HOUSTON -- Don't tell Jeannette Clift George that pride is a sin.

The founder and artistic director of the A.D. Players, a 30-year-old professional Houston theater company that extols Christian values, cannot say enough about her troupe's initial foray into the Broadway district last fall.

In late-1997 her company presented a six-week run of John, His Story, at the Lamb's Theatre in Times Square, which is owned by the Manhattan Church of the Nazarene.

The play imagines various first- and second-hand witnessings of the seven great signs by Jesus according to the Gospel of John -- from Christ's turning water into wine to His walking on water. It was written by George in 1985 and has been performed numerous times in various venues in Texas.

The New York tour cost $160,000. The company recouped about half that, partly through ticket sales but mostly through donations. "It was a challenge for our personnel," George explains. "Five of our front line people went, and they also have administrative duties back home."

Attendance -- the Lambs Theatre theater seats 350 -- began to pick up in the middle of the run, according to George. The smallest house was 15, a number of performances were at least half full, and toward the end of the run the show nearly sold out.

"We had a wonderfully satisfying interaction with audiences," George concludes.

So much so that George is now in discussion with Lamb's Theatre (as well as with some New York area theaters in churches) to return to the Big Apple next season with another play.

-- By Peter Szatmary
Texas Correspondent