By: Josie Davis

(Buy Tickets Now) Andrew Himes is the son, brother, nephew, grandson, and great-grandson of Baptist preachers. His grandfather, John R. Rice, was a nationally prominent evangelist who help to found American fun-damentalism and the Religious Right. Growing up in the heart of the segregated South during the 1960s in a white church, school, and community that resisted the civil rights movement, Himes was a witness to the hatred and violence that accompanied the struggle for racial justice. Using the lens of his personal family history of slave-holding and racial oppression, Himes brings his monologue performance Revival! to CHAC Lower Level May 3 – 24.

LiveWire sat down with Andrew Himes to talk about his inspirations for Revival! We learned that since working for Microsoft as a web team manager, Andrew has dedicated his time to social change, arts education and healing for soldiers and civilians experiencing trauma of war. He is the executive director of the Voices in Wartime Education Project and currently resides in Seattle, WA.

LiveWire: How has Revival! helped define your personal evolution from an evangelical household, through spiritual awakening and artistic composition?

Andrew Himes (AH): Most of my life, at least since I was a teenager, I have been locked into hating this set of words and phrases – “revival,” “soul-winning,” “born again,” and “kingdom of heaven” – because they represented narrowness, dogmatism, and arrogance. With Revival!, I want to reclaim these words. I’m certainly in favor of revival, but not the sort my granddad would have recognized. We need to reclaim our souls from a deadening consumerism, and remember how compassion knits together our human community, and work to end poverty, and toil for justice. That’s the work of Revival!

LiveWire: Who and what are some of your mentors, inspirations, and leaders – in the past and present?

AH: As a kid, my biggest heroes were Howdy Doody and my granddad. When I grew up and was in my 20s, I was way into Malcolm X and Mao Zedong. Nowadays, as much as anyone, I guess, a friend and mentor who inspires me is Parker Palmer, a Quaker teacher, writer, and philosopher. I love an image Parker has used since 9/11 in talking about “the politics of the broken-hearted.” When our hearts are broken by some tragedy, says Parker, we can respond in one of two ways. One image is of a heart broken into a thousand jagged shards that become shrapnel aimed at the source of our pain. Another is of a heart broken open to receive new wisdom, express new empathy, reach out to others in new ways. Yeah.

LiveWire: In composing Revival!, and addressing racism and social ills in America, what have been your greatest challenges?

AH: To tell the truth, as far as I am able, no matter where it takes me, and even when the truth reveals what a total and incomprehensible idiot I am. To express compassion and generosity of spirit toward people who terrify, annoy, offend, and crazify me. To learn how to stop preaching at others and just try to tell a damn good story.

LiveWire: Senator Barack Obama gave a speech on race in Philadelphia the same evening you presented Revival! at the Hugo House. Any thoughts on Barack’s own “revival”?

AH: I think Barack is getting at the same themes that motivate me. We are born as imperfect beings into flawed families in a racially charged culture. We have to own and acknowledge our inheritance. Race and racism, racial oppression and violence have shaped and deformed our history and culture. We can only heal and rebuild when we acknowledge that flawed legacy and talk about the forbidden topic of race openly and honestly.

LiveWire: We can’t wait to have you here in May. Give us a hint as to what we can look forward to – How was the show at Hugo House?

AH: At Hugo House we had a great crowd and a great start, but we were still in development. The show at CHAC will be sharper, some of the rough edges smoothed out and the funniest and most dramatic places highlighted. A major difference is that I’m now working with Tim Hyland, a fabulous director!

LiveWire: What’s the next stop for Revival!?

AH: It’s either Oprah, or the Paris Metro subway system, or a community theater in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I haven’t decided yet.

LiveWire: You’ve done some amazing work creating the Voices in Wartime Education Project. What is the role of the Project in your artistic endeavors, and how has this effort inspired and led you to create Revival!?

AH: The Voices in Wartime documentary in 2004 was all about reconnecting with my own very conservative family. I was opposed to the Iraq war, and I was looking for a language Americans could use to have a deep conversation about the trauma and tragedy of war. I wanted to get away from the angry partisan political debates so many have been mired in during the Bush years. So the poetry in Voices in Wartime led me right back to my own family story and my relationship with my fundamentalist granddad, John R. Rice. My big question is how we can move from rage, despair, and confrontation to compassion and hope.

LiveWire: If the audience can walk away with one message in their minds after seeing Revival!, what would that be?

AH: “Oh, so THOSE are the actual words to the Internationale!” Or, “I never knew Billy Graham was a communist.” Or, “I always thought a Sword of the Lord was a garden utensil in a P. G. Wodehouse novel.” Or, “Exactly why did this fool think he could overthrow the bourgeoisie?”

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