Coming ‘Soon’

Young Chang

The media oversimplified what really happened eight years ago with the

Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, writer/director Hal Hartley said.

The more than 80 sect followers who died in the Mount Carmel complex

had to be more than just “a bunch of crazy people who set themselves on

fire,” he said.

And the questions that need to be asked reach far deeper than whether

the government deliberately destroyed the place.

Hartley, a filmmaker known for such works as “Henry Fool,” was led to

ask: What does it mean to abide by civil law, as well as religious law?

How do we balance religious liberty and civic duty?

The answers are explored in “Soon,” Hartley’s dance theater piece that

received its United States premiere Thursday and will run through

Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Transcripts of conversations from the 51-day standoff, which ended

with government troops storming the compound and a blazing fire that

killed almost everyone inside, helped inspire Hartley to write and direct

the theater piece, part of the Philharmonic Society’s Eclectic Orange

Festival.

The characters in “Soon” are members of a radical Christian community

who argue such questions as: Does God predetermine the end? Does he

prejudge? Who does he directly communicate with? How do we know who these

informed are? What should we do about what we know? What does all this

mean?

“I was very interested in that,” Hartley said of the interaction

between the Branch Davidians.

The religious characters in “Soon” perform a showdown of sorts between

their apocalyptic visions and mainstream culture.

With haunting choreography and an electronic score, the cast members

move with a deliberate grace that colors even their words with rhythm.

The music, co-written by Hartley, gives an edgy, pensive mood to each

scene.

“It’s fun, no matter what kind of theater you make,” Hartley said of

using music and dance. “You always want to see people running around

onstage.”

Hartley, whose credits include eight films and numerous film-festival

awards, remembers one incident that particularly irked him after news of

the Waco disaster spread. An “insincere young senator” was reported to

have said he, too, was a Christian, but a law-abiding Christian.

Waco “highlighted certain problems that are typical of American

politics and civil life and the fact that we have an unprecedented degree

of freedom, religion and guns,” Hartley said.

The problem -- many different freedoms at once -- requires a balancing

act that is still being practiced today, he added.

Pastor Peter Haynes, from St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church,

said that carrying out civilian, as well as religious, responsibilities

challenges most everyone.

“I think retaliation, retribution and war are not words which were in

Jesus’ vocabulary,” the pastor said, using the war against terrorism as

an example. “A poll said 4% of us didn’t want to retaliate. I think Jesus

would have been in that 4%. I myself had trouble being in that 4%.”

Hartley gives almost the same example. He was raised a Roman Catholic

but doesn’t consider himself a Christian today.

“I find it impossible to live as Christ did, which means turning the

other cheek,” he said. “Out of respect for people trying to live their

lives as Christians, I don’t call myself a Christian.”

FYI

* WHAT: “Soon”

* WHEN: 8 p.m. today, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; and 3

and 7 p.m. Sunday

* WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* COST: $25

* CALL: (949) 553-2422