BillLindau

Adam Faw goes over prints of madonna paintings to be used in "Living Madonnas", produced Dec. 17, 2006, at Community Congregational Church, Southern Pines, N.C. Faw served as artistic director for this production. (Photo by Bill Lindau)
BILL LINDAU
SPECIAL TO THE INDEPENDENT
It's not exactly drama, and it's not straight lecture. "Living Madonnas" has, however, intrigued holiday festivalgoers for the past 20 years. This unique presentation, featuring reproductions of various Renaissance Madonnas with costumed models, will come to the Sandhills again Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Community Congregational Church in Southern Pines.
This biennial production was last shown in 2003, and it has been presented in the Sandhills since 1986. This year, with Adam Faw now serving as artistic director, the organizers are looking forward to putting it on and hopes the religious, the art lovers and the entire community will enjoy it. The program begins at 7 p.m. that day. Refreshments will be served by church members.
As a narrator tells the story of the Nativity, a total of 10 life-sized reproductions of certain Madonnas are spotlighted, with a costumed model posing as the Madonna in each reproductions. The program features music between the presentation of the paintings with the live Madonna models.
"It's such a visual thing. It's like art, it's visual," says Sue Bowling, publicity chairperson for "Living Madonnas".
Joan Bridgeman Smith returns as the narrator. "She has written some of the scripts,"Bowling says. Sue Aceves serves as the music coordinator.
"The first time I saw it, I had no idea what it was," Bowling said. "The scene is a backdrop for what the masterpiece is."
"It's more like a lecture series," she adds. "It's a narration with a still-life pose....It's not a show in terms of an educational type of thing. It's just spiritual, unusual."
A transplanted New Yorker named Ann Schwer introduced this program to the church during the 1980s. "She had seen this done in a Long Island church," Bowling said.
"I've worked with some church dramas, but nothing specifically like this," said Faw, who teaches dramatics at Pinecrest High School. "I'd never heard of something being done like this before."
Faw describes "Living Madonnas" as "in the category of still-life recreations, not a drama."
Faw says the biggest challenge to shaping up this program is working with the 10 Madonna models, all of them high-school students.
"Each model will have dressers, and then we have to get everything organized so that everything will pull together at the end."
It takes a lot of teamwork and a lot of people to put this production on, Bowling says.
"The night of the program, you have quite a few people," she says. "You're looking at 30 to 50 people doing different things.
She says there are about six people serving as coordinators, including herself, Faw and Aceves. There is also a core committee. Besides the models and the musicians, there are people doing costumes, setting up the stage, the construction sets, lighting, ushers and women of the church serving refreshments.
Everyone involves has a single dress rehearsal the Saturday before the program, Bowling says. The musicians may be the exception, practicing on their own.
Dec. 14, 2003, was the last time the production took place. About 250 to 300 attended that program, in a sanctuary with a capacity of 360. "Living Madonnas" alternates with a full-orchestra Christmas concert, Bowling says.
Faw showed this reporter the names of the paintings chosen for this year's show. Bowling says this is the first time since the 1990s that the show has used any of them. The 10 reproductions are Raphael's "The Holy Family"; Roberto Ferruzzi Sr.'s "Madonna of the Streets"; Tommaso's "Virgin Adoring the Christ", Gentile da Fabriano's "Madonna and Child"; William Dyce's "Madonna and Child"; Raphael's "Madonna of Loreto"; Francesor Francia Raibolini's "Madonna and Child with Two Apples"; "The Manger", by Gertrude Kasebier and "Madonna of the Prairies", by W.H.D. Koerner.
The 2003 program featured another Madonna by Raphael, as well as "The Adoration of the Magi" by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, and Sandro Botticelli's "Madonna and Child."
MariJo Brown, the music director for the church, is involved. Among the recent performers were the octet for the church choir, Mary Emma Wilson and Gerry Tobias with a piano duet, Aceves, Brown and Darlene Skinner on piano, The Joy Singers, consisting of Joan Bridgeman Smith, Shirley Reardon, Carole Amlot and Carolyn Coons, Kaitlyn Johnson on violin, Marion Turner on flute and Ed Smith, a baritone, performing "O Holy Night" with Brown on piano.
As artistic director, Faw selected the paintings to do for this show, Bowling said. "Every one to do it (serve as artistic director) has been an artist."
This is Faw's fourth year in the dramatics program at Pinecrest High School. A native of Pilot Mountain, he took this position right after graduating from Appalachian State University.
"I didn't do theatre until just before I went to college," Faw said. "And I was hooked."
"This is definitely one of the strongest (artistic) communities I've seen," Faw added.
Faw actually serves as theatre productions director for the high school. He has served as technical director for many of the shows as well. The biggest production in which he has been involved at the school has been a spring musical.
He says the week of a show can consume a great deal of his time.
"During production week, I'll probably spend 12 hours a day here," he says. "I try not to do that for some of the big productions. But around showtime it can get very busy."