Biography
Jeannette Clift George is the founder and artistic director of the A.D. Players, a Houston-based theater company which performs all over the world. Her own extensive background in professional theater includes roles with the New York Shakespeare Company and the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Jeannette's film debut was in "The Hiding Place," for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. [Biographical information is correct as of the broadcast date noted above.]

"O Little Town of Bagels, Tea Cakes and Hamburger Buns" 
I love Christmas. The excitement of this particular time is valid and real. We need something wonderful to celebrate. However, I received my first Christmas card in the first week of November and I was stunned. I was not ready for Christmas. I thought, "Whatever happened to Halloween, Thanksgiving and that waiting for Christmas?"

I remember as a child that Christmas always took so long to arrive. Now, it comes all of a sudden. I always feel that I am never quite ready. Christmas is to be celebrated. It is to be celebrated because of its memories. I have wonderful memories of Christmas. I was an only child. My family was small but we had wonderful traditions. I remember that there was a Christmas tree ornament that was a glistening little bird that had feathery plumage. I always knew that Christmas had begun when daddy would get out that little bird and put it on the top of the Christmas tree.

I remember one Christmas when I wanted a bicycle very, very much. I looked forward to getting a bicycle. I didn't know anything about family economy; I never thought we were poor; I just knew we never had any money. I can see now that a bicycle was a major event for my parents to schedule into their budget. On Christmas morning I came to the living room; I looked at the tree and there at the foot of the tree was a bicycle for me. On the bicycle was a long list of the people who had given little Jeannette that bicycle my grandfather, two aunts, a couple of neighbors, several cousins, mother and daddy, friend and, of course, Santa Claus. not was my bicycle. I think of that because the list of friends has come to mean more to me than the bicycle did. The memory of that morning is precious.

I also know that not all Christmases come to us at merry times. Sometimes we are not ready to celebrate. It is wonderful being this old. Every once in a while I feel sorry for people who think that youth is the best time of life. A friend of mine called me one day and said, "Please come and help me. I am trying to convince my daughter to take a cruise this summer while she is young and can enjoy it." I said that I would be glad to help but if we both failed, I knew someone old who would have a wonderful time. It is wonderful being this old because I have outlived a lot of trends and I have learned a lot of things.

One of the things I have learned is that not all questions have answers; not all hurts heal; not all breaks mend. In that reality, Christmas is to be celebrated. I have also learned that sometimes when I want to be the most together, I am not. Sometimes when we get to Christmas we think, "I'm too tired. There's too much to do. It comes so suddenly; I'll never get it all done."

One time I was flying into Mobile, Alabama, to speak to a conference there. My mother is from Alabama and my ear is very affectionate towards the Alabama accent. I flew in. I got there and. my luggage did not. I went over to the young lady at the baggage and I said, "I wanted to check with you because my luggage did not arrive and I did. I would like us to be together." She said, "Oh, you have lost your luggage." I said, "No, no, I did not lose it. I put it on that belt and I thought it would follow me on that belt until we got to Mobile." She said, "Well, I think that is just terrible and we are going to find your luggage."

I left to go to the conference where I was to speak and came back a little later to see if my luggage was found. When I walked in the door to the terminal, the young lady saw me and started waving to me. She said, "Honey, come over here." I came over there and she said, "We have found your luggage." I said, "Oh, that is wonderful. I am so relieved. Is it behind the counter?" She said, "No, honey, it is not here." I said, "Well, will it come in on one of your other flights?" She said, "No, we don't fly where it is." I said, "Will another airline bring it in? I don't care who brings it in." She said, "No, nobody flies where it is." I said, "I'm just a-twitter with curiosity. How did my luggage go where no one flies?" She looked around to be sure no one would overhear her and then leaned over the counter and said, "Honey, it went by bus."

Many times in my life I feel part of me has gone some other route and we won't be together. Sometimes Christmas comes and we are not together. We have gone through grief experiences. We may be alone; we may be going through the underpart of an economy that is very difficult. You may feel there is no Christmas in your life. I want to tell you in the name of God, Christmas is for you to celebrate.

The Christmas card that I received early in November had a very particular message. I was so startled to find that I was getting a Christmas card in November that I read the verse as though I had never heard it before. It seemed fresh and new — "For today in the City of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." I found myself thinking new thoughts about the old things of Christmas. The proclamation was there has been born to you — to you. Christmas is an invitation to celebrate. To you, a gift.

I direct a Christian theater company and this Christmas season we have a play running called "0, Little Town of Bagels, Tea Cakes and Hamburger Buns." The play is about the contemporary experience of Christmas based on the fact that the people to whom Christ came that first Christmas are the same kinds of people that we are today. Bethlehem means "house of bread." Bread means bagels, tea cakes and hamburger buns. Christmas is not a remote event. It is not a memo tucked away in a history book and forgotten. It is a celebration for right now — for the people who are now, as were the people who were then — some of them hurting, some of them alone, some of them angry, some of them tired, some of them separated from their family, some of them ill. Unto those people, God sent his Christmas card.

Celebrate, for unto you is born this day in your life, the savior — the deliverer.

I have been so intrigued in trying to figure out why Christ was born. Why did He come? One of the little verses that is tucked away in the Gospel of Luke that means so much to me at Christmas is that He came to seek and to save them that are lost. Now there are all kinds of "lostnesses." There are the "lostnesses" of missing a place to be; there is a "lostnesses" of broken relationships; there is the "lostnesses" of the absence of personhood. I believe the Good News of Christmas is this — Christ came to deliver us from "lostnesses."

I flew into a conference in California not very long ago. I don't particularly enjoy flying. I find it difficult to kneel with my seat belt on and I get little uptight. This was a beautiful flight. I was enjoying everything so much. We flew in and landed somewhat abruptly. It caused us to bounce a little more than is shown in the commercials. We rode along for a few feet and then stopped abruptly. The containers inside the plane fell open and people complained about being thrown around a little bit. I said, "That is just another routine flight; perhaps the weather wasn't very good." The gentleman sitting beside me said, "Now we are in for it!" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "We are now in trouble." I said to him, "No, sir, we have landed. Everything is all right. We're on the ground; everything is just fine." He said, "No, it isn't. We are on the wrong runway." I looked down and outside the window I could see a fire truck, a police car and several very agitated people waving to the pilot and calling to him. we could dimly hear the pilot's voice coming back and the gentleman sitting beside me said, "He has landed on the runway for private planes. That is the reason the landing was so difficult. He is on a very narrow space. The reason he stopped so abruptly was he had run out of runway." I said, "Do the little planes that usually land here know we are here? Will they be told of our presence?" He said, "That is the reason we are trying to back out and move around." Everybody was giving directions and it was so difficult getting that big plane backed up, turned around, off that runway and on to the right runway.

You know, sometimes I feel like that. I feel like I've gotten on the wrong runway. I'll look around and everybody else is just doing so fine; everybody else is just radiating joy and peace; everybody else is not doubting everything and there I am, on the wrong runway. You know, that is the celebration of Christmas. This Savior, born this day, in the city of bagels, tea cakes and hamburger buns, is to deliver us from the "lostness" of the wrong runway — to get us back to where we are supposed to be going, to give us a pattern for celebration.

There is a verse in scripture that I have came to love. It is Ecclesiastes 3:11. I have to tell you about me and Ecclesiastes. I teach a regular Bible class. Looking for something new to study one summer, I decided we should whip through the Book of Ecclesiastes. I had never studied it before. I got into it and I would say, "Lord, if you ever get me out of Ecclesiastes, I will never leave Philippians again." It was so difficult. I went and bought commentaries. They skipped the verses I didn't understand either. But, I came to realize it is a book of great celebration. There is one incredible verse in it. I celebrate that verse with you this night, on Christmas Eve, in the celebration of Him who was born for you, that you might celebrate. Ecclesiastes 3:11 is just grand: "He has made everything appropriate in its time ...."

You see, God reaches down and He takes those events when we were on the wrong runway. He takes those incidents when we didn't have our luggage all together; He takes the economy problems and all the things that turn upside down and He makes them part of the tapestry of His love, of His story, of His beauty.

Where you are right now, you belong. God, because He is going to celebrate Christmas with you, will make this event, this time, in you appropriate. Isn't that comforting? Then it says He has set eternity in their hearts — a yearning for that which is beyond. ourselves; a yearning for a broader picture, more than just this little one right now, a yearning for the whole scope of wonder of what life is. Then I love it because He tacks on the end of that verse: "Yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning, even to the end." On this special holy night, let God have His mysteries. Not all questions have answers; not all hurts heal; not all breaks mend, but celebration is in order.

Carla Weaver, who was a very good friend of mine, had been a missionary to Costa Rica. She died in a plane crash early in November. She has helped me see the wonder of friendship celebrated. God honored the dreams of her heart. God is bringing, even from that discordant grieving time, part of the picture of His tapestry. In Carla's name, I want to share with you three celebrations. One is the celebration of memory. Remember the good times. God said in His book, "Remember the way I've led you." Remember the good times, even tonight with your family, friends or alone — remember the good times and celebrate friendship.

Do you have a friend whom you have not talked to, called or been in touch with? Call that friend, write that friend a note or if you can't do that, pray for that friend right now. Celebrate friendship; celebrate memory; and celebrate what is the most incredible gift of God who gave us hope. You see that little Babe in the manger held hope in His hand. That hope is for you. Wherever you are; whoever you are; celebrate for God loves you to celebrate memory, celebrate a friend, and celebrate hope as we move into that wonderful tapestry of joy. It's Christmas. Merry Christmas. It's a reasonable celebration.

Interview with Jeannette Clift George
Interviewed by David Hardin

David Hardin: Jeannette, you write about eighty percent of the plays that the A.D. Players put on. These are aimed at providing Christian drama. What is the difference between Christian drama and straight drama?

Jeannette Clift George: In our definition, it is that which intends to glorify God. It is not that which only addresses limited religious views — it's a world view. Some of our plays tell Bible stories; some of them are current events. We do a lot of comedy; we have musicals. In all of our material, there is either a stance in which hope can be presented or there is a clear statement unto the person of God and the fact of God. I think we are offering the opportunity for hope; the validity of hope in a medium that does not offer a lot of hope.

Hardin: Would you say that you are trying also to maybe call some values into being or to have people look at values?

George: Yes. Theater hopes to evoke thought. Every once in a while I realize that when we think of theater as something to do that makes us feel good or passive, we are misusing theater. Theater is to evoke thought. If you go to a play; if you go to a good theater; you are not the same person when you leave that you were when you went in. You may have laughed yourself into a different profile. Laughter provokes thought. Laughter is one of the choice means of getting us to confront facts.

Hardin: One of the plays that you recently did was "A Trip to Bountiful," which came off of that wonderful movie. In what sense was "A Trip to Bountiful" a Christian drama?

George: "A Trip to Bountiful" was initially written as a television show. Then it was adapted and made longer into a play. Then, it was extended into the movie. "A Trip to Bountiful" is an accurate story; it is an honest story of people in situations. The statement of hope that is in there is relevant to the person's faith and to that person reaching forth for help and assurance.

Hardin: Like you've said, some authors have really offered what you might call spiritual Christian drama, like Shakespeare sometimes or a Thornton Wilder.

George: Shakespeare carries some strong God-honoring statements. I feel that is what is distinctive about the Christian theater movement — not all Christian theater companies feel this way. Many Christian theater companies are doing the same plays that all the other theaters are. I think every entity should look to its uniqueness.

Hardin: You have some programs that are aimed at helping the kids see the drug issues more clearly.

George: We are doing two plays by Dr. Gillette Elvgren, who is at the University of Pittsburgh. These two plays confront drug and chemical abuse. We are going into the public schools with them. There is no religious statement in the plays. We're doing them because as God-followers, as believers in Christ, we feel this is an option that we must follow.

Hardin: You are called to go at the drug problem.

George: Yes. Somebody must confront this and theater is a perfect confrontational device.

Hardin: What do you hope that the kids will take out of seeing this drama?

George: We know what they are taking out because they are talking back to the cast. Every production is followed up by a time of interaction with the cast. Some of our cast members have come out of addiction. We're finding now that the kids will say, "What do you know about coke? What do you know about an alcoholic?" One of our people might say, "I have experienced that dilemma." Young people say, "I would like to get off drugs, but my parents are addicted. What do we do in the home?"' We hear this over and over again. It just breaks my heart. We are seeing the break down in the home.

Hardin: It is a family system problem.

George: It is a family system problem. A lot of these kids want to get out. I think that in time, groups coming in and speaking will be replaced by the kids themselves doing their programming, which some are doing now. We are very grateful for the opportunity. It has had phenomenal effect. We started in September and by December 1, we had sixty-one productions in the Houston area.

Hardin: What group do you go for — the high school group, teen-age, junior high?

George: One play is written primarily for the high school group; the other is written primarily for elementary school. In each instance, it deals with the family interlock that has frequently produced the problem from which the drug addiction has come. We are not saying the problem that the problem is somebody else's fault. It is a joint responsibility. Until the family approaches their interaction, we are not going to break through this.