about us
All for one.
We are homeschooling families striving to bring glory to The Lord Jesus Christ in the presentation of the plays of William Shakespeare.
One for all
...and learning, growing, making friends and having incredible fun in the process!
What is Smash?
We are a small theater group comprised of homeschool families from southern and central Maine. The players learn all aspects of putting a play on the stage. Smash has been doing this with children and teens for over 25 years. Through their work, they discover Shakespeare, but they also find interests and talents, and hone abilities and skills they never knew they had!
founder & fearless leader
Samuel Richards has been in pastoral ministry since 1976. Following graduation from Mansfield College, Oxford, he served three years at East Sumner Congregational Church, then three years at The United Church of Warner. In 1989, after a six-year hiatus from ministry, he became the senior pastor at East Winthrop Baptist Church. He co-founded and co-hosted Faith Matters In Maine, and served as President of the Christian Education League of Maine. He is currently the President of the Greater Augusta Pastors’ Society, an association of evangelical churches, which cooperate in jail ministry, worship and accountability for ministers. He also teaches Shakespeare to homeschoolers. He and his wife, Lynne, were married in 1975 and have six children.
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our beginnings
Since it began in 1993, the mission for SMASH has been to show God’s love and grace through the performance of plays by William Shakespeare. Pastor Sam has often said that he would stop doing SMASH if the purpose of sharing the Gospel through SMASH proved ineffective. Involvement in SMASH has helped many homeschooled students grow intellectually, socially and spiritually while learning about Shakespeare from a Christian perspective. Some have taken an English literature course credit for full participation in the academic and theatrical parts.