Youths share the journey of the 'Prodigal'

The youth of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church will present their annual spring musical, "Prodigal," directed by Travis Leonard, Friday through Sunday in Yuba City.

The musical for contemporary choir is based on the songs of Grammy- and Dove Award-winning Christian rock group Casting Crowns. Dialog and arrangements are by Dennis and Nan Allen.

"'Prodigal' basically is the story of a guy who is wasting his high school career. He started out on a rocky path," Leonard said.

"Then he gets into a youth group, gets closer to God and finds a better way to live. Except in the course of doing that, his old friends from his previous life don't understand — and without realizing it, he slowly gets sucked back into his old life," he added.

"As he gets sucked back in, it ends up being worse than it had before. He finds himself facing court and community service and going through some really difficult times," Leonard said.

"But it's through that that he finds his way back to a church and finds the acceptance and the forgiveness that he gets there," he said. "It's a modern version of the prodigal son story from the Bible."

The play has two casts, which will present two performances each. "Most of the music is pretty upbeat. It's classified as a Christian rock musical, and we have a full band playing in the background," Leonard said.

"The title song, 'Prodigal,' is sung by Stephen Lynch and Logan Scriven, who play the character Devon in each cast, and it's probably one of my favorites," he said.

"My second-favorite song is sung by the whole cast, 'Until the Whole World Hears' — a song about living life in such a way that everyone gets to see the example that you set and living life to the fullest in that way," Leonard said.

Cast A, which performs Friday and Saturday night, includes Dominic Desa, Hannah Gresham, Tamara Gresham, Taylla Kennedy, Stephen Lynch, Scott Reusser, Katie Swenson, Kayla Swenson, Kelly Swenson, Krista Swenson, Allison Trutna, Nate Ullom and Brook Whiting.

Cast B, which performs Saturday afternoon and Sunday, includes Canaan Gresham, Christina Harbison, Ashley Howard, Alexandra Lavy, Nick Lavy, Helen McCormick, Nick Schenken, Logan Scriven, Kelly Swenson, Krista Swenson, Allison VanderMolen and Kristen Wada.

"It's just a really awesome message. It personally affects me, and I think it's one that's going to affect most people because it's probably the journey that most of us have been on. And it's good to hear that something good can come from it," Leonard said.

CONTACT Susan Benitez at sbenitez@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4773. Find her on Facebook at /ADFeatures or on Twitter at @adfeatures.