But isn't there a stereotype of theater life as too liberal or even repellent to some conservative Christians? Most theater socializing is no wilder "than an office party at an investment firm," Savidge said. All jobs present some conflicts, he noted, and people should know "when to say no and when to say excuse me."
The conference explored practical and spiritual issues in the classrooms and dance studios of Azusa Pacific, an evangelical Christian school in Azusa. At a session of "Staging Christian Classics," directors and designers shared tips on elaborate versions of C.S. Lewis' Christian-themed "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and bare-bones productions of the musical "Godspell." In other classes, people spoke of the difficulty of sustaining the iPod-Facebook generation's attention for religious theater or sermons.
Christians in Theater Arts seeks to encourage new plays and movie scripts that have Christian or moral content. Harrel's "Second Bloom" won this year's top prize in the group's writing contest, beating out 30 or so other submissions, and received a staged reading.
Some of the plays had overt biblical or Christian themes, but many tackled contemporary issues without proselytizing, said Joseph Frost, a theater professor who oversaw the contest.
"We are stepping beyond something that is strictly an evangelical piece," said Frost, who teaches at Belhaven College, a Presbyterian school in Jackson, Miss. "We are trying to nurture good plays but written by people who have a particular view of life that happens to be consistent with the Christian outlook of the world. But the idea is that it is still a good play and not a good play because it espouses this. It is a good play and it does this."
Some of Frost's students come from conservative, home-schooled backgrounds and have had little prior contact with modern drama. Nevertheless, he has them study works by playwrights such as David Mamet, Sam Shepard and Tony Kushner.
"You can't be a theater person and be ignorant of those things," Frost said.
Those plays, along with Broadway shows he recently saw in New York -- "Spring Awakening" and "August: Osage County" -- may have rough language and themes, but, Frost said, all "raise questions Christians should be wrestling with: What is my position in the world? What is my position to others? How do I deal with struggle and strife?"
