CC Arts Center hosts “Last Ark of Noah” reading

Play explores new interpretation of Old Testament story, author says

By Kate Hayden | khayden@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Arts Center will host an open reading of “The Last Ark of Noah”, a new Conrad Thompson play, this Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

The three-act piece will be performed by Thompson, penname Dugan, and is an initial sketch of one of ten plays Thompson is currently working on. It took two days for him to draft the original outline.

“It is an interpretation of the (Noah’s ark) story, it is a plausible explanation of what might have happened versus the Biblical mythology,” Thompson said. “For some time I’ve wanted to do a version telling my ideas of it.”

Throughout the play, Thompson wanted to create a different understanding of Noah’s predicament –– now as the leader of a society living in riverboats, and gaining a scientific understanding of the upcoming flood through probability, geological survey and navigation of stars.

“They believe in God, but they perceive it as the idea of God,” Thompson said of the characters. “What if this happened and these ancients came across these concepts? If you look at Greek and Roman (societies), they were very intelligent. So how would this work? Would it be possible that some primitives would be able to figure this out?”

The acts give audience members a look into Noah’s world from three perspectives: Noah’s family and a close confidante hear from him in the first act, and soldiers in a nearby city-state discuss Noah’s visit to the government in the second act. By act three, two of Noah’s sons are speaking with members of the community.

On Thursday, Thompson will do selected readings from the Biblical account in the book of Genesis, chapters 6-9, to compare his interpretation to the original telling.

Part of the story’s appeal is that there are multiple ancient accounts of a massive flood, Thompson said, although his version pulls solely from the Old Testament account.

“There’s been other versions of this flood from ancient sources, different cultures from different parts of the world. There’s real possibility that this could have happened,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he hopes the play encourages people to consider their own beliefs.

“When I go to read this back, religion touches people in a real personal way,” Thompson said. “I want them to believe in what they believe in, and don’t be insecure about it. I think in a lot of ways the things that we’re finding in our science….could have inspired these ancients to come to these understandings. I see that as very possible.”

20160622