Azariah: Whom Jehovah Helps is a participatory performance conveying a narrative. That narrative takes form as a series of texts and poems, written by Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg. Set in 1844 and 1845, the writings tell the story of a young man named Azariah and his encounters with singing prophets in the wake of the Great Disappointment.
Jesse's language is inspired by the 18th-century hymn writers whose metrical poetry was popular in Azariah's mid-19th-century upstate New York and features prominently in The Sacred Harp. Jesse has fused this Watts and Leland-flavored language with musical references and present day influences. The poems sketch a world full of music and prophetic visions.
Set in the town of Fayette, NY and the nearby forest, the anatomy of Azariah, the prophets, and the forest flow apart and recombine, creating a "seething soup" in which the transmission of the prophets sacred songs to Azariah, and through Azariah: Whom Jehovah Helps, to the audience, can occur.