Tom Eggleston and I had been co-directors of the Drama Ministry at St. Andrews Baptist Church in Columbia back in the mid-2000's. He went on to be the Minister of Music at First Baptist Church in Lancaster, SC. We ran into each other one day, and he asked if I would come there and narrate their 4th of July presentation. I could also do one of my Bible-character monologues on the Wednesday night before the 4th. He said they would pay me to do it. I said yes.
I hadn't done anything in a while, but it is like riding a bike. He took me up there on Wednesday afternoon, and I met with the pastor. I was torn between two monologues. The first was Hosea, which I was most known for. I had done it the most, having written it in 1979. It had gone through some changes over the years. It was mostly about relationships and marriage. The other was a monologue that was more improvisational in nature. It was called "The Fishing Disciple". I had a basic outline for it, but I would interject things in it that would appeal to the audience I was doing it for. After talking with the pastor, it was decided that I would do the fisherman. I asked Tom what was the predominant sports team that Lancaster would cheer for, and he said the Gamecocks. They had just won the College World Series, so it was easy to weave that into the piece. When I came on stage, the first words out of my mouth were: "How 'bout them Cocks?"! The audience cheered, and I knew I had them in the palm of my hand. That is a feeling that every actor wants. It is better than crickets.
The monologue was well received. Tom had given me a copy of the musical program for Sunday with the narration. I went over it several times at home and worked a little with the choir. Tom had introduced me to them as an actor who had worked with Burt Lancaster and Halle Berry, among others. One elderly man pulled me aside and asked if I had ever worked with Jimmy Cagney. I politely told him no, while wondering how old did he think I was.
As I was preparing for the program, I realized that I had a hard time seeing the narration that I was to read. I had bifocals, but they weren't helping. My suspicion was cataracts, but I couldn't let Tom know. I was afraid they wouldn't pay me, so I went ahead the best I could. One thing you learn as an actor is how to build your emotion to a point and then come back down. There was a place at the end of the program, where I had to say "This is My America!" I had built up to that point a little too soon in the narration. By the time I got to that line, I was screaming. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I couldn't avoid it. The audience never knew. They thought I was supposed to do that. It worked. Afterwards, the Drama Professor at USC-Lancaster came up and told me that I was a good actor. I would have preferred "great", but I took it as a compliment.
A word about First Baptist Lancaster. My great grandfather was the pastor there in the late 1800's. My grandmother was born there. I saw his picture on the wall in the History Room and read some of his sermons. Some people said there was a resemblance between me and him. I guess. There is an old family story that didn't paint him in the best light. He had a black woman, who took care of my grandmother as a baby. One day, she was putting the baby on a wagon and accidentally dropped her on the ground. The pastor whipped the woman for dropping his daughter. It was a different time.
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