What’s the reading about?

The story of the repentant thief in the Bible focuses primarily on the crucifixion at Calvary. The

character’s name is Dathan, although the Biblical accounts do not name either of the

criminals. The Man on the Middle Cross - A New Musical, includes but goes beyond that event

alone, exploring the life of the repentant thief and how he ended up crucified with Jesus and

the other criminal. It is a storyline that weaves Biblical events with imagination, i.e., what might

have happened leading to that gruesome day. However, the story does not end there! The

repentant thief finds himself at the gates of heaven, just as Jesus said, but the angels will not

grant him entry without a coherent explanation.

A brief history of the musical. Yes, very brief.

In 2023, two minutes from a 45-minute sermon inspired an idea for a song. A song was written

and professionally critiqued by multiple reviewers, who stated, “but we all agreed that it would

be PERFECT for a theatre production a la Jesus Christ Superstar.” The long writing process began,

and in the meantime, the song won an award in an international songwriting competition.

Over the past three years, the musical has undergone many changes, including song, scene,

character, and storyline additions and deletions. We have also had many independent reviews

of the story, dialogue, and music/lyrics from dramaturgs, actors, directors, and other interested

parties. The piece has been worked and reworked many times over on paper, and now it's time

to see what really works - on stage. The time is right. We are ready for a staged reading!

You can help shape the musical’s development.

At the end of the reading, you’ll have an opportunity to provide feedback to the creative team

about the musical in a talk-back session. Music, lyrics, dialogue, pacing, character arcs, and

anything else musical theatre are all up for discussion.