c. 2000 Religion News Service

ATLANTA _ “Wrapping a sermon around a drama,” evangelist and best-selling author T.D. Jakes has taken on the issues of breast cancer and marital infidelity in a musical drama that premiered this week at the Atlanta Civic Center.

“Behind Closed Doors,” co-authored by Jakes and writer Tyler Perry, opened to a crowd just 300 shy of the center’s 4,600-seat capacity, according to Shawn Wood, public relations coordinator for The Potter’s House, Jakes’ 26,000-member Dallas church.

Jakes’ new production weaves the soulful improvisation of black gospel with other musical styles in a dramatic retelling of the Genesis story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. Thrusting the old into a thoroughly new setting, the play explores the conflict resulting when a woman recuperating from a mastectomy pays her female domestic to meet the unfulfilled sexual needs of her husband.

The 21st century version echoes the sexual tensions of the biblical original, where Sarah, unable to bear Abraham his divinely promised child, offers him her slave Hagar. Jakes’ play makes the debilitating effects of breast cancer the motive for seeking a surrogate lover.

Interviewed before the Atlanta opening, Jakes underscored the devastating effects of breast cancer, especially among African-American women. Echoing data gathered by his organization, Jakes said a new case is diagnosed in the United States every three minutes and breast cancer claims another woman’s life every 12 minutes.

The American Cancer Society cites the disease as the No. 2 killer cancer among African-American women, following lung cancer.

Jakes’ decision to square off against breast cancer in the play reflects a ministry focus that goes beyond spiritual matters.

“As we endeavor to bring … ministry in all of its facets,” he said, “it includes to me dealing with the body, the soul … and the spirit.”

The play’s premiere was prelude to Jakes’ third straight “Woman, Thou Art Loosed” conference in Atlanta, which broke attendance records last year at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. An event that attracts principally women, especially minorities, the conference scheduled this week features an economic empowerment seminar and a business expo.

While co-author Perry said he targeted an African-American audience, he believes the musical drama has broader appeal. “There are lots of people … who will come to see a play but won’t go to church,” said Perry.

The use of a racially diverse cast in “Behind Closed Doors” replicates the social barriers between the characters in the biblical story. The play’s modern “Sarah” _ with the same name as her Genesis counterpart _ and husband Howard, analog to Abraham _ are an affluent white family.

Diana, the domestic worker whom Sarah offers $15,000 to be Howard’s stand-in lover, is a young African-American whose husband, Vernon, has just lost his job. Vernon, like the remainder of the characters, is also African-American. Other characters include Vernon’s deeply spiritual mother Minnie and Diana’s fellow domestic Wilma.

At the story’s end, Diana’s willingness and Howard’s eager acceptance almost destroy Howard’s marriage with Sarah. But he eventually opts for wife over lover. Similarly turning to God, Wilma winds up with Vernon, who divorces the adulterous Diana.

Jakes’ play pulled few punches in its frank portrayal of the story’s sexual dynamics. Upon Sarah’s urgings, Diana slinks down the staircase of the two-story set in a provocative red dress Howard intended for his ailing wife. When Diana tells her suspicious husband to back off with his questions, Vernon retorts, “I’m not the one that’s on your back. Somebody else is.”

“I’m just about speechless,” said Jacqueline Hairston of New York after the play. Herself victim of a debilitating illness affecting her skin and muscles, Hairston revealed that less than six months ago, she was being bathed by a nurse. “God is real,” Hairston added. “No matter what happened yesterday, you can come out of it.”

Other viewers connected with different themes. Atlanta resident Gwendolyn Jordan identified with Vernon’s righteous mother in the play. “I believe in people … living on their mother’s prayer, especially when they don’t have God in their life,” she said.

Nikki Renfroe of Milledgeville, Ga., said the evening “brought about awareness … about breast cancer for women.” She said, “It spoke to me about adultery … fornication, all the sins.”

Jakes linked the idea for the play to “creative brainstorming” about the biblical story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. When Jakes told writer Perry his thoughts, “immediately I could hear the dialogue,” Perry said. As the two collaborated, Perry added, Jakes “would write scenes and send them back to me.”

Asked why he turned to the stage to communicate the Christian message, Jakes responded, “I’m a very dramatic person by nature.” The evangelist, whose books have been both New York Times and Christian Book Association best sellers, rejoices in his opportunities for self-expression.

“One of the things that I have most enjoyed about my life was the freedom to be diverse … not to be confined to being one-dimensional because I’m a Christian, because I’m a pastor,” he said. “My idea of success is to be able to bring to fruition every creative thought that God put in you before your life is over.”

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With his writing often dealing with women’s issues, the evangelist credits his insight into women’s problems to a capacity to understand others’ struggles. “I’m a real good listener,” he said, adding, “I’m a connoisseur of the different ages and stages of life.”

Jakes said that running through most of what he does is a “message … that says you can make it.” Taking to the stage after the play, he echoed his characteristic theme in an evangelistic epilogue, telling the audience that whatever the struggle, “you can still be a survivor.”

Audience member Renfroe thought the play offered hope. “No matter what you’ve done,” she said, “God will never turn his back on you.”

DEA END PARKS