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A Class Act

Album: Gold Audio 15: A Place of Wonder

Episode: 218

Lesson/Theme: Honesty; relying on God; favoritism.

Bible Verse: James 2:1-4

Characters: Connie, Edwin, Eugene, Whit

Writer: Paul McCusker

Sound Designer: Bob Luttrell

Original Air Date: January 9, 1993

Last Air Date: October 17, 2008

Description:
Edwin Blackgaard's Harlequin Theatre is in trouble. He can't ever seem to get a big enough audience. He is almost ready to throw in the towel when he receives an anonymous letter, it offers him a large sum of money to teach an acting class. There's only one catch: He cannot exclude anyone who wants to attend. Blackgaard is hesitant at first but soon decides to give it a try. He tells his loyal and trusty minion, Shakespeare, to inform everyone in Odyssey that his class is in session. But, oh! what a class! It consists of Connie, a budding and ter-rible playwright; Eugene and his ukulele; Charles Edward "Chunky" Thompson; Jack Davis, now a pizza delivery boy; and Shannon Everett, whose father adores her. Edwin is forced to be nice to all of them because he doesn't know who his benefactor is. He lets them rehearse an awful play Connie has written. It is certain to damage Blackgaard's reputation as a teacher, and perhaps even the reputation of the Harlequin Theatre itself. Instead of using his best judgment and confronting the situation directly, Edwin deduces that the benefactor could only be Shannon's father. After all, he is the only one with money. So Edwin replaces Connie's play with one of his own and treats everyone like dirt, except Shannon. Edwin makes Shannon the star and caters to her every whim. Unfortunately, this also means he doesn't give her any direction. As a result, her performance is terrible. Edwin thinks that Shannon's father won't care as long as Shannon has the lead role. But Mr. Everett is outraged that Edwin would allow Shannon to make a fool out of herself. Shannon's father refuses to give the Harlequin any money and storms out of the theatre in disgust. He leaves Edwin right back where he started. And Edwin learns a hard lesson about not sacrificing his integrity for money.

Questions:
Why didn't Edwin think he could be completely honest with everyone in the class? What would you have done in Edwin's place? Why? What does integrity mean? Why is it important?