Them Not So Dry Bones

Picture this:
A young lady digging through barrels of newly-extricated, cartilage-covered animal bones with her bare hands.
What would drive her to such madness?
Her love of Jesus, Shakespeare, and the kids on the North Side.

"What does this have to do with Jesus, Shakespeare, or the kids on the North Side?" you may ask.

Well, last year, when we began the Shakes program, we realized that, although we know about acting and directing, we don't know a whole lot about Shakespeare as literature. We needed a Shakespeare expert to help us and the kids explore Shakespeare to the fullest. So we sent out a job description to some local Christian colleges, and one English teacher said, "I know exactly who you need."

Enter Brittany- an enthusiastic, bright, Godly woman who LOVES Shakespeare. And I mean LOVES. She was invaluable last year- teaching interactive English classes, helping plan the trips, driving kids home, working on lines after rehearsal and on weekends... she really gave her all. She was also in charge of props last year. She had never before looked for a 1930's gun that fired blanks or a dummy gun that matched exactly. She had never thought about what kind of flowers a priest would have or painted dozens of wooden hangers black. But she dove in enthusiastically and did a fantastic job with the props.
So when we asked her to come back this year, she said yes!

This years show, however, is very different from last year. And one of the props that Eric wants is bones. Real animal bones. Skulls, specifically. So Brittany got to work! She called slaughter houses and meat packing companies around Pittsburgh, until one said, in an Eastern-European accent, "Yes. You may have bones. Come and get."

So Brittany faithfully followed her google maps through a cute little neighborhood, and right in between the picket fences, she found her slaughterhouse. She didn't know what to expect, but she describes it as "a scene out of Rocky" with animal carcasses hanging from hooks in the refrigerated room. "It was a forest of meat," she says, and that image alone would be enough to send me running!

But not Brittany. Our Florida girl waded through a half-inch layer of who-knows-what with her flip-flops until she got to a room with three barrels of bones. "Here you go," the man said. "We no have gloves." He got her a cardboard box, and Brittany dug through three barrels of fresh bones with her bare hands.  Let me say that again: She dug through three barrels of fresh bones with her bare hands.

And that's not all. He had also promised her skulls. "Is goat good?" he asked. And he reached into a fourth barrel and pulled out an entire goat head by the ear. The eyes were still there. The brain was still there. The thing still had fur and a tongue! "Yes," Brittany said, keeping her breakfast down, "Goat is fine."

Brittany left with a box full of cow and sheep bones, and the promise of four cleaned skulls if she came back in a few days.

The day before she had started praying for an interesting life. :)

Stay tuned for more updates on rehearsals, the show, the kids, and the bones!

Prayer Requests:
A performance space we're having some problems with.
Tech, tech, tech!
Our wonderful kids' safety.
Sanity for the leaders.