Background Check

by Dean J. Seal

So. It has come to my attention that writing for an established blog might benefit from introducing myself. It sounds like the only polite thing to do. If one was conducting a Background Check, it might include some of the following.

At Northeast Community Lutheran, I am the Youth and Drama Minister. I am actually ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) to work in Interfaith Dialogue through the Performing Arts. So that is something I pursue.

In the past, I was an award-winning Producer of the MN Fringe, and Director of the Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater. I was 50% of Mr. Elk and Mr. Seal, which used to perform a lot in NYC with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Rosie O'Donnell, Lewis Black, Dennis Leary, Ray Romano ( I was chatting with the Queen of England yesterday and she and I both agreed how much we hate name droppers). I wrote for the Prairie Home Companion for about 6 months too. Mr. Elk and myself were in a band with Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, called Bongos, Bass and Bob. Our only LP was called "Never Mind the Sex Pistols, here's Bongos, Bass and Bob (what on earth were they thinking?)" And it was produced by Kramer at Noise New York. We were on MTV, Comedy Central, and America's Funniest Videos, and we shot a pilot for HBO (who chose instead to take Def Comedy Jam).

But show biz was a task that I found to be weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. So I became more enamored with low-budget theater.

Currently, I am an Artist in Residence at City Passport in St. Paul, a drop-in center for aging Americans. I run a little theater company called the Passport Players. We are people with chronic pain issues, and we are performing a 20 minute musical (it has two songs) called "My Ex-Husband is Married to Your Ex-Husband's Ex-Wife." We perform in senior centers where the residents feel trapped and are starved for entertainment.

I also teach Religion as an Adjunct Instructor for Augsburg College. I teach 100, 200 and 300. It is about three things: The history of Christianity, the Interfaith Dialogue, and finding a sense of vocation in your own life, no matter what belief system you have. 100 and 200 are required courses, and 300 is a combination of the two taught to nurses in the nursing program. I love nurses, in the best, most platonic agape-esque sense of love. More on that later.

There's more. I am at present a consultant to the congregations that sponsored the Downtown Interfaith Forum, which is looking for new ways to make the Interfaith Dialogue more present. I am also Executive/Artistic Director of Spirit in the House, a producing entity that among other things manages an annual festival of film, storytelling, theater, dance and music where the artists express their spirituality through their art.

I wrote a book about using the Bible as a source of ideas for theater (Church & Stage, Cowley Pubs. 2005), and how to use that as a youth ministry program so the young people understand that there is valuable stuff for them in the text. Otherwise, the Bible is a Dead Book. Like a 1953 Encyclopedia.

I've seen some amazing stuff in this line of work, and I hope to make it more visible and available. Unfortunately, many of the people who do this kind of work are not ambitious. So I can't always build on what succeeds.

Such a delicate flower of a project. Let me know if you have an interest.