Have you ever met someone with such a passionate pursuit for the things of God that it was contagious? So much so, that their daily walk was like a spiritual compass, constantly pointing you straight to God.
Alice Larson Scott is one of those people.
On the surface, Alice is a typical Christian woman. Devoted to caring for her family and home, she and her husband Josh have been married for 19 years, and they are raising three children, Emma Carleigh (14), Eliot (11), and Ethan (7). Like many Christian couples, love for God and family are their absolute top priorities. So naturally, they enjoy spending time with their kids, and the feeling is very mutual on the part of their children.
The Scotts are an active family, dividing their time between church attendance and activities, school events, and the pursuit of various sports and hobbies. The Scotts even work together regularly on the foreign mission field. On top of everything else, Alice regularly volunteers her time and talents at their children’s schools.
Yep, Alice sounds like the typical busy mom, right?
But if you spend more than five minutes with her, you will be struck by the unrelenting passion and joy that permeates everything she says and does. Her cup runneth over with the goodness of God, and anyone nearby will definitely get wet.
Some people might even say that Alice is a dreamer, but she is much more than that.
“I decided early on to be a doer of dreams,” Alice explained to The Stand. “I was determined to never be a person who just sat around and talked about their dreams, about what could be done. I decided to take the risks, do the work, and act on the dreams God gives me.”
The dream she is doing right now entails her lifelong love of the performing arts. In truth, Alice has been on the stage most of her life, in church, school, college, and beyond. So writing, rewriting, producing, and/or directing major stage productions seemed like a logical progression of her dreams.
In the past few years, three of the productions in which she was involved received rave reviews and numerous awards when they premiered in Alice’s hometown of Kansas City, Missouri: “As in the Days of Noah,” “From Patmos,” and “Between Two Worlds.”
“It’s more than a love of theater for me,” said Alice. “Yes, I am a storyteller at heart. But greater than that is my love of community. I need that fellowship; we all do to a degree.
“But no matter what story we’re telling or what job we’re doing in that telling, my highest goal is to foster a culture of honor on my production sets. That’s my ultimate dream – to provide a safe space for Christians to use their gifts and talents and hopefully, engage someone’s wonder in the process.”
Right now, God is really stretching Alice’s dreams and taking her into realms she never envisioned. Along with Justin Rizzo, her creative partner of 12 years, Alice is turning live musical performances into feature-length films. In fact, filming was recently completed on their second musical project, Between Two Worlds.
It’s a fictionalized version of the story of Daniel, the Old Testament prophet. Set in the year 2323, this futuristic version of the biblical tale involves Daniel Abrams, a young man who has a respect for laws and for God. But Daniel is caught between two worlds when he faces the imminent invasion of Babylon, which is under the leadership of the evil Nebuchadnezzar.
When “Between Two Worlds” first debuted onstage in 2017, it won “Best New Musical in Kansas City.” But Alice and Justin had to totally revamp the musical for filming, and that was a major undertaking. When their four days of filming ended though, Alice was more excited than ever to see their dream come to life – on film.
“As with every production,” she explained, “we wanted our characters, Daniel, in this case, to be so relatable. We wanted viewers to really see the relationship between God and Daniel. He was a real person with real thoughts and real concerns. Faith comes through relationships. His didn’t happen overnight. It was built over time. Everything is relational when it comes down to it.”
During the film’s production, Alice also wanted her own relationship with God and her family to be centerstage for every member of the cast and crew to see.
She laughed and said: “My husband and kids are a part of everything I do. The kids come and participate in so many aspects of the production. And I let the whole company know upfront that when my kids are present, they are my favorite people, my number one priority.”
Actually, Alice sees her family as the driving force behind the pursuit of her God-given dreams. And when young mothers (or anyone else for that matter) offer excuses for delaying the dreams God has placed on their hearts, she encourages them to continue speaking those dreams out loud, even if it is nothing more than speaking them to a husband or a sweet, cuddly baby.
“The Bible says that our gifts will make room for us,” declared Alice. “So just ask God to help you find the opportunities because they won’t find you.”
She went on to explain how God showed her that helping with her children’s school productions was a great way to speak into the lives of budding performers, just like so many teachers poured into her years ago. Plus, those school plays fostered the patience and confidence Alice now uses during film projects.
“The opportunities you find may not look exactly like the dreams you envisioned, but God will meet you in every season. So, find joy in the doing,” she concluded.
And with that last piece of advice, Alice Larson Scott, the ultimate doer of dreams, had to end our conversation to get busy on her next project – Eden, a retelling of the story of Adam and Eve.
To hear more about Alice’s films and to get updates on releases, visit firelightcreativeproductions.com.
