Iowa Baha’i Roadshow, 1970s

by Diane Findlay, submitted July 2023

During the 1970s, a campaign of “Baha’i Roadshows” was active around the country. It involved  groups of youth who developed musical and dramatic arts programs for promoting the Faith and took them “on the road” as they could. This clipping from the IOWA CITY PRESS-CITIZEN from March 21, 1973 announces a public gathering featuring a talk titled “Peace is Inevitable” by Marty Schirn and a performance by the Iowa Baha’i Roadshow.

We’d love to update this article with more about the Iowa company. Terry Ofner remembers that Mark Harris was part of the group, along with Beth Ann Hartline and Jon Anastasio. Karen Penico Webb was part of the company and also remembers Murray Elmore, Kerry Hooper, Joe Driver, Jaye Hamilton, Julie _____, Lea Schroeder, and Vicki Abel, though not all at the same time. Karen estimates the years of the Iowa Roadshow as 1971-1974. She remembers that the shifting group had a soft folk-rock style with lots of tight harmony, and traveled all over the state as time allowed, since most were students. If you have more information about who participated or what, where, and when they performed, please email us at iowabahaihistory@gmail.com.

Margene Nelson Willis offered details and insights from her experience with this campaign a few years later. A new Baha’i in 1978, she attended the National Convention and responded to a call for musicians and performers to attend a meeting about a summer youth travel teaching project. She recalls that groups were formed to go to New England, Illinois/midwest, and the deep south. Carolyn Cheeks, a member of the National Teaching Committee staff, coordinated the project. Margene volunteered as part of the group that visited the south. Here’s how it worked: Their director was Phil Sisson, a professional actor/musician from New York. There were five to seven team members at different times. They gathered in Durham, North Carolina, where they stayed about five days with a host couple. The team prayed, consulted, and learned each other’s talents. Sisson had a play written by a Bahá’í that they adapted for this purpose. They used both recorded and live music. They spent six weeks on the road, visiting towns in several southern states that had agreed to host them and feature their musical and dramatic skills in support of ongoing teaching efforts. they stayed with local host families. They prayed and deepened together, shared their musical and dramatic offerings, and met with the friends. The team helped with consolidation efforts following recent mass teaching campaigns that resulted in entry by troops. NOTE: It was on this trip, in Atlanta, that Margene met her future husband, Bill Willis. They later married in Iowa and lived here for several years.