Iowa church establishes summer theater program for area youth

The cast of Take 2 Summer Youth Theater’s production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”

Since participating in the Missional Church Learning Experience (MCLE) offered by American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS), First Baptist Church of Fort Dodge—an Iowa town with an alarming teen suicide rate—has established “Take 2 Summer Youth Theater” to provide stability, foster creativity and build self-esteem in area youth.

MCLE is an initiative that asks churches to aid their outside communities, and Fort Dodge residents identified teens as the greatest concern.

“There has been one suicide or attempted suicide a year for the last four to five years,” says Mary Jo Laupp, managing director of Take 2 Summer Youth Theater and wife of the church’s pastor, the Rev. Jim Laupp. “We asked the community, ‘If you could pick one problem for the church to focus on, what would it be?’ This kept coming up time and time again―that there are teens who didn’t feel connected to anything, didn’t have much to offer, didn’t feel like they were valued.”

A theater program was a natural for Mary Jo, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and whose experience in community and public school theater includes leading and chorus roles; vocal, music and pit orchestra direction; and production directing.

Take 2 presented “GODSPELL” as dinner theater.

The program welcomes youth of all talent levels and religious persuasions. “These kids came from just about every type of home situation you can imagine, and I was honored to be adopted as a second Mom for a couple of them,” Mary Jo says.

Take 2 debuted in June 2011 with a cast of seven junior high school students—one from the church and six from the outside community—doing two performances of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” In August, a cast of 10 high school and college students—three from the church and seven from the community—performed three “GODSPELL” shows, each replete with a sizeable family-style meal of salad, spaghetti, green beans, garlic bread and ice cream.

A variety of sources both in and out of the church donated time and money to the productions. Church members are happy to see their fellowship hall’s stage—used for nothing more than storage in decades—returned to its true purpose, and one of them
stepped up to have the aged curtains either replaced or cleaned and repaired.

In addition to lending support, the congregation and community have proven appreciative. “Every single person that came to the shows just loved them,” says Mary Jo. Noting that academia tends to cut performing arts programs, she adds: “The town has sports leagues, but the closest place to us with children’s theater is in Des Moines, which is an hour-and-a-half away.”

Because “GODSPELL” is based on Matthew’s Gospel, the congregation requested a song during a recent Sunday service. The cast happily obliged by performing Mary Jo’s choreographed version of the Motown-style “O Bless the Lord, My Soul.”

For more information about MCLE, contact the Rev. Glynis LaBarre, ABHMS transformation strategist, at glynis.labarre@abhms.org or 800-222-3872, x2412.

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