It had to be a never-to-be-forgotten experience. Cast, crew and audience danced spontaneously on stage at the conclusion of a play performed twice in Durham, North Carolina, for the 200th anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh — one of many celebrations held in the Triangle during the Oct. 21–22 bicentenary weekend.

Mark Perry of nearby Chapel Hill wrote the play, Twin Lights, as a “parable of the possibility and danger, the hope and despair at play in our world today,” the playwright’s notes explain. “It takes place in an African village, but also reflects life here in Durham. Its characters form a nuclear family, and at the same time they represent different perspectives on the value of religious teaching.

“Most evidently, the play dramatizes a simple encounter of what is arguably the greatest religious confrontation of the modern age. By that is not meant the seemingly never-ending clash of competing doctrines and dogmas by their respective followers and fanatics.

“What is meant is the meeting of the traditional notion of religion — rooted, as it so often is, in fixed boundaries of identity and ethnicity — with a new idea of faith, which seeks not to overthrow and replace, but to dissolve those same hardened boundaries and identities that paralyze the advance of unity.”

In the play, central character Thebe “brings the knowledge of the Bahá’í Faith back to her village and discovers it is not received the way she expected,” says Perry. “[The play] touches on the lives of the Twin Manifestations” — the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh — “and on the promise of the Faith in addressing the affairs of society.”

The official synopsis reads: “The stars shine bright over Thebe’s village, but not everyone is looking up. She and Joseph are twin sister and brother, but these youths' perspectives on life could not be more different. Thebe is full of hope, transformed by embracing a new spiritual Message, while her brother, alienated from his family, is filled with despair. Can Thebe help him? Their father is angry at his son's idleness, while their mother is suspicious of Thebe's new belief. A family needs trust and forbearance to hang together, just as a village needs vision and committed action to survive in changing times.”

Perry says the bicentenary production was “built on relationships that Bahá’ís in Durham have with a local nonprofit called Walltown Children’s Theatre and also the One Human Family choir.”

Dilsey Davis, who directed the play, and Cara Williams, who conducted the choir, “are quite involved with Walltown and they ‘run’ OHF,” says Perry. “Some of the cast members we know and invited to do it, but others involved a lot of searching on Dilsey’s part. Everyone who participated seemed very joyful and eager to be part of the story we were telling.”

The show, about 60 to 70 minutes in length, “alternated dramatic scenes with related interludes of dancing and singing,” says Perry. It was such a beautiful display of humanity. The audience seemed to revel in the spirit of the play, clapping along with the music, laughing and responding other times.”