What do you do while you’re in a new city waiting to start a new job? How about start writing a play?
That’s what Mark Tyler Miller, MFA, Fresno Pacific University assistant professor and program director of theater, did, and The Adam Bomb goes public April 25-28, 2019, in North Hall 123 (Seminary Chapel) on the main FPU campus, 1717 S. Chestnut Ave., Fresno. Times are 7:00 p.m. April 25-27 and 2:00 p.m. April 28. Tickets range from $5-8 and can be purchased at the door or at eventbrite.com/e/the-adam-bomb-tickets-56443533127.
The Adam Bomb is a one-man, acoustic musical that follows a modern-day Adam and Eve (…and a guy named Tim) as they try to find their way through this new, post-Eden world while simultaneously dealing with the death of Able at the hands of Cain. The play takes audiences through a process of grief, separation, sin, truth, consequence and renewal. Are we separated forever, or are we closer than we think?
“I think sometimes when we think of biblical characters, there’s a sheen we put over them as if they didn’t really exist or as if they are different than us somehow,” Miller said. “But when we look at the actual circumstances these people went through, it’s right out of the news—eviction from a place that was their home, their son murdered by their other son—these are incredibly painful, incredibly real experiences, so I wanted to explore what that would be like if it happened today, which is why the show takes place in modern times.”
The play will be directed by Emily Wold, MFA, and designed by Shannon Brewington. Support comes from an FPU Provost Faculty Research Grant.
The process of creation began in August. “Right after moving to Fresno last summer I was sitting around in my apartment and didn’t have too much to do before school started. So, because I love solo performance and also musical theater, I decide to blend the two! Honestly, the story just appeared on paper. I don’t really understand how, but I feel it was divinely inspired. I’ve thought about Adam a lot in my life. The story of Adam and Eve is incredibly powerful and I find them both to be extremely relatable, fallen people, just like I am,” Miller said.
See the trailer at drive.google.com/file/d/1wBxn2WCKCwRU8AjRL5dFkz5JUOafCU6k/view?usp=sharing