Jeff Berryman is a writer/actor from Seattle, Washington. As an actor, he most recently he appeared in Taproot Theatre’s Man of La Mancha as Cervantes, and in Brooklyn Boy as Eric Weiss. He toured his solo performance of Leaving Ruin for over a decade, performing throughout the United States, as well as in Canada and Germany. Leaving Ruin is based on Jeff’s published novel of the same name, and he hopes to one day finish rewrites on a second novel–Hunting Grace–the current completed draft waiting patiently on the shelf as other projects take precedence. His current project, inspired by the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, is Lost Cause, a play he hopes to workshop later this year. He also continues work on his Arthur cycle: Arthur: The Begetting, and Arthur: The Hunt, the first two plays in the projected seven-play project, have both been professionally produced in Seattle, and in 2005, Arthur: The Begetting was featured as part of the Jean Cocteau Theatre’s New Classics Series in New York. His other plays include The Catacombs of Texas, The Carrolls of Queen Anne, The Crèche Collector, The Question of Bethlehem, When Comes the Way, Postmodern Art, and The Little Guy. Other favorite acting roles include C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands, Robert Falcon Scott in Terra Nova, and Jerry Mears in God’s Man in Texas. He is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild, a visiting professor at Abilene Christian University, and received his MFA in directing from the University of Texas at Austin.
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the mission…
“To cultivate and nurture the presence of God and His beauty in the world, through family, service and art.”
From my earliest days, there has been an sense of presence in my life that I have always identified clearly as God. I have always been moved by His presense and love in the world, and remain astonished that life as we know it exists. The wonder of being a free standing, free creative agent is both miraculous and normal, an overwhelming reality that must be ascribed to something, whether it be a notion of time plus chance plus nothing, or the notion of a personal God who is there and who is not silent. (To use the words of Francis Schaeffer.)
Beauty is a chief means by which God enters the world, and by beauty I mean a vast assortment of things. I am not a careful philosopher, though I’d like to be, and most readings in philosophical aesthetics leave me grasping for the edges of meaning, and when I’m done, I’m not sure I know more than I did when I started. But beauty is to be found throughout life, throughout the full experience of the birth to death journey, in all parts of the world, in all cultures, all relationships. I continue to believe that there is spiritual beauty and physical beauty, each pointing toward the other, in a kind of metaphoric symbiosis, each real in it’s own right, each embodying the truth about the other.
So beauty can be cultivated and nurtured in many ways, always with a hands-in-the-dirt approach, both in art and in relationships. As a follower of Jesus, and as an artist, this is what I am trying to learn to do, albeit in my broken and limping fashion.
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Very, very cool new place. Thanks for putting me on the Blogroll. I’m proud to be there.
I just wanted to let you know that I am thoroughly enjoying your site! Thanks so much for this gift.
i stumbled on your site through overstreet’s blog, and must echo katy’s sentiments above: it’s an honor to be on your blogroll. blessings.
Did you take that latte picture yourself?
I did indeed, take the latte picture.
Jeff,
It has been a while since we’ve conversed. Life is busy (or should I say full?). Anyway, I wanted to pass this link along. Every time I visit it I get this feeling you’d appreciate what Brad writes about . He is an acquaintance and the brother-in-law of a good friend. He works as a graphic artist and photographer and lives in Langley, BC.
The site is: http://www.livingmartyrs.com
hey. send me your phone number. i’m gonna be in seattle this weekend and would love a coffee …. or a beer. i’ve got sunday night free. wanna do a show?
Hey, you don’t happen to be from Altoona, PA ever, do you????
Jeff, great to finally know where you are and what you doing. I have bookmarked this page and will come back often. Thanks for showing up on facebook. I look forward to following down the road. God Bless to you and your family
Don
Wow! I am totally blown away with your bio and so inspired with your story. God bless you. This is the good part about facebook!
And, how about those Eagles? No. 1 in the nation!
Debra Wood Herr
You say: “Beauty is a chief means by which God enters the world, and by beauty I mean a vast assortment of things.” I don’t think so. I would say: “Love/Grace/Gospel in the Person of Jesus is THE chief means by which God enters the world.” There is not much beauty in what Jesus did to accomplish our salvation on the cross. That is a scandal, a stumbling block, foolishness by worldly wisdom, weakness by worldly strength, ugly and painful and cruel and evil by any person with morals and ethics, and those of legal bent with a devotion to justice. Grace and Gospel are not that beautiful either. Grace is unfair in the presence of the self-righteous, the perfectionist, the holy ones. Gospel makes no sense in the minds and hearts who want to play by worldly rules and standards-think of the parable of the master and his vineyard workers; the workers hired last received the same pay as those who worked their butts off all day long. The prodigal son who carelessly spent his inheritance is the subject of welcome and a huge party, while the eldest son pays for it with his inheritance and has been a responsible son all along. Not much beauty there I would say. But then again, I could be wrong, probably am wrong, and may hopelessly always be wrong–there but by the grace of God go you, go I.
Dim Lamp, scandal, stumbling blocks, foolishness, weakness, ugly cruelty, and the unbending devotion to a legalitarian God is the REASON that God enters the world in beauty. The story of Christ, the Reason for Christ, the sending of the Christ is the reflection of Redemption . . . our return to beauty and to the idea of what He imagined when He thought of us. God’s love is beauty beyond compare and without it we would be lost in the mire of this downward spiral of pure ugliness that our created world has become.