As the World Turns

Frank Runyeon, Actor from “As The World Turns,” To Perform at St. Joseph’s in Plain City.

September 2nd, 2011

Sarah Reinhard sent over this information on a very intriguing program, featuring actor Frank Runyeon, that will be taking place at the PAC. Sarah asked if Joe and I would try to get the word out about it. I told her we most certainly would.

I also told Sarah that my mom used to watch the daytime soap opera, As the World Turns, with my grandma when I was a kid. One of my favorite story lines of that time (yes, I was “forced” to watch, too) involved Meg Ryan as Betsy Stewart and her love interest, Steve Andropoulos. Steve, as it turns out, was played by none other than Frank Runyeon, who will be presenting this wonderful one-man show. I was just at the age where I had started to develop crushes on favored Hollywood actors. Between Frank Runyeon and Jason Bateman, I was forever in a swoon.

But enough about childhood frivolities. Here is the information you need to know from Sarah to get your ticket. Don’t wait. Tickets and space are limited.

Critically acclaimed actor Frank Runyeon will be performing at St. Joseph Parish Activity Center (the PAC), 670 W. Main St., Plain City, on Saturday, September 17, at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved by calling 614-873-8850.

Runyeon will perform his “Sermon on the Mount” play and share his talk “Hollywood vs. Faith.” There will be a free will offering for beverages and appetizers; attendees must be 21 years or older.

Frank Runyeon has won national acclaim for his work as a translator and performer of Biblical texts over the past 20 years. He has performed the gospel for hundreds of thousands of people in almost every state in America, earning rave reviews from critics, scholars, and church leaders of every denomination. He is regularly reviewed as “the best speaker we have ever heard” by students and faculty at private and public schools across the nation.  He is perhaps still best known, however, for his many roles on television. He starred for seven years as Steve Andropoulos on As the World Turns opposite Meg Ryan, a storyline that garnered the second highest ratings in the history of daytime television. He next appeared for four years as Father Michael Donnelly on the Emmy award-winning Santa Barbara, and as tycoon Simon Romero on General Hospital, opposite Emma Samms. Frank has also guest-starred in recurring roles on L.A. LAW as talk-show host Brooks Tapman, on Falcon Crest as chess genius Jovan Dmytryk, on Melrose Place as Father Tom, and on All My Children as Forrest Williams. Frank starred as Detective Marty Lowery in the feature film Sudden Death and as Pierre Lyon in Bolero. He appeared to rave reviews on the New York stage as Hercules in Aristophanes’ The Birds, and in regional theater as Clifford in Deathtrap and Oliver Costello in The Spider’s Web.

Frank is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in Religion. After studying acting in New York and Los Angeles for 15 years, he attended Fuller Seminary in preparation for the writing and performance of his first one-man play, AFRAID!: The Gospel of Mark. He continued his studies at Yale Divinity School and General Theological Seminary, from which he received his Masters, with honors, in l994. He workshopped his first productions in cooperation with the faculty of Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA, and the University of Dayton.

Frank has now translated and adapted six Biblical texts for performance as one-man dramas and will be performing one of them while at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.