Terry Farrell
Record Staff
Acacia Mitchell has just written her second play.
Not bad for a 12-year-old.
Mitchell has written – and plays a leading role in – Who is He? The Real Story, a modern-day adaptation of the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Her play will be performed at the Bay Community Church’s Easter Sunday service (10 a.m., April 5).
The plot follows three reporters from the Bethlehem Times, who have been sent by their editor to cover the crucifixion of Jesus.
The media members are recurring roles from Mitchell’s first play, a similar storyline, surrounding the birth of Christ.
That play was presented at the church’s Christmas service.
Mitchell has been working on the Easter script for more than two months, having started this one shortly after the Christmas performance was complete.
It’s a lot of work for single-performance plays. She said what she takes out of the experience makes all the work worth its while.
“I get the opportunity to be with people, to express my work, to grow in my writing, and to grow in my faith of Jesus,” she said. “I went though numerous drafts with this one. The first draft I wrote in about two days, but then there was a lot of editing and tweaking, as I sent emails to people getting advice.”
There is a cast of more than a dozen in the play, which will account for roughly 20 minutes of the Easter Sunday service.
Indeed, Acacia has a bit of pull with Bay Community Church - her father, David, is the pastor.
But this isn’t a case of dad leaning on his daughter to come up with content for a special service.
“If anything, it’s the other way around,” said Acacia. “I have to pressure him to allow me to do it! I’ve been writing short skits often for our services, but that’s really my thing. No one had ever really done that before and it was my idea.
“So I think even if I wasn’t the pastor’s daughter, I still would have wanted to write this play. This isn’t my parents’ faith. This is my faith.”
“There are things we do in terms of teaching our kids, but what they do in terms of vocation and using their gifts is something that we just try to spot what’s happening and go along with it, as best as we can,” said Dave. “We just try to keep up with them.”
Lenna Heffernan is directing the Easter production and said Acacia has a special talent.
“She has a natural gift of understanding the flow of a story, and the proper way of weaving a story, even combining past and future,” said Heffernan. “Even the way she took characters from her Christmas play and built on them. She has a talent, for sure.”
The public is welcome to attend the service and see Acacia’s production.
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