Here's my story, and my thoughts on the subject. I've hidden it here in the archives of 2002 since it's so long! Something much more erudite and academic made it into the book, which can be purchased from the National Council of Churches for $18.
In 1996 I was scouting out a place in the world where a vibrant, growing, and established church could use a person like me: a Los Angeles dramatist with Bible School and missions training. Since my early childhood I’ve been a practitioner of theatre and passionate follower of Jesus. Though I love other cultures and learning from them, I didn’t want to throw out my western background and English language in my work. For this and many other reasons, I found that Singapore was a good fit for me.
As any Singaporean will agree, we are a proud people. We have the right to be. Though we’re a young nation, we’re developed, sophisticated, smart and setting the standard for the region, and the world, in a number of areas. In the last four decades we’ve shown that we are remarkable achievers. We’re now eager to tackle the Arts as another feather in our world class cap. Government funding for Arts in Education programs is generous, and everywhere on this island Singaporeans eager to embrace creativity and to excell in the Arts.
The church is no different. With the rapid growth of Christianity in the 1980’s, the majority of Singaporean believers are first generation Christians. One of the benefits of this is that most of us don’t have some of the unecessary baggage that comes with years of tradition. In the case of theatre, this specifically means we don’t have a resident history of antagonism between the church and theatre as there is in the west. This generation of artistic Singaporean believers, for the most part, don’t have to live down the reputation of drama being “of the devil.” Singaporean Christians, and the churches they attend are as eager to take to the stage as most are to pick up a karaoke microphone. When it comes to using theatre in the church (or 'drama' as some are more comfortable with), I find in Singaporean Christians a can-do attitude and a humble teachability.
When it comes to theatre in Christian ministry, most Singaporean believers respond to it with this line of thinking: God is the Creator. We are made in his image. This means we are creative too. Therefore, how can we be more creative? Let’s learn and explore whatever ways we can to creatively express the truth we believe.
The Singaporean church seems eager to explore her creativity through theatre. If drama isn’t sprinkled throughout the year in worship or in the children’s and youth ministries, at least every Christmas and Easter most churches will utilize some theatrical creativity. During these holy seasons we usually use some form of theatre to re-tell our favourite moments in history in a fresh way. Our Lord was a master story-teller who used creative ways to get his message across and we are trying to follow him in this. You can find Christians using theatre not only as Easter and Christmas pageants, and in worship services as part of the sermon, but it is also common to see forms of theatre used in in cross cultural ministry/missions and in community service & social work.
Singaporeans have joined Christians all over the world who are responding to theatre in this: We’re using it as part of worship & ministry.
The trouble is that, like an amateur singing karaoke, often our amateur ventures in church drama have a strong “cringe factor.” We’re not very skilled. Unlike an evening of karaoke, where our audience of friends are forgiving and don’t have much expectations for greatness, our church leaders encourage us to invite pre-believers to our dramas in church. We pray earnestly that our show will convince these guests of the greatness of our God, convict them of their need for a relationship with him, and compell them to make a decision to give their lives to him. Often God answers our prayers and uses the message of our drama to speak to the hearts of our guests. But it is also true that often, God speaks to the hearts of our friends in spite of us not because of us.
Our response as Christians to theatre to start with is: Humility. We have a lot to learn.
This is where writing gets difficult for me. Because it’s not easy to answer the question: How do we learn?
One obvious place to start would be to go to the theatre and learn from the creativity expressed by those who are called and gifted in this art form. But this poses a big problem. How can we learn from professional theatre practitioners when in our pursuit of godliness we have such a confict with the immorality promoted and often exhibited in many plays? We are told in Scripture to think on the things that are lovely and noble and of good repute. I think through the list of the local theatre companies, and having seen numrous performances by all of them, I know that there are no guarantees that one's soul will not be offended by the content of most plays in our city.
What should a Christian response to theatre be when our local theatre companies are notorious for pushing the envelope of censorship, and the government licks and seals it with a more liberal license for objectionable material. The numbers in potential viewers is smaller than mass media, so it’s probably seen as a good compromise. Afterall, our up-and-coming country doesn’t want to be perceived on the world art scene as being too prudish, backward and ignorant of what is truly “art.” We want to be hip, with it, and world class. We want tourism to continue to thrive. We can’t do that with a reputation of being square. I believe this is why there are broader parameters for the censorship in the arts and that’s why it makes it harder to carte blanche encourage Christians to patronize the theatre.
How should a Christian respond to theatre? Be discerning, but attend plays. Children’s theatre is one safe place to get your feet wet, though the bar for quality in local companies is sometimes not as high. One local company, itheatre, describes themselves as focused on “Theatre for children, youth and family audiences, producing plays of an international standard for Singapore and the region.” Every year The Prudential Children’s First Festival brings in excellent foreign productions. At the time of this writing, our beautiful Esplanade still seems to be conservative in it’s approval of shows for her venues (A local director told me they turned down his proposal of a “new work” for the 2006 Arts Festival because of it’s potential RA content). When it comes to seeing smaller productions and new plays, the newspaper will often print a contact number. Give them a call and tell them you think the play sounds interesting and then ask if there is any potentially objectionable content in the play. Often the box office will have answers to your questions.
Even with precautions taken, you may sometimes find yourself in the theatre watching something you’d rather not see. In my first year living in Singapore I found myself watching a student production of “Edmond” at La Salle. The website I found said “written by well known playwright David Marnet.” Now, I knew of the playwright David Mamet, and I knew that I really don’t appreciate his love for using “f_ _ _” in nearly every line of dialogue. I looked carefully at the name spelled “Marnet” on the screen and thought, “Hmm. If he’s well known, I’ve never heard of him.” I reasoned that this was a student production in conservative Singapore, so it couldn’t possibly be a David Mamet play. A few hours later I learned of the website’s type-o while watching a play about a married man who leaves his wife in search of sexual fulfillment in all areas of marginalized society. I’m not afraid to get up and walk out, but in the theatre as I watched, I prayed. Though my sensibilities were offended I still sensed no compulsion to leave. That afternoon I lost some of my innocence about the depth of human depravity. Eventually I was watching two men practice sodomy on the stage and I was praying for not only these student actors being tainted by their own performance, and the director who would ask this of impressionable young artists; but also praying for those in society for whom this play was a representation. I was praying for those who like the protagonist were following dark paths to spiritual destruction. When it ended I was disgusted and heartbroken. The director invited the audience to attend an opening night reception afterward. I sensed I should stay and continued to pray, “Lord, what will I say to them when I can’t offer an honest ‘loved your performance.’ What should I ask?” I stayed that evening and the Holy Spirit was faithful in guiding me through a couple of good conversations with and actor and the director. Conversations that never got to sharing the Gospel, but conversations where I could ask questions about hope and hopelessness and their emotional and spiritual well being after rehearsing and performing “Edmond” and how did they survive living for the 6 week rehearsal period in this world David Mamet had created.
As an offended audience member, what should a Christian response to theatre be? Ask and trust the Holy Spirit to tell you what to do. You may feel led to leave immediately or at intermission. Perhaps you’ll sense that he wants to teach you something from what you see in the performance, or the Lord may lead you to use the play’s content as a springboard to post show discussions that can lead to sharing your faith.
Another Christian response to theatre could be to study it. Taking courses in theatre is a a good suggestion, but offered again with reservation. Most Christians using theatre in the church don’t have the training we need to skillfully harness the power of theatre for God honoring ends. Theatre artists having the knowledge and skills we can learn from are difficult to love and respect because they are often outright haters of a God who is jealous for their loyal worship.
We’re also notoriously bad at being loving, gracious “salt and light” when we’re face to face in the world, especially those who are in-your-face "worldly." There is a lot of bridge-building that needs to be done in meeting and building relationships with theatre artists. You have to admit, any adult who has choosen an artistic career in Singapore has to have an exceptionally rebellious stubbornness. How else could a creative spirit survive an educational system which discourages individuality and “out of the box” thinking. From my experience, as a Christian in theatre, we're perceived as the enemy because we serve a God who asks everyone, even those of us with freedom loving creative spirits, to pursue righteousness and self-discipline.
Once backstage, I admitted to a member of the stage crew that I help churches in their use of theatre as part of worship. He said, “Oh please don’t say that. Tell me you don’t. It makes me nausiated just thinking about church drama.”
Another time I met a leader in Drama in Education who tried his best to cover his disgust and be tolerant of my utilization of drama in worship/Christian education. He said, “Isn’t that somewhat manupulative?” Obviously he was not realizing his double standard, since he promotes and utilizes drama to teach and convict students in other areas besides religion.
Despite all this hostility toward Christianity, I find that people in the theatre are some of the most spiritual people I’ve met. They may be following a spiritual path that I believe ultimately leads to destruction, but it is very easy to talk with artists about spiritual life. This can be frustrating in a postmodern discussion that seems to go nowhere, but it is also a source of hope. What if more Christians were praying for artists? What if Christians could learn to hate the sin but truly love the sinner? What if, instead of looking down our holy noses at theatre and the people in it, we believed that no one is beyond redemption and salvation. They are prophetic and gifted deeply spiritual humans what could happen if more of them came to Jesus and began letting their art reflect the transformation he brings? What if?
So here’s my final Christian response to theatre: Pray for it. Pray for the artists in it, the students of it, and those of us who are Christians in the midst of it. Pray that the Creator God would redeem this art form and the artists in it for his eternal glory without shame, without antagonism, and forever without any “cringe factor.”
