“Her slyly subversive drama ambushes its audience with an earnest and surprisingly moving Christian church service that might be the most unlikely provocation produced in years.” —New York Times

Playwright /director Young Jean Lee, whose Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven was the sold-out hit of Out There 19, returns with her most stirring and potentially disturbing work. Even as Church’s charismatic and left-leaning central preacher defies traditionally held Christian assumptions, he conveys a passionate message about religion having the power to transform lives, backed up by three female ministers. . . .

“Her slyly subversive drama ambushes its audience with an earnest and surprisingly moving Christian church service that might be the most unlikely provocation produced in years.” —New York Times

Playwright /director Young Jean Lee, whose Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven was the sold-out hit of Out There 19, returns with her most stirring and potentially disturbing work. Even as Church’s charismatic and left-leaning central preacher defies traditionally held Christian assumptions, he conveys a passionate message about religion having the power to transform lives, backed up by three female ministers. Hear the word and feel the power as the preaching, dance, and a full gospel choir deliver “a work so enjoyable, so intricate, and so thought-provoking [that] it’s only appropriate to give thanks and praise” (New York Sun).

Special Church-related tour Thursday at 7 pm (free with event ticket).



Co-presented with the National Performance Network (NPN). CHURCH was co-commissioned by the Vienna Festival 2008, the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University, and Performance Space 122 and is a National Performance Network Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Walker Art Center, in partnership with The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, and the National Performance Network. NPN and the NPN Creation Fund is sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Altria, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org. Support provided by the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund. Additional support provided by Leni and David Moore, Jr. /The Moore Family Fund for the Arts of The Minneapolis Foundation.