Community Spotlight: Father George Keith

Priest, director and longtime friend of Borrego's stage

If you went to a play at the Borrego Springs Performing Arts Center between 2018 and 2022, or to a service at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church over the past decade, you may have met George Keith. Some people know him as Father George. Others know him as the director who got a cast of local singing nuns to three sold-out shows in 2019.

A priest in retirement

Keith is a retired Episcopal priest. He and his late wife, Joan, retired first in San Diego and then moved to Borrego Springs, where they joined St. Barnabas.

Retirement didn't mean stepping away. Over the past decade he has helped with services at St. Barnabas alongside Fr. Michael Plekon. After the Rev. Laura Brecht left, the two retired priests looked after the parish until Fr. David Madsen arrived in 2023. Keith has also offered counsel to parish members and to others in town who need someone to talk to.

He was a familiar voice at Christmas, narrating the St. Barnabas holiday concerts in 2018 and 2019 between choir pieces and chimes. In 2022 he joined Catholic and Methodist pastors on the church patio to bless Borrego's pets, including dogs, cats and a desert tortoise.

Father George Keith, Fr. David Madsen and Fr. Michael Plekon inside St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.

His ideas on ministry have reached beyond Borrego. In the 2024 book "Ministry Matters," his friend Fr. Plekon includes Keith among the pastors he writes about. The book quotes a definition of a priest that Keith gave in a sermon: "someone who takes God to the people and the people to God."

Borrego's director

In February 2018, Keith directed "RidgeLine," a Vietnam War drama, at the Performing Arts Center. The cast included Borrego High School students. That April the theater named him its artistic director, and he also sat on its board.

His idea of community theater was simple. "We want to make a place for anyone who wants to participate," he said, "solo or in the chorus." He held open auditions and cast mostly local people.

Shows he directed included:

• "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the 2018 Christmas show, with sign-language interpretation for the audience
• Agatha Christie's murder mystery "The Mousetrap," with a cast of eight. He began auditions for his next show the day after it closed.
• "Nunsense: The Mega Musical," which sold out all three nights in March 2019
• A live radio play version of "It's a Wonderful Life" in December 2019, with ten local actors playing 45 characters and a sound-effects man on stage
• The comedies "12 Incompetent Jurors" and "No Body Like Jimmy"
• "Celebrate the Season," the December 2021 Christmas show

Micki Alfont (center) rehearses “The Mousetrap” with Elaine Hazelrigg

and director George Keith, December 2018. Borrego Sun file photo

"It's their theater"

When the pandemic kept the theater dark for 20 months, he backed the campaign for new stage lighting. "Stage lighting communicates in a subtle manner, but its effects can be transformative," he said. "It can take an ordinary production and make it shine."

As the theater got ready to reopen in 2021, he explained what he thought made it work. "In the last analysis, I believe our success has been making the community feel they're part of the theatre," he said. "People know it's their theater and are invested. That's really good news; because after all, there can be no theater without an audience." He added, "It's also true, there can be no theater without performers."

He was proud that the stage was shared. "It's a real plus that so many Borregans actively participate," he said. "It makes the theater so much more meaningful and personal." He also pointed out that the building is home to film festivals, nature lectures, dance and other community events. "Too many performing arts theaters aren't interested in sharing their facility with other community organizations," he said.

"We couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to finally raise the curtains and celebrate with our community of theater-goers," he said. The reopening gala that November, starring the Cufflink Crooners, sold out.

After he retired as artistic director, he agreed in 2023 to teach a six-week acting class for beginners.



Dick Helvig cuts the ribbon on the theater's new seats with BSPAC board members (left to right) Judy Coyle, Elaine Hazelrigg, Lynnette Salton, Karen Bobren, Beth Hart, Donna Franco and George Keith, November 2018. Borrego Sun file photo

Joan

Joan MacDonald Keith was born in 1939 on South Uist, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Her father was a shepherd. She became a nurse and midwife and worked in Scotland, England, the Middle East, New York, Florida and San Diego. She was also a hiker, a track athlete and a competitive ballroom dancer. She died in September 2022 after a long illness.

In her memory, George gave St. Barnabas an icon of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. It hangs in the church's prayer corner.

Still part of the story

Father George now lives in a care home, where he is looked after with love. When the Performing Arts Center hosts its Puttin' on the Glitz gala on Saturday, November 21, with the Cufflink Crooners back on stage, the lights will come up on a stage he helped light, in a town he helped bring together.



Fr. George receives regular visits from the priests and people of St. Barnabas, as well as from Archdeacon Cindy Campos and local San Diego priest Fr. Richard Vevia. Recently, Jan Naragon and Fr. Michael Plekon spent time visiting Fr. George, offering prayer and companionship on behalf of the parish. Visiting Fr. George Keith

Much of this story comes from the Borrego Sun Archive, which holds more than 75 years of Borrego Sun reporting, photos and community history, free for anyone to search. Other sources include Joan MacDonald Keith's 2022 obituary in the Borrego Sun and "Ministry Matters" by Michael Plekon (2024).

The Borrego Sun and its archive are kept going by Ram Media Foundation, a local nonprofit. To help keep Borrego's stories alive, please support us at RamMediaFoundation.org.

Please also support the San Diego History Center, which works to preserve the history of San Diego County, including Borrego Springs. Visit SandiegoHistory.org.