From Philadelphia Gay News: 

Out writer brings "Phreak" show to Philly
by Larry Nichols

“My mother is always scared that whenever I go somewhere that people are going to come after me,” out writer and performer R. Dale Smith said about his semi-autobiographical one-man show, “Jesus Phreak.”

In the show, Smith acts out a parable about a cynical church pianist who finds himself starting to believe in God even as the wider church excludes him for being a “mixer,” someone who wears clothes made of two different materials. (Apparently, this is a violation of Biblical law in the book of Leviticus. No more cotton-poly blends for us.)

The 39-year-old, who is well versed in religion, grew up in rural Virginia, where he played the piano at his small country church. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in English from James Madison University and a master’s in Biblical studies from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. He is now an adjunct professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Needless to say, Smith knows his Bible.

“The cloth verse I use for the show [Leviticus 19:19] is close to another verse [Leviticus 18:22] that is often used to argue against homosexuality in general, as well as against gay marriage and gay ordination,” Smith said.

His idea for the show was to explore gay issues through Biblical metaphors — and be able to speak to both gay and non-gay audiences.

“I think by having it in metaphor, when it comes up in the second act of the show, there’s 30 seconds where I can see confused looks on people’s faces,” Smith said. “But then a light goes off and they get it. Because I never say the word ‘gay,’ I think the more moderate to conservative people in the audience are able to ride along with it. They can remain engaged and the walls don’t go up. In addition to keeping more conservative audience members from shutting down, the metaphor raises the question of, if we, as a culture, are willing to dismiss some rules from the Bible, such as the rule against wearing two different kinds of cloth, why do we hold onto other rules, such as the ones supposedly against homosexuality?”

Still, Smith’s mother’s worries aren’t exactly unreasonable. But the performer said he’s been surprised at how open audiences, even in some of the more conservative areas of the country, have been to his show.

“When it was first being produced for a play festival, the director took me aside one day after rehearsal and said, ‘You may just want to prepare yourself for people walking out at some point during the show.’ Because midway through the show, the gay issue comes up. But that has never happened. I’ve always had an enthusiastic response from audiences, which has been great.

“Something that has surprised me is that shows in more conservative areas have drawn larger audiences on the whole than shows in more liberal areas. People in more liberal areas may hear about the show and go, ‘I’m OK with gay people in churches, so this show will have nothing new to say to me.’”

He added that any negative reactions to the show haven’t been face to face.

“I have gotten some bizarre e-mails from people that obviously haven’t seen the show but have stumbled upon the website,” he said. “They will send me these strange notes about how I’m going to hell and taking people with me, but the audience [members] themselves have been very open.”

Smith said that “Jesus Phreak” appeals to both gay and straight audiences regardless of their faith.

“Because the show is about more than being an outsider/being gay [and] because it is also about a bumpy/comic faith journey filled with many theological questions, I think even the most liberal and accepting people will find themselves engaged and challenged by it. It explores the question of what it means to be a person of faith, and the question of how one becomes a person of faith, just as much as it explores what it’s like to feel excluded by a faith tradition. And it does so throughout with humor.”

From the Philadelphia City Paper:

[Phreak Out]
by Jen Rini

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

From GayRVA.com:

Jesus Phreak’s Return to Richmond
by Kevin Clay

Last year, when Dale Smith performed “Jesus Phreak: The Story of a Very Unlikely Disciple” during the Acts of Faith Festival, he saw mainly straight, white Christians in the audience and didn’t know how they would react. His director had prepared him for the worst warning him some audience members may leave during the performance. He never had one person walk out.

He brings his performance back to Richmond Saturday night at the Gay Community Center of Richmond after touring engagements in Missouri and Chicago.

“I feel I’m going to get more gay people in the audience than I’ve ever had before and I really want them to enjoy the show,” Smith says. “In my mind, as I was writing the show, they were my target audience.”

“Jesus Phreak” follows a church pianist’s personal relationship with God. The idea started as a class assignment when Smith studied at Richmond’s Union Theological Seminary. The project – create your own image of Jesus.

“Before seminary, when I was having my religious awakening, I had a dream about Jesus on Good Friday that always stuck with me,” Smith says. "I put together this monologue about a character kind of like me, who has a dream about Jesus that makes him think that he could become a Christian.”

At the time, Smith thought his work was done. Classmates had responded so well to the piece and wanted to know what happened to the character. Smith started to explore homosexuality and the church as he continued the story. But ironically he never uses the word “gay” in the show. Instead, Smith uses a metaphor about breaking another rule in the Bible of mixing fabrics.

“There are many verses in the Bible that people just ignore.” Smith says. “Why do we ignore some and say that some must be upheld?”

As a comic show, he also wanted to keep the tone light.

“By using the metaphor of mixing, at first, there’s a confused look in the audience, and then some light goes off, and they get it, and then they’re laughing,” he says. “It gives them permission to laugh at a very serious subject.”

For Smith, seminary happened gradually. He started reading a lot of theology in his late twenties and says he started thinking about Christianity in an adult way.

“When I started reading this theology, Christianity started to become more compelling and intellectually rigorous,” he says.

He came out of the closet in college and says he has always had a comfortable balance between his faith and sexuality.

“I never had this ‘I’m gay, God hates me, my church is going to hate me moment.”

“I think a lot of gay people have had it drummed in that homosexuality is wrong. Even straight Christians have issues with sex,” he says. “Then you get to gay Christians and it’s even more compounded. Then gays not only have to deal with sex being ‘dirty,’ but also that it’s a sin.”

“[Finding balance], I think it has to do with being comfortable as a gay person and being out with all the important people in my life,” he says. “Christianity wouldn’t have been compelling if I felt that God wasn’t going to accept me as the gay man that I am. The sexuality part just wasn’t an issue.”

When Smith did make the decision to go to seminary, he decided to go as an openly gay man. He says majority of the faculty and students were very supportive.

“I remember having a nightmare before I actually moved to Richmond of people chasing me around campus with torches,” he says. “My very first class of seminary, this woman walks in the room and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a lesbian going here.’ She says, ‘I have a feeling, it’s going to be safe to sit beside you.’ We were bosom buddies from that point on.”

He says, although no one was ever antagonistic, the church as an institution remains unwilling to take certain risks regarding gay marriage and gay ordination.

“Although many people in the church support these issues, they aren’t willing to push the envelope or put themselves on the line as much as you wish they would be willing to,” Smith says.

He says a key message of his show is that the church does not have the last word, God does.

“I know that many gay people have abandoned Christianity for whatever reason and I want to be able to give them a way to reclaim the tradition if they want to and see themselves on stage,” Smith said.

While there haven’t been any walkouts at a show over the gay issue, there are apparently other things that are touchy subjects according to Smith.

“The only thing people have complained about is that my character, a church pianist, pokes fun at hymns,” he said. “For some reason people are more uncomfortable with me making fun of ‘Amazing Grace’ than me being a gay man onstage and a Christian.”