NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Have two leaders of North Salem’s faith community found their new callings?
Pastor Timothy Wagner and Deacon Billy Bowen of the Croton Falls Community Church may well be pondering that question after both snagged roles in the soon-to-be-released indie biopic “Elva – Art of Redemption.”
The pair came to know and love the film’s subject, Elva Hurst, while visiting Lancaster County, Pa., 11 years ago.
Since that fateful meeting, the self-taught artist has graced Wagner’s and Bowen’s church with multiple performances of her unique and inspiring “chalk talks.”
The feature-length film follows Hurst - née Zimmerman - as she journeys from being a shy but talented child who wedged in time for drawing between doing chores on her large, conservative Old Order Mennonite family’s dairy farm to a determined young woman who left the faith at 19, got married to a man with dreams of his own, raised four children, and is now a highly sought-after visual storyteller as well as a musician and a published author.
Wagner plays the stern Mennonite bishop who excommunicates Hurst. Bowen is the kindhearted chaplain who visits her father after he’d landed in the hospital with a nervous breakdown over the feared dissolution of his family.
Neither man had had any acting experience outside of school or church plays, although you wouldn’t know it from the way they handled themselves on screen.
(Both Wagner and Bowen wanted it known that they weren’t given the parts just because they were Hurst’s friends. They had to audition like everyone else.)
Hurst herself is played by the actress Anya Kozyar.
It was directed by Joshua Williams and produced by Cavid Studio and Barnyard Art Studio & Gallery.
“Elva” premieres on June 12 at a performing arts center in Manheim, Pa.
It will be screened at the Bedford Playhouse (Clive Davis Arts Center) in Bedford at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, June 16. A cocktail reception is set for 6 p.m. and a Q&A with Wagner, Bowen, and Hurst takes place at 6:45 p.m.
A portion of the proceeds will go toward Wagner and Bowen’s efforts to preserve and restore the historic Cross River 1791 Meeting House in Lewisboro. (Read more about the project here.)
PLAIN AND NOT SO SIMPLE
From a bystander’s viewpoint, it really doesn’t seem like there would be enough hours in the day for Hurst to do everything that she does.
Besides all the traveling for her chalk talks, she runs a gallery and gift shop at her family farm in Lititz, Pa.
(Chalk talks are performances where the speaker draws pictures that emphasize points and create memorable and entertaining experiences. Hurst uses special fluorescent chalk to illustrate historic, patriotic, inspirational, and holiday themes.)
The grandmother of four also authored the “Farm Life” series of children’s books, which are based on true stories of her childhood, including her attending a one-room Amish and Mennonite school.
Hurst attended school until the eighth grade. Later in life, she went on to proudly earn a GED diploma.
(Hurst’s husband, Ray, is a corporate pilot who travels all around the world.)
P.S., a 40-acre farm doesn’t run itself.
There are pigs, chickens, and cows – and one horse – to take care of.
The Hursts still grow hay, but their main crop nowadays seems to be agricultural tourism.
Hurst recently took a few minutes off to chat with Halston Media after walking Ellie Mae, a large and friendly Bernese Mountain Dog who serves as the farm’s “welcoming committee.”
“Elva -- Art of Redemption” started out as an idea for another “offering” for folks visiting the farm, she said.
It was to be a short film, based on her autobiography, “My Story - It's Nothing Fancy Since I Grew Up Plain,” and shown at the Hursts’ small theater.
One thing inevitably led to another and “Elva” ended up being a full-length feature.
Many of the scenes were shot on her picturesque property.
Hurst is one of the executive producers and its “cultural consultant,” which to her was a very important component of her decision to go ahead with the bigger project.
Mennonites are Anabaptists, which is a faith stream within Christianity.
Depictions of the group are not, she said, “always accurate.”
“I have great respect for my previous culture,” she said, noting that both her parents have since passed away.
Having rebuilt bridges with members of the faith community over the years, she struggled with the decision to do the film.
“I didn’t want to dishonor them in any way,” said Hurst, who had a hand in everything from costuming to sets to dialogue.
Several card-carrying actors had been vying for the bishop’s part until, that is, she thought of the “perfect” person for the role – Wagner.
The rest is history.
What does Hurst want folks to take away from the film?
“I just want people to have hope, no matter what their circumstances are,” she said.
THE REALITY OF REDEMPTION
“It was definitely something to take in,” said Bowen of learning how the movie sausage is -- so to speak -- made.
Films are really a “bunch of tiny clips” -- often shot out of sequence -- that somehow wind up expertly woven into a cohesive storyline.
Seeing the final polished product on screen was “pretty cool,” he said.
However, being on set ain’t as glamorous as some might imagine.
According to Bowen, “a lot of it is sitting around and waiting.”
Wagner recalled hanging out with other cast members during a lunch break while only a few yards away, squawking chickens were being slaughtered.
“We were aghast, but it was a working farm, after all,” he said.
Although it may seem like typecasting, playing a spiritual care provider in the film wasn’t a walk in the park either.
In real life, Bowen is studying to be a pastor. He confesses to flubbing his lines during sermons on occasion. But that’s part of the learning curve.
Keeping in character when the cameras were rolling – or not -- was a bit of a challenge.
For instance, he found himself battling real emotions during the hospital scene with Hurst’s suffering dad.
“He thought what he was doing was right by the church,” Bowen said. “He was searching for the wrong thing. He needed God’s answer, not the bishop’s.”
It took several takes and by the last one Bowen was “almost in tears.”
The movie’s catchphrase?
“There is nothing God can’t redeem. That is the art of redemption,” the young Elva is told by the teacher who’d encouraged her to pursue her dreams.
“She was firm and stern, but she truly cared for us,” Hurst recalled.
“The movie hits me a lot because I’ve been redeemed,” Bowen said. “If you’re struggling in life, then this is the movie to see because it’s real.”
NO MORE MR. NICE GUY
Prior to becoming Croton Falls Community Church’s pastor, Wagner served in Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches.
He is also the chaplain of the Croton Falls Fire Department.
Following the 9/11 attacks, he volunteered at St. Paul’s Chapel, the church in lower Manhattan that provided a round-the-clock relief ministry to Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers.
That Hurst thought he was a shoo-in for the role of the bishop made him ponder whether he really wasn’t as “nice a person” as he thought he was, Wagner joked.
“It’s a beautiful story but you get to see me being a meanie,” he said, adding that he had to make Kozyar cry in one pivotal scene.
“It was just acting, but I felt about an inch tall at the time,” recalled Wagner, who, once he got into character on the set, stayed in character.
Bowen, on the other hand, was somewhat typecast as the hero whose character was trying to bring Hurst’s father “out of a dark place.”
“Billy was doing what he normally does, being a communicator. He really knows how to instantaneously connect with people,” said Wagner, adding: “I’ve been a pastor for 33 years but I don’t have his natural way of being everyone’s friend.”
As newbie actors, Wagner and Bowen were a tad nervous at first, but the more experienced cast members were very nice about offering them some tips.
What is the difference between being a pastor and an actor?
“As an actor, you have a prescribed role. As a pastor, the script is always unfolding before you. Every once in a while, I’ll find myself in a totally different place than I expected, but that’s life,” he explained.
Although the twists and turns along the path can sometimes be frustrating and perplexing, that’s what he, as a faith leader, “signed up for.”
“As an actor, things can change, but they’re within a certain context. As a pastor you’re constantly dealing with what you don’t know,” Wagner philosophizes.
Both are glad to have had the experience under their belts, but does it mean that treading the boards could become either’s new side gig?
Maybe.
Bowen said he “would definitely think about it if something came along.”
“Never say never again,” Wagner admits cheerfully.
GOOD TO KNOW
For more information about the Bedford Playhouse visit, www.bedfordplayhouse.org.
For more information about the Croton Falls Community Church visit https://crotonfallscommunitychurch.org.
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