Synopsis
Waiting for the Host
![Waiting for the Host](https://www.stageplays.com/images/_168xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/waiting_for_the_host.jpg)
Published by Dramatists Play Service
4 Male 3 Female
The play can be performed as one show or separated by its two parts
In Part One - Waiting For the Host - while theatres, playgrounds, schools, and churches are shuttered by a modern plague, the rector of a small church on Long Island gathers a handful of parishioners via video conference
His goal is to record a theatrical reading of the story of the Passion for the church website
As exes bicker and technology confuses, this socially distant endeavor quickly becomes chaotic
Still, in the effort, the group finds a strange, painful closeness, and that their comic and clumsy reading has become a kind of desperate prayer
In Part Two - Still Waiting - the pandemic lockdown is well into its second month
Members of the church find themselves bitten by the “acting bug”
With the help of a “professional director” from Manhattan, they hope to launch a community theatre at the church
To their surprise, the bishop and church leadership found their Passion Play objectionable, and their plans are met with resistance
They decide to put on a showcase of their skills, with an “updated” version of medieval Biblical plays, and find they win the support of an unexpected guest
REVIEWS
“Call it a play within a play within a crisis … The play authentically flaunts all the glories and pitfalls of a typical online group session” ~ NJ Star-Ledger
“Waiting For the Host allows a new work, a new approach to theater, a new approach to performing, a new approach to directing to take place and it is definitely entertaining. The play does not disappoint. It is real, raw, and brings some much-needed laughter - exactly what theater is supposed to do” ~ BroadwayWorld.com