Liberty alumni, professor bring history and faith to the big screen in Sight & Sound’s ‘A Great Awakening’

Six graduates of Liberty University’s Department of Theatre Arts, including a theatre arts professor, can currently be seen on screens around the country as members of the ensemble cast of “A Great Awakening,” the latest feature film from the entertainment ministry Sight & Sound, released in theaters nationwide earlier this month.

The film tells the true story of an unlikely friendship between 18th-century notables the Rev. George Whitefield, a preacher in the Church of England, and founding father Benjamin Franklin that resulted in one of the most defining moments in American history — the first Great Awakening. The Protestant revival spread throughout Britain and the British American colonies, uniting an entire generation with Whitefield’s thundering proclamation of liberty in Christ. (Visit the film’s website for showtimes and more information.)

Caleb Hughes (’12) portrays cleric and foundational Methodist leader Charles Wesley in the film and also worked as a key background director. He has served with Sight & Sound’s stage productions in Branson, Mo., multiple times since graduation, and is currently working offstage on the company’s writing team. (Sight & Sound has staged stories of faith in an immersive live theatre experience for five decades, using live animals, elaborate sets, stirring musical numbers, and large casts to bring the stories of Scripture to life.)

“To get to do the work that I’ve been able to be a part of thus far and to work with a company like Sight & Sound is honestly really humbling,” he said. “It’s rare to find opportunities like this where you can leverage your artistic skills so directly toward the Gospel and toward ministry impact. Behind the scenes, there’s a lot of prayer that goes into each meeting, and the leadership is very centered on the Lord and the mission He’s given us as believers, above any sort of name or brand. It’s a joy to get to dream big and to use those skills on this kind of platform.”

Hughes said his role directing extras and the background action in the film called on skills he developed as a counselor at Liberty’s summer youth theatre camps.

“On the days during filming where we had 300 people plus carriages and live animals and all of these other (elements), it kind of felt like running a summer camp on steroids,” he said. “It was a lot of prep, a lot of high energy, and a lot of communication, and those are all skills that I took with me as I developed summer camps.”

Hughes has been able to share his experience with Sight & Sound with his wife, Rachel Day Hughes (’13), who starred in Sight & Sound’s first feature film, “I Heard the Bells,” in 2022. Rachel now teaches for Sight & Sound’s conservatory program and also works for the company’s marketing team.

“A Great Awakening” was the first film role for Ryan Hippe (’18), who has been onstage at Sight & Sound in Branson since a few months after graduation. Hippe played the role of William Seward, an American politician who was a close friend and supporter of Whitefield. The new acting medium was a challenge for Hippe at first, but he said he appreciated the learning experience.

“With the film, they only gave me the script for scenes that I was in. We had to learn the blocking and lighting and props quickly, and then we’d be done filming a scene after a few takes most of the time,” he said. “In theater, you get an immediate response from an audience, but we’ve had to wait about a year and a half to see what people think. The experience was wonderful, and I’ve really loved what they did with the movie and my character. It was a real blessing to see it all, and I got to watch it with my family in theaters.”

“It’s a movie that proclaims the Gospel multiple times, and it is really a movie that proclaims where our true liberty is found before it’s found,” he added.

Other alumni in the film were Carson Burkett (’13) as Methodist leader and cleric John Wesley (Charles’ brother), Kiser Shelton (’24) as a miner, and Anthony LaBianca (’22) as a rower. Chris Nelson (’01), a theatre arts professor at Liberty, plays Edmund Randolph, a founding father and the seventh Governor of Virginia who was in the Continental Congress. All of the alumni except Nelson and Shelton had performed on Sight & Sound stages before the film.

Hughes said he enjoyed being able to interact with his fellow alumni for the film, some he had never met before, and with his former professor. He costarred with Nelson in “Peter Pan,” a production by The Alluvion Stage Company (Liberty’s professional theatre company). He gave directorial feedback to Nelson on “The Great Awakening.”

“It’s fun to be able to have a shared language and a shared experience, whether it’s certain professors that we all had, classes that we took, or productions that we’re each aware of,” Hughes said about his conversations with the alumni. “Getting to know them better face to face and work on the same project was really special. I would attribute a lot of my own journey with acting and theater in general to be things that I learned from (Nelson). That’s another thing that Liberty provides: a network of relationships and people who can continue to stay in touch and can continue to work together toward the mission of making much of Jesus.”

Hippe said his work with Sight & Sound helps him feel fulfilled as an actor who wants to glorify the Lord in his work. He has been increasingly involved in the after-show ministry in recent years, meeting with audience members who are feeling the Lord move in their lives.

“It’s wonderful to know that even on my bad days, even when I feel like I am not enough or the frustrations of life might be coming at me, that I am engaged in what I believe to be Kingdom work and what God has called me to,” he said. “I know that in other fields and on other perhaps secular projects you can still absolutely have that assurance from the Lord that you are acting in His will and for His purposes. But it is a blessing to have it so obvious at Sight & Sound. It’s so wonderful to be able to sit with people who are having the Holy Spirit stir in them after seeing our productions.”

Outside of “A Great Awakening,” there are many more Liberty alumni working both on and behind the stages of Sight & Sound. Hughes said this is due to the evident Christian values and dedication to high-caliber work for God’s glory that both entities share.

“Sight & Sound and Liberty have very similar cultures, so if the heartbeat of Liberty resonates with (them), I think the heartbeat of Sight & Sound will continue to resonate in that both are focused on producing excellence for Christ,” he said. “That is big around Liberty, being a Champion for Christ, and here it’s a standard that people hold themselves to too. If you’re looking to leverage your skill set as a Liberty alum in an environment that is all about forwarding the stories of Scripture and the stories of how God continues to work beyond the pages of Scripture through films, Sight & Sound is an avenue to join in and be a part of something special that God’s doing.”

“It is the most rewarding feeling to see your former students not only thriving in the entertainment industry, but choosing to share their gifts in a most pointed way possible to spread the Gospel,” Department of Theatre Arts chair Linda Nell Cooper said. “This is exactly why they studied Theatre Arts at Liberty University, and I can’t be more proud.”