Oct. 26 Performance to Raise Questions about the Environment

Tevyn East will perform Leaps and Bounds at 7 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at the
Norma & Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship.

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Rethinking humankind's relationship with the Earth will be the theme of an upcoming one-woman show at Lindsey Wilson College.

"Leaps and Bounds," presented by The Affording Hope Project and featuring artist Tevyn East, will be performed at 7 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at the Lindsey Wilson College Norma & Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship.

The event -- which is part of the 2010-11 Lindsey Wilson Cultural Affairs Series -- is free and open to the public.

"Leaps and Bounds" is a 75-minute, one-woman show that explores the intersection of faith, ecology and the global economy.

"This is a particularly relevant show considering the recent ecological crises in the Gulf of Mexico and now in Hungary," said LWC Cultural Affairs Series Chair Phil Hanna, who is also the college's director of library services.

"Leaps and Bounds" employs a number of creative tools, including storytelling, song, poetry, prayer, movement and music.

"It is a work of theater that sheds light on the driving factors of the current ecological crisis while awakening audience members' imagination to a new way of living with and relating to Earth," Hanna said. "Grounded in theological reflection, Leaps and Bounds embodies an adventure, searching for the values that would support an economic system that promotes human well-being and ecological health."

Written in collaboration with well-known New Testament biblical scholar Ched Myers, "Leaps and Bounds" is produced and performed by East. With foot-stomping songs, playful humor and daring dance sequences, East's performance draws the audience along a compelling journey.

"Leaps and Bounds" has been shared with more that 30 audiences in 23 U.S. cities. This fall, the show is touring faith communities and college campuses in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and South.

The show "opens the past to critical reflection, the present to prophetic challenge, and the future to new possibilities," said Von Clemons, pastor of adult education at Myers Park Presbyterian in Charlotte, N.C.

The daughter of two Presbyterian (USA) ministers, East has spent most of her adult life developing original works of dance theater. She has also taught dance and organized workshops and other cultural events in Charlottesville, Va.

East conceived of "Leaps and Bounds" while working with the Faith, Economy, Ecology Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of mostly faith-based organizations and individuals. Resource material from FEE and other faith-based initiatives will be available at the Oct. 26 show.

"This magical performance" leaves audience members "laughing, humming and crying -- and wanting to understand more about how our faith can inform our vision of the Judeo- Christian story that will move us to action," said the Rev Dennis J. Parker of the Campus Minister at Portland State University.