BY LOUIS C. WARD, TIMES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
LEESBURG – With sold-out productions, Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Girls of the Bible, a Christmas, inspirational musical stage play, written, directed, and produced by Tracie Bonnick, definitely was a hit for Leesburg theater goers Saturday, December 14 and Sunday December 15, 2024. The two-act play was performed at the Palace Theater Beacon College 414 W. Main Street in Leesburg, Florida 34748.
Based on the biblical characters of Bathsheba (Kathy Dar Jean), Eve (Charlene Lacey), Rahab (Sheniqua Gowens), Ruth (Laverne Childs-Brown), and Tamar (Priscilla Williams), all acting in a spirit of confidence in who they were portraying and excellence in their theatrics, solidly engaged the audience, garnering verbal responses of “Amen,” and “Girl, you know that’s right,” and “Tell it” from men as well as women in the sold-out crowd.
The Bible’s Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that “there is nothing new under the sun,” which basically means that what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun. And this is exactly what’s going on throughout the play.
The issue in the play concerns the truths that people continue to wrestle with the same basic questions of existence and that human nature never changes. In the people’s vernacular: “people are going to be people until Jesus comes back! Exactly!
People will commit adultery, cheat on their spouses, and be unfaithful. It happened with King David and Bathsheba and it happened in Bad Girls of the Bible with the character Lolita, brilliantly played by Linda Muldrow, who still hasn’t forgiven Donna(portrayed by Victoria Johnson), who ran off with her husband 15 years ago.
Despite their flawed character, all of the bad girls became women in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Eve, ate the apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Bathsheba cheated on her husband with King David, Rahab, ran a brothel or whorehouse. Tamar tricked Judah to impregnate her. With strong, tight dialogue, playwright Bonnick skillfully captivated her audience, getting them to buy-in and become a part of the play, laughing and commenting many times during the play, and also receiving a standing ovation at the end. Bonnick said, “When the audience is sad, happy or laughing during the play, that’s when you know your play worked”.
Tracie created convincing characters and used simple but powerful dialogue that highlighted the bad girls of the Bible flawed characteristics and Lolita’s unforgiveness to lead people to God to experience His mercy and grace. But we must credit Ms. Mary, played by Doris Goldsmith, who helped Lolita see the need for her to forgive.
The renditions of Christmas songs by very talented vocalists like Marian Finley, Charlene Lacey, Douglas Major, Linda Muldrow, Dennis Nash, and Tanya Harris – Rocker inspired the audience to sing along with them and enhanced the play.
“I liked the way the actresses portrayed the bad women of the Bible. They gave a short and sweet synopsis of the actual events,” said Edna Coleman, the Mistress of ceremonies for Sunday’s performance. “The play was excellent. I really enjoyed it.”
“What’s unique about Tracie Bonnick’s plays is that she always uses actors from the community, who may never get the opportunity to find out how good they are as actors,” said Georgete Ward. “This is the third play I’ve seen written and produced by Tracie. And this is the third time that I’ve got nothing but “Kudos” for Tracie and her great cast and their great performance.”
Tracie Bonnick has been writing skits and plays professionally for about 15 years. If you like theater, keep a lookout for Tracie’s next play. You will be entertained and very satisfied you were able to attend. Also, I recommend checking out Tracie Bonnick’s book, “Everybody’s Got a Story!” How to Write, Direct, and Produce YOURS for Stage.
