Minister Steps From Pulpit to Stage : Theater: John Shouse’s letter to Shakespeare Orange County led to a key part in ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’

“Much Ado About Nothing,” critically lauded when it opened here recently at Chapman University’s Waltmar Theater, is proving a hit for Shakespeare Orange County.

“The box office was brisk last week,” SOC artistic director Thomas F. Bradac said Tuesday. “We’re hoping it will continues, because we lengthened our season by a week for each show this year, which means we still have seats to sell.”

One reason for the show’s artistic success-apart from the leads-is the work of some key supporting players, none more deserving of mention than new-comer John Shouse.

He plays the firar, a small but pivotal role, and gives poignancy, polish and conviction to a scene in the second act that would have considerably less impact without him.

Bradac calls him “a real find,” noting that Shouse wrote him a letter last spring after he had seen SOC’s production of “The Winter’s Tale” last summer. Shouse indicated he would be interested in auditoning for this season because he liked the company.

“Sometimes these things pan out, and sometimes they don’t, “ Bradac said. “But he was very strong in his audition. We went, ‘Wow!’ Where did he come from? He has a tremendous physical instrument. His voice and his presence are great assets.”

“And he’s in his 40s,” Bradac added, “which is a difficult age for small classical companies to fill. It’s easier to find young actors starting their careers or older ones winding down them down.”

Interestingly, the 44-year-old Shouse is an ordained Protestant minister who has long been intrigued by the connection between theater and theology.

In a recent telephone interview from his home in Brea, Shouse noted that the stage and the pulpit “both involve the articulation of truth and passion through speech. As a Shakespearean actor I feel privileged to let the word speak through me.”

Shouse, who originally trained in the theater at Ohio’s Oberlin College, has a master’s degree in divinity form Yale University and a doctorate in theology from Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

A Washington native, he recently moved to Brea from San Francisco and divides his time between the two because of his job as a professor at Golden Gate Seminary, where he has taught for the past seven years. (The seminary has its main campus in Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco, and an extension campus in Brea.)

“I’d like to continue acting in this company,” Shouse said. “I’m very impressed with its principals and its principles.”

Later this season, he will also play Titinius in “Julius Caesar” for SOC, another small but crucial role.

“We’re lucky to have him,” Bradac said.

Shakespeare Orange County’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing” runs through Aug.7 at the Waltmar Theater at Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. Curtain todsay: 8 p.m. $16 to $23. (714) 744-7016.