Michigan Festival of Sacred Music

Saturday, March 14, 2009, 8 pm

TATTERED AND WORN: An Eccentric Look at the Good Book
First United Methodist Church
212 S. Park in downtown Kalamazoo
Tickets ($15 adult, $12 senior, $5 student and child) available at the door, or in advance by calling 269.382.2910 or emailing director@mfsm.us

A Ted & Company TheaterWorks Production

TATTERED AND WORN weaves monologue, song and sketches into an entertaining look at the way God interacts with God’s people, from Genesis to Revelation. Starring Ted Swartz and Jeff Raught. Finding the humor and humanity in biblical stories has long been a hallmark of Ted & Lee TheaterWorks. In Tattered & Worn, Ted and Jeff explore what it means to worship a God who searches for connections with us, even sending His Son to live among us. Ted and Jeff have created a new show that explores what it means to lose your faith – and to find it again.

The show opens with a homeless man (Zeus played by Ted) finding a tattered, worn book in the subway and witnessing the death of a jay-walking pigeon. With the help of a piano-playing angel (Gabriel played by Jeff), Zeus rediscovers the faith he lost years ago as Gabriel encourages him to enact some great Bible stories. Gabriel weaves the great folk hymn What Wondrous Love movingly throughout the play. Jeff has composed original songs as well, including the raucous “No Manna!”—a duet sung together with Aaron, brother of the big man himself.

In 1987 Ted Swartz graduated from seminary and began a ministry that took him, not to a pulpit in a congregation, but to audiences across this country and beyond. The first 20 years of this work was done as part of the duo, Ted & Lee. Since the sudden death of his acting partner in May 2007, Ted is presenting his unique dramas with a variety of actors. Ted lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Along with writing and acting, his loves include his wife Sue, three sons, Eliot, Ian, and Derek---and new daughter-in-laws, Katrina and Hannah; oh, and baseball. Jeff Raught is equal parts actor, composer and minister of music. He has composed original scores of music for theatre and dance companies, and as a founding member of the band Raught N Shane has performed on the keyboards extensively over the past 15 years. Jeff first worked with Ted Swartz in the musical, Live at Jacob's Ladder, reprising the role of blind musician/Isaac (originally written by Ken Medema) and helped with development of these characters. Jeff also serves at Ridgeview Mennonite Church in Lancaster County, Pa. as the Minister of Music. He and his wife Cindy have two sons, Alan and young Ed.