Jeremy Stanbary’s career seems to have come full circle. The actor, playwright and founder and artistic director of Open Window Theatre, acted in his first play as a freshman in high school — a play about St. Joan of Arc. Now he is bringing his own original production of “Joan of Arc” to the stage May 1.
The latest in his series of original plays based on the lives of saints, which includes St. John Paul II, St. Maria Goretti, St. Nicholas and St. Pier Giorgio Frasatti, Joan of Arc has been the most challenging, he says.
The play was originally planned for last year, season 11, but that was before he and his wife, Sarah, learned that baby number eight was on the way, expected right about the time the play would be starting production.
Because of the delay he was able to take some sabbatical time to really concentrate on the show, using a camper van as a “mobile office” for part of the time.
“So that was what I went on sabbatical with, and it just became a little hermitage for me,” he said. The time away, “was a really important, necessary time of recharge,” he added. “And then that also just helped with the creative juices.”
Stanbary said he chose St. Joan of Arc because he wanted to do a play with a female heroine, about a female saint — but he also knew it would be a challenge writing from a female perspective.
“It was a really good challenge,” he said. “I’ve just always kind of felt intimidated by that idea. I didn’t know if I would be able to write in a female voice.”
To start the process, he did a lot of reading.
“At first, I thought, what have I gotten myself into? Because the history was so dense, with so many different storylines and so complex,” he remembered. “Just the context of the 100 Years War had so many elements to it, and they’re just very confusing.”
Once he was able to get a handle on the times and the context, he could really focus on her story and where she fit in.
“I really wanted to set out to provide a little bit more of a historical context for her story, which is tricky because it is just so complicated,” Stanbary said. “But that was part of my goal, to do that and do it in an engaging way — to gain more of an appreciation for who she was and what God used her for — and then share that appreciation with others.”
“When you read her story — and you’re reading serious historians — it just feels like a fairy tale,” he added. “How can this be real? But it was, and that’s part of why she’s such a universally fascinating figure.”
Stanbary calls his approach to writing plays unconventional. Where most writers have an ending in mind, he prefers to let the story unfold.
“For me, it’s really fun just to discover along the way where I’m going,” he said. “And that’s kind of how it how it happens. Just prayer and research, trying to internalize this person and ask the kinds of questions that they may have asked — what were the struggles they would have grappled with and how are they similar to what people are grappling with today?”
He said the process of deciding what details of Joan’s life to include was difficult.
“How do I include all the important stuff … and then make it all make sense, have characters with their own needs and intentions and storylines, and then bring it all together in a meaningful way, with Joan at the center?”
Developing and producing an entirely new work is an incredibly challenging process for the writer and for all the artists involved, Stanbary says, which is why he wanted to select the actors for this show himself.
“I really wanted to hand select my team for this one,” he said. “And that’s been a huge blessing.”
Faith Winship-Smith, a veteran Twin Cities actor, who will make her debut on the Open Window stage as Queen Marie, is excited to be a part of this original production.
“I have not gotten to be a part of an original work in close to 10 years and so getting to step into this space and work with like-minded, faith-based people, knowing that it’s going to be a script with material that’s powerful … is super cool,” she said. “It has been really enjoyable for me, and it’s so fun to see Jeremy guide the cast toward his vision.”
Though this is her first role in an Open Window production, Winship-Smith is not a stranger to the organization. She recently began teaching musical theater classes as part of the theatre’s Young Actors Academy.
Audryn Hegewald said she knew she wanted to play Joan as soon as the play was announced. Her mom advised her to pray about it and God heard her prayers, she said.
“The call of God on our life is so powerful, and it can be so scary, and it can be so intimidating,” she said. “But I hope [the audience] leaves feeling empowered to step into that call — whether they are young or old, female or male — and to continue with that call of God to their death. That’s really what my prayer is for this show, because it is so powerful and there’s so much truth to it.”
Stanbary, who says writing plays is not easy, but is something he is called to do, feels that this play — as challenging as it has been — is his best so far.
“My other plays have been very successful and impactful, but in terms of the craft … I’ve put in a lot more blood, sweat and tears, research and writing effort [this time],” he said. “I’ve had to really craft this play in ways that I haven’t with my other shows, and so I feel like this play is the best representation of my craft as a playwright and how I’ve grown as a playwright. So, in that sense, it feels like the best play I’ve ever written, and I’m really excited for audiences to see it, especially with how moved, we’ve all been in the rehearsal process so far. I think we’re going to have something special on our hands.”
Stanbary said Joan of Arc’s story offers powerful lessons for people grappling with discouragement and despair in a broken world. He reflected on how her experience raises enduring questions about faith and purpose during times of suffering — betrayal, abandonment, personal failings and the presence of evil — and how people make sense of hardship while seeking reassurance that God is still present.
“I think that’s where Joan’s story is such a bright light in the darkness,” he said. “And I think why I’m so captivated by stories of the saints. As I struggle with living out the gospel more fully in my own life, where do I turn for help? We have the examples of the saints. They show us in each time and in each age, what it looks like to live the gospel fully in the world. And it’s an endless source of inspiration for me, and I hope it is for others as well.”
Open Window Theatre was founded in 2011 with the mission of bringing multigenerational professional theater with a redemptive vision to Minnesota. Its focus is on telling relevant stories of faith, hope and reconciliation in an intimate and immersive environment. The black-box theatre is located at 5300 South Robert Trail in Inver Grove Heights. For more information or to purchase tickets for “Joan of Arc,” which runs from May 1 to 31, visit www.openwindowtheatre.org.