Sight & Sound’s unique theater experience begins with a
2,000 seat auditorium, a 300-foott stage that surrounds the audience on three
sides, state-of-the-art technology, and live animals. Each production is
intricately created—from the finely-stitched costumes to the grand staging of
massive sets. Meticulous attention is given to every detail as they
magnificently come together to transport you right into the heart of the story.
Music at Sight & Sound takes its cue from musical theater and the cinema.
Original scores are composed and recorded utilizing world-class orchestras from
across the globe, while every lyric and accompanying vocal is delivered live
from the stage.
Sight & Sound’s entertainment is designed to be
universally appealing—regardless of age, life experience, or previous exposure
to the Bible. As a family-owned, family-led company, our desire is to see
families and friends come together for a shared experience that leaves them with
a lifetime memory. Our vision is to bring the Bible to life through who we are
and what we do. While we love staging these stories, we are even more
passionate about living out their truths. From greeting guests to creating
shows, we strive every day to embody our mission of presenting the gospel –
both in front of and behind the curtain.
Growing up on a dairy farm in rural Lancaster County, our
founder Glenn Eshelman was so inspired by the beauty of the world around him
that he began painting landscapes as a boy. As he grew up, Glenn continued to
pursue his artistic interests, eventually buying a camera to take reference
photos for his paintings. Photography quickly became his passion. After
marrying his wife, Shirley, Glenn sold his artwork out of the trunk of his car
to make ends meet. But in 1964, his side show became the main act. After
presenting his scenic photography at a local church using a slide projector, a
turntable for musical underscore and a microphone for narration, the audience
response was overwhelming. This first unofficial “Sight & Sound” show
became a humble success. By the mid-1970s, Glenn and Shirley were taking their
multimedia presentations to audiences all around the United States. This
popularity gave way to a permanent home for their productions, and in 1976, the
Living Waters Theatre opened for business. It was here that Sight & Sound
Theatres was born.
Over time, more live theatrical elements were added to the
shows, and in 1987, our first complete, full-length Biblical production
debuted: Behold the Lamb. In just a few short years, we outgrew the Living
Waters Theatre, and the realization of a new dream began: a larger,
better-equipped facility on a plot of land just across the cornfield. In 1991,
the Entertainment Centre opened to rave reviews. But no journey is without its
trials. On a cold January morning in 1997, billowing black smoke filled the
Lancaster County sky as a devastating fire destroyed the six-year-old
Entertainment Centre. For a moment, the future seemed uncertain and the road
ahead unclear. But Glenn and Shirley would not give up on their vision. Just 18
months later, the construction of a brand new building was complete. This new
2,000-seat, state-of-the-art theater featured a massive, 300-foot panoramic
stage that wrapped around the audience, with the ability to house sets four
stories tall. The first show to take the stage was Sight & Sound’s
signature production — Noah. Audiences gasped as they were immersed in a
spectacular ark full of animals that surrounded them on three sides.
Today, with a decade of operating two theaters, producing
and premiering a brand new show every other year and designing each production
to travel between Lancaster and Branson, we are slowly honing our craft of
taking stories from the pages of Scripture and bringing them to life on stage. What
began with a dairy farmer, his wife, a few slide projectors, a passion for
creativity and a desire to serve God, grew into the Sight & Sound Theatres
we know today—the nation’s largest organization of its kind, and one of the top
three theater destinations in the country. We are humbled by this success and
grateful to remain a family-owned business, led by the next generation of the
Eshelman family with a passionately committed team of 600 employees.’
In the Abrahamic
religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-Flood Patriarchs. The story of Noah's Ark
is told in the Bible's Genesis flood narrative. The biblical account is
followed by the story of the Curse of Ham.
The Genesis flood
narrative is one of many flood myths found in human cultures, indicates that
God intended to return the Earth to its pre-Creation state of watery chaos by
flooding the Earth because of humanity's misdeeds and then remake it using the
microcosm of Noah's ark. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a
reversal of creation. The narrative discusses the evil of mankind that moved
God to destroy the world by the way of the flood, the preparation of the ark
for certain animals, Noah, and his family, and God's guarantee (the Noahic
Covenant) for the continued existence of life under the promise that he would
never send another flood.
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