Acting and Singing Thecla: Her Story Comes Alive with Natalie Perkins

Natalie Renee Perkins is a professional performer and proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association. She has traveled internationally with two major cruise lines, toured the country with Hairspray and RENT, been a featured singer with multiple symphony orchestras, and performs regularly with the USO Show Troupe. This past year she has been seen as "Deloris" in Sister Act, "Annie" in It Shoulda Been You and returned to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s holiday production– Yuletide Celebration– for the second year in a row. Natalie received her Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York where she focused on Theology and the Arts– with Womanism, Scripturalization, and extra canonical texts at the heart of her studies. During her time at Union, she composed original music from the text of six of the Odes of Solomon. She now engages our earliest tradition with our contemporary society through a social justice lens as a writer (contributor for the Daily Guideposts), lecturer, preacher, chaplain (NYU) and composer. She is also a co-founder of the newly formed Tanho Center. Additionally, she facilitates discussions on social equality (specifically but not limited to race/racism). Her insatiable curiosity regarding our earliest Jesus-following tradition led her professor, Hal Taussig, to introduce her to the Westar Institute. She began working with this institute as a founding member of their Praxis Forum (formerly Young Leaders in Religion) in 2014 and is working on a podcast, called Better Not Mention It, that aims to bridge the gap between religious scholarship and the general population. In Acting and Singing Thecla, Natalie, produces a short musical in a week about the first and second century story of Thecla, a young woman who rejects family and battles violent Roman government to join the Apostle Paul to become a teacher and healer like him. Song excerpt from Thecla by Natalie Perkins and John HermansonTo learn more about Holden Village, visit: www.holdenvillage.org or to listen to more audio recordings visit: http://audio.holdenvillage.org