MOHEGAN LAKE - Nancy Semcken speaks of her Broadway days and her upcoming film release with such passion, it's easy to assume teaching is just a day job, akin to waiting tables or temping behind a reception desk.

But turn the subject to teaching, and she quickly gives lie to that impression, suggesting, rather, that her acting career was rehearsal for her daily classroom performances at Van Cortlandtville Elementary School.

And what a stage it is. Drums lie everywhere, but desks and chairs can hardly be found. Instead, her music students are players in a veritable theater-in-the-round, safe to explore their musical talent. Semcken, who stars in the musical comedy film "Abraham and Sarah," incorporates all subjects into her lessons, in keeping with the district's emphasis on differing learning styles.

But that she finds herself in a classroom at all is a bit surprising, given her career trajectory.

"I didn't ever intend to teach," the Cortlandt resident and 21-year music teacher in the Lakeland school district said. "My mom, I swear it was a prophetic event that God spoke into her ear. She told me: 'Go get your teaching certificate. You can always teach.'"

That explains how she was able to leave the stage in the 1980s to raise her three children and find more than mere gainful employment when they were grown.

Semcken, who uses the stage name Nancy Haywood, never lost her passion for acting, though. She has performed the title role in "Abraham and Sarah" on stage for the last decade, for instance. Based on the biblical story of the Old Testament figures, it uses modern dialogue while staying true to the original Scripture. The musical is being adapted to film and is slated for a late-2009 release with Semcken and her longtime stage co-star Michael Lackey reprising their lead roles.

Sarah lacked Abraham's faith, Semcken says of the role, paving the way for much comic potential. She could identify with her character's humanity and doubts as the spouse of the father of three world religions. And yet, inside that is a tender love story, she said.

"I think this is the part she was born to do," creator and producer Cathy Ellis, of EFM Productions in Miami, said of Semcken. "She brings it to life. She just amazes me every time we film."

The film is being shot in Miami, in the same Greenwich Studios where such television shows as "Flipper" and "Miami Vice" were made. Semcken traveled to Florida four times this summer for rehearsals and, most recently, in mid-August for a 16-hour day of shooting in the midst of Tropical Storm Fay.

"This show gives people hope," said Ellis, who wrote the dialogue and music in 1985. "That's something I would say about it. It lets people walk away from the theater with a smile on their face."

Semcken said she never dreamed of leaving the theater. She appeared in eight Broadway productions, including "Milk & Honey," "George M!," and "The Education of Hyman Kaplan," and has numerous summer stock and supporting roles to her credit.

She was able to keep a hand in the theater, though. From singing at weddings to doing theater work with prison inmates, she has found an array of outlets.

"I was never in it for anything but the doing," she said. "I know that sounds weird, but I need to perform the gifts that are in me."
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