Laughter is Sacred Space: The Not-So-Typical Journey of a Mennonite Actor
Ebook
Overview
Ted Swartz and his Ted & Company TheaterWorks team are known for blending Bible stories with comedy and poignancy, and pushing the envelope on issues of faith and social justice. But who is Ted Swartz?
Follow along in this engaging memoir as Swartz finds his way as a middle child in an eastern Pennsylvania traditional Mennonite home to his early work in the family butcher shop. Journey with Ted through the decision of uprooting his young family to attend seminary and then embracing life as a writer and actor. Get a glimpse into the friendship that led to the formation of the popular acting duo Ted & Lee.
This uniquely honest backstage tour of an artist’s life and mind combines side-splitting reminiscences, heart-rending accounts of loss, and touching stories of restored faith and love. Swartz’s engaging humor blends with his own stories of triumph and tragedy, and helps readers understand their own sense of place and how they’re shaped by those around them.
Read the forward by Bryan Mclaren under the “Excerpt” tab and see what is already being said about the book under the “Quotes” tab!
"Laughter Is Sacred Space is even funnier than Mennonite in a Little Black Dress—an authentic and profound snapshot of what it means to grow up and live Mennonite."
—Howard Zehr, professor of restorative justice, Eastern Mennonite University
"Ted Swartz is a gift. He unveils some of the most tragic pain and injustice of our world . . . but he knows that if we can’t laugh then the devil has already won. Laughter reminds us that we know the end of the story—and in the end we see life conquer death and love triumph over hatred."
—Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and lover of Jesus
About the author
Purchase Ted and Company scripts and DVDs
Product Details
- Title : Laughter is Sacred Space: The Not-So-Typical Journey of a Mennonite Actor
- Author: Swartz, Ted
- Publisher: Herald Press
- Publication Date: 2012
- ISBN: 9780836196917
<a href=”http://www.heraldpress.com/titles/LaughterIsSacredSpace/docs/LaughterIsSacredSpace_pp17-28.pdf">Download FREE sample chapter here!</a>
Foreword
by Brian McLaren
Thousands of us have seen Ted Swartz perform—solo, with his colleague Lee, or with others.
We’ve laughed, gasped, winced, and maybe even cried as heushered us from the sublime, promptly and unceremoniously, tothe ridiculous. Or vice versa.
When we’ve seen actors and comedians onstage (not to mentionpreachers in-pulpit) we’ve all wondered what their lives werereally like offstage. Is their private persona anything like their publicone? (As Ted says, “You cannot fall into the habit of believingin your own public persona, because—believe me—your wifesure doesn’t.”) So we wonder, when the spotlight flicks off, do theactors transform from clowns to grouches? From exhibitionists torecluses? From beauties to beasts, or artists to jerks?
Tabloids and TV shows sometimes try to raid the privacy ofpublic personas and steal a peak into their personal lives. Theresult is that public people guard their privacy even more carefully.
Only rarely does an actor or other public figure step off thestage and simply open up as a fellow human being. That’s why thebook you have in front of you right now is so valuable, so important.
For many years I was a fan of Ted’s, sitting in the back row (myfavorite place when I’m not on stage myself ), smiling and laughing,admiring from a distance. Then some years ago, I had the privilege of getting to know Ted as a friend.
As I read his story, I felt Ted’s friendliness shining through. Theperson I’ve gotten to know offstage is honestly reflected in thesepages.
Ted’s honesty is the kind that requires courage. You’ll uncoversome frank and hard stuff here, much of it left floating in betweenthe lines so you can feel it if you want to, or avoid it if you don’t.In that space, there’s loss and conflict, and dry spells and sadness.There’s depression and death and grief and loss.
And it’s all sandwiched between thick slices of whole-wheatlaughter. Sometimes it’s highbrow, witty laughter. Sometimes . . . let’sjust say that Ted isn’t above getting a laugh from slapstick, malapropisms,and old-fashioned silliness—down to the level of passinggas or spilling coffee on a sensitive body part.
Somewhere in there, between the sublime and ridiculous,there’s “a whole ’nother thing”: the profound and poignant. And ifyou’re reading with any degree of consciousness, you’ll find a strongdose of that. For example, you’ll encounter a hug—an onstage hugthat becomes immeasurably significant a few days later, along withthe line that precedes it.
And you’ll feel moments of anger and hope and downrightresilience, too.
If you’ve got some unhealed wounds, ungrieved losses, or evenuncounted blessings (and who doesn’t?), reading these pages willbe like a good night at the theater. Turning the last page will be likewalking across the parking lot after the final curtain and getting inyour car.
You won’t want to start the car or turn on the radio. You’ll justwant to sit for a while and let what you’ve experienced settle in.
A theologian friend recently hit me with a wild proposition:the secular is the domain of the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit was hoveringover the surface of the waters in creation,” he said, “long beforethere were any religions or temples or denominations. That’swhy all of creation—what we call ‘the secular’—isn’t profane. It’ssacred."
Ted knows that. The sacred secular of laughter, tears, joy, pain,tragedy, comedy . . . it’s all the stage on which the Spirit plays.
And where we do, too.
—Brian McLaren,
Author of Naked Spirituality and A New Kind of Christianity