By Portia Williams
WEST PORTSMOUTH — Dry Run Church of Christ, 22336 St. Rt. 73 in West Portsmouth is hosting, ‘Face Your Fears: Darkest Secrets’ Walk Through Drama Oct. 15, from 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m., and Oct.1 6-17 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. The event is free, and is not recommended for children ages 12 and under.
Scott Powell, one of the coordinators of the Darkest Secrets Walk Through Drama, said the drama depicts a family that appears to be perfect, but in reality, is dealing with some deep, dark secrets.
“This year we are calling it, ‘Family,’ seeing how sometimes what is perceived to be the perfect family, there these dark secrets, that could be affecting each person’s life, and we kind of explore that in the scenes throughout,” Powell said.
He said a crew of about 70 volunteers from Dry Run Church of Christ contributed to make the production possible.
“The volunteers have been working extremely hard over several weeks, that’s actors, that is set-builders, sound technicians, and more,” he said.
He said light refreshments will be served as guests wait to view the drama.
“As our guests come in we will have some free refreshments, some hot chocolate and cookies as the guests wait in line,” he said. “We will also have some counselors, there is really a wide range of skills and volunteers that are being used to pull this off.”
Attendees will walk through a series of scenes during the course of the drama.
“We have a family scene, and then we have a scene where you see the family interaction. We have a scene where you see the interaction between the parents, and a scene where you see the tough choices that the kids made that lead to different outcomes in their lives,” he said. ” There is also a walk-through of Hell at some point. Some people do look at this as an alternative to a haunted house, and we like to think of it as more than just that. It is not an event just to scare people, but it is an event to kind of explore choices, and how they can impact one’s life, ultimately in light of eternity from a Christian perspective.”
He said the it also serves an a source of outreach from their church to the community.
“Really, what it is, is an outreach from our church, which gives people an alternative to something that they may do for Halloween that has a message in it as well,” he said.”There are some scenes that we do not feel would be appropriate for those who are 12 and under, so it is geared toward teens and up.”
According to Powell, they had approximately 700 people that came out to the Face Your Fears Walk Through Drama.
“So we had about 700 people that actually came out, and that was the first time in about 10 and a half years that our church has hosted it,” he said. “In those times, I believe they would have crowds of as many as 2,000 people to come out. For our first year starting back with this, we felt really good about 700, but it is really hard to say how many people will actually come out.”
Mark Seevers, Pastor of Dry Run Church of Christ, said this year’s theme, ‘Darkest Secrets’ will point people to hope, despite the dark secrets in their lives.
“Even though we’ve all made wrong choices, there is a hope that is found in Jesus Christ, that even though we have these dark secrets in our lives, God can provide the light for us to find our way out through his son Jesus,” Seevers said.
Reach Portia Williams at 740-353-3101, ext. 1929, or on Twitter@PortiaWillPDT.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
