your background impact your writing of this play?

DR: The biggest impact has been church music; we sang the hymns in the car. Mom was an occasional church organist, and Great Aunt Bertha played hymns on our piano when she visited. I still love to listen to the old songs. As far as regular church services, our family belonged to a Reformed church in rural Chester County for at least four generations, but I never really liked going there. Church was always too early in the day. I recall a lot of stifled yawns, nosy, judgmental church ladies, bad Victorian religious pictures on the walls, and lackluster, off-key singing. A few times in the summer, one of the more fanatical neighborhood mothers would kidnap us and take us to Holy Roller tent meetings. I had a ball at those. The snow cone story in the play came right from that experience.

INTERACT: One part of InterAct's mission is to produce plays with political themes, and we obviously feel this play has political dimensions. To what extent do you see this pastoral power struggle as analogous to secular power struggles? Were you writing a political play?

DR: I suppose megachurches - indeed, any large, hierarchical organization - have always been drenched in political intrigue. Certainly the church in Rome is one historical example, and the theocracies of ancient times were nothing if not political, so it's there. But I can't say I was thinking, "This is a political play," as I was writing. Actually, I see the play as a parable about art and artists, and the struggle, in a society where art is commerce, to find a space in which to create from pure inspiration.

INTERACT: Your play mentions the Bush family (father and son) as attendees at Rock Baptist. How do you feel about the "megachurch phenomenon" in our country, particularly in their desire to spotlight themselves in the political arena, and in their support of specific political agendas?

DR: Let me tell you about something that occurred during rehearsals for the play's Louisville premiere. The literary staff from Actors Theatre and I attended services at the brand-new local megachurch. At the conclusion of the service, the assistant pastor came out to ask everyone to join him in prayer. I think there were about 9,000 people in the room, which is just a little over half its capacity, and all 9,000 heads bowed. This assistant pastor then prayed for God to intervene in an upcoming Louisville City Council vote and deny civil rights protections to homosexuals in housing and employment, though the pastor phrased his request a bit differently. Our group from the theatre were horrified; we suddenly felt like Jews in Berlin in the '30s. This kind of mixing of religion and politics is terribly divisive and dangerous. It seems to dominate the debate in churches and in government these days, and in a particlarly nasty "us vs. them" manner, and I think it's just counter-productive in the long run. One of the beautiful things about this country is that everyone is free to practice a religion - or no religion - anytime, anywhere, as long as that practice isn't imposed by the government. This is a tremendous freedom, and an increasingly fragile one.

INTERACT: Many cultural critics feel that by broadcasting over radio and television, evangelicals play off of our society's faith in technology to reinforce their religious messages. What do you think of this idea?

DR: The converse argument is always something like "if Jesus were here today, the Sermon on the Mount would have been on cable." I don't know. Evangelism by definition is a call to reach the widest audience, so it makes sense to utilize technology in preaching, but it gets carried to extremes. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker may have had God in their hearts, but all you have to do is look at tapes of their shows to see what they were about first and foremost was getting on TV. I had to make the decision how to treat the media ministry in the play. I could have been cynical, but chose instead to reflect the characters' perspectives on the issue, which are that broadcast media are exciting, valuable ways to spread the gospel.

INTERACT: When Jerry first arrives to "audition" at Rock Baptist Church, his preaching is part of a study series on the book of Exodus. Is there anything in particular which made you choose to have Jerry speak about Moses' plight in Exodus, as opposed to the story of Jesus?

DR: Yes. I wanted to draw all of the audience into the play, which is tricky when the milieu is as loaded a thing as religion, so I sought something from the first part of the Old Testament, something that Christians and Jews alike would recognize. As I read Exodus, that passage where Moses asks God to do something, and God agrees, telling Moses, "I am pleased with you" just jumped out at me. I thought of all the praise man gives God in the Bible - and how much praise God demands - and it struck me that God almost never praises his creation, Man. It seemed to reflect so much of Jerry's experience, and his need for approval.

INTERACT: Given the recent highly publicized decision of the Southern Baptists to consign women to official secondary status, it's ironic how much power, Julia, Gottschall's wife seems to wield. Do you think there's a kind of behind the scenes feminism in the real world of church power?

DR: Oh, absolutely, otherwise the male hierarchy wouldn't feel compelled to issue these role-defining edicts based on gender.

INTERACT: There are a great many Bible verses in your play. How did you decide which passages to use?

DR: The Bible really has a passage relevant to just about any situation anyone could ever experience. They're all in there, but sifting through them and finding the right ones - sometimes I spent hours on one quote. I had the Bible on my laptop hard-drive and often used a word-search to help find the right passages. I used several different translations and a bunch of concordances as well. The process was, if you'll forgive me, a "revelation."

INTERACT: You've gotten a lot of response from the religious community to this play, much of it very positive. What surprised you most about the response?

DR: First, let me say I've been enormously gratified by the way the play speaks to both religious and non-religious people. That's what I had hoped for, and it's what makes sitting with an audience watching the play so rewarding for me time after time. I was disappointed, though, that the head of the Southern Baptist Convention, after seeing the play at its Louisville premiere, had nothing good to say about it. I mean, he just hated it, unlike his pastors and their congregations, who, almost without fail, have taken the play to heart and cheered for it.