Creating a localized version of Mark's gospel
Grace Assembly of God, Singapore 2004
K!Mberly Creasman, Director
Traveling Light Cast 2004
Every new year, churches around the world begin thinking about Easter. How can we share our good news of an incarnate God who lived among us, taught for a while, was brutally killed and then came back to life…AGAIN? The Easter story is pretty well known in most of the world and in many hearts which have heard it since childhood it has lost its impact. More than any other Sunday, Easter is the day we want our hearts to engage in worship. We want to be moved by his great sacrifice and proof of his deity through the miracle of his resurrection. How can we make the story fresh again this year to our hearts, minds and souls?
JANUARY
I met for lunch with Yvonne Tay, a leader in the Creative Arts Ministries at Grace Assembly of God on Tanglin Road. I've been attending Grace with my family for the last 2 years. This year, the church had scheduled Good Friday's 2 worship services to be organized solely by the drama ministry of the church. She wanted to know if I had any ideas for non-musical plays for Easter. I am one of the church's biggest cheerleader and toughest critic when it comes to arts in the church. I believe we must explore and use the arts in worship and evangelism, but I also am often ashamed of how poorly we do it. As I met with Yvonne, I admit that I was quite skeptical about our church being able to mount a production that would truly lead the congregation in worship, let alone that we would dare to invite those who don't follow Christ to come hear and see his story through our amateur production. Was the church drama team ready to tackle such a large scale project? We prayed for direction and wisdom as we looked at some of the scripts we knew of. I sensed God saying in my heart to accept the offer to direct.
This year we all knew that Mel Gibson was making THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, due for release around Easter. Without a doubt viewing this movie was going to bring Spiritual renewal or awakening to even the hardest of hearts. Every time I thought about the potential of this movie to share the story of the Lord we love to the entire world, I just couldn’t help but stop and thank God, and pray for the success of the film and that the church around the world would find ways to use it in their celebrations and proclamations of Easter this year. This would surely be the most realistic visual presentation of our story in film or other-wise. In planning worship services for Easter week this year, it seemed pointless to me to plan anything that involved portraying 1st century Jews and Romans.
Grace would be buying a few theatres-full of tickets at LIDO and would sell tickets to the congregation at reduced rates, but Good Friday would still be an in-house event. Not wanting to compete with Hollywood's 1st century realism, we settled on TRAVELING LIGHT, a modern American script based on the gospel of Mark. The original script is 2 hours, and covers the whole gospel. It is comprised or 70 monologues from those who were eyewitnesses of the events told in Mark's gospel. In the original script, the characters are modern American types: A longshoreman fisherman from Boston, a Wall Street banker, a surfer dude, hick tourists, etc. We decided we would do about an hours' worth of the script, and work at revising the script and characters to be local types with local dialects and accents.
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DRAMA MINISTRY: Process is as Important as the Product
My heart's desire in directing the project was not primarily how the end result of a show would turn out, but how God would work in the hearts and minds of the cast and crew through the process of putting the show together. What did he want us to learn about him, about ourselves, about trusting and abiding in him, about being the body of Christ, and letting our witness be our love, care and encouragement for one another? It was going to be exciting to trust him together and see.
FEBRUARY
I already knew many of the Grace Drama members from the SingaporeCAN "Beyond Bathrobes and Sandals," and some had been part of "The Case of the Missing Bodies" production the August before. Our first gathering in February was with only 5 from the team. The rest of the team rehearsed a worship sketch for Valentines Day next door. I passed out a few of the original monologues and they took turns reading them aloud. Then I gave them their assignment for the next ½ hour: Find a local “type” and re-work the wording of the monologue so that they become a Singaporean and not an American. We prayed for insight and creativity…and were all amazed at what came from that first try at revising.
The following week we shared those first drafts with the rest of the group and enlarged our circle of editors. A few more people from the Grace congregation began showing up, willing to give acting a try. Everyone went home that night with two or three of the original monologues to see what they could make of them.
Thomas and Bartholomew. These guys are probably the most blur of the 12 in Jesus' crew.
SHOOTING STRAIGHT with Church Leaders
I had been bold in my accepting the project. I had said that I would take it on if it truly was to be an evening where the drama is the main event to tell the story, and not a warm up to a long sermon and longer altar call. I believed that drama, through the Spirit of God, can move, and teach, and convict and transform and I'm tired of seeing churches advertise and invite unbelievers to outreach events that end up being a prelude to a regular worship service and awkward endings that make our guests feel trapped at best, and tricke” as worst. Surprisingly, Yvonne came back with the news that the pastor agreed to these terms. He would welcome the people at the beginning and wrap up the play with a 15 minute talk which included leading "audience" in a prayer of dedication without an altar call.
I was still nervous about the church leadership changing the rules on us in the middle of the project. Rather than grumble or live with my distrust, I called and made an appointment with the Executive Pastor myself. I wanted to talk to him about my vision for the project and learn face to face if we were in agreement about it. I was prepared with my questions and ideas, honest (and hopefully gracious) and brief with him when we met. He, in turn was gracious, supportive, and to-the-point about his questions too. I know that the candor on both sides was appreciated and I left fairly confident that we trusted one another and equally wanted to be God-honoring with the Good Friday presentation. I left feeling that the church was being very courageous to give us the latitude we had to devise this piece.
INSPIRED BY PROFESSIONALS
Only 9 weeks before our performance, Singapore's
World in Theatre was premiering a production simply called THE GOSPEL OF MARK. I knew that this production would inspire us on many levels, so with as much authority as I could muster to a team of volunteers, I "required" that Grace team see this show. Awed by what professional theatre can do with a story they merely see as interesting folklore, we began to work on our presentation of the story we believe to be truth and life.
MARCH & APRIL
SCRIPT
Over the next few weeks it all came together more wonderfully than we could have imagined. Empowered to make the script their own, and with a lot of collaboration to make decisions as a team, the all-volunteer group was very committed to the creative process and giving 100%. We had the expected frustrations of spotty attendance or not meeting memorization deadlines. But we must be affirming and patient when working with volunteers. Everyone involved had other work and life demands that sometimes are beyond our control. Instead of shaming or lectures to those who were tardy or absent, I insisted on grace and trust with each other to make every effort to be there and be prepared. There were times that this was tested! But instead of getting angry we would give it to the Lord and ask for him to work it out in his time
REHEASALS
My directing style is more democratic than dictatorial. I like to collaborate with the cast and crew. Once we'd gone through casting, which we tried to make as relaxed and painless as possible, I began with one-on-one rehearsals with each actor.
First we simply discussed their character and what was going on in their heads during the scene. The next couple of times we did some rough blocking with a chance for them to try it out off book (without the pressure of others watching!). In the process I wanted to find out what ideas they may have that I haven't thought of, or ideas which will compliment or are better than my own. I like to help actors discover who the character is and how they feel about their part in the story. I want to find the conflict, or their heart's desire.
If you can believe it, this is Levi telling about how Jesus calmed the storm.
I don't want to see actors "act" I want to believe them as real people. We worked at getting rid of the gestures and falseness of acting and together found out how to make these very normal people become really interesting and larger than life. I pushed them to find quirkiness and outrageousness in their characters, and challenged them to try larger than life ways to express themselves & to let themselves go in discovering who they are in the characters they were playing. My promise to them was that as a director, I would not let them make a fool of themselves. They had to trust me.
In only a few weeks, with a few rehearsals, these amateur performers surprised even themselves! It was thrilling to see them give 100% in their own creativity and courageously taking my suggestions.
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Especially rewarding was to see how enthusiastically the crew took to their roles. From the beginning I realized it would be a challenge for the overworked technical director to make Good Friday a heart project rather than another job on his to-do list. When we met for our first production meeting in a small classroom at the church, I could tell by his body language that he was exhausted and out of sorts. Yvonne and I had a plan. Since our play was called "Traveling Light," once everyone arrived I looked at her and said, "Well… are you ready to go?"
"Yes," She said. "Let's go." And we started to pack up our things.
The crew just sat there and looked at us and I said, "Come on. Get your things together."
"Where are we going?" Someone finally asked.
"Well, the play is called 'Traveling Light,' so we thought it made sense to do a little 'traveling' for our first production meeting." I said as we headed out the door. Yvonne and I were having fun with our game.
"Yes, but where are we going?"
"You'll see." Yvonne grinned.
"We'll have you back by 9:30," I said. "That is when the meeting is supposed to be over right?" It's a good thing I drive a 7-seater mini-van. We all barely fit, but we weren't going far.
It wasn't any spectacular venue…just a Starbucks nearby. But the mystery and fun of an out-of-the-ordinary meeting got us all off to a good start. I know they were surprised that we didn't have a finished script, couldn't promise exactly when it would be done, and that we wanted to know their input rather than telling them the plan. But it seemed the collaboration made it more fun and definitely more creative.
COLLABORATIONS
An unconventional John the Baptist
Their most creative collaboration was the opening monologue by
John the Baptist. He ended up becoming a professional wrestler from the "J&J tag team." The original script was revised and performed by Grace Drama's leader Fong Wei Kurk, the monologue alone guaranteed that our Good Friday worship would start off with a bang. But the tech crew added a dimension I could not have added since I have never watched professional wrestling. They put together a very professional multi-image video introduction for John, the "Desert Heavyweight Champion." It defied description.
The ex-Paralytic tells of her healing after being lowered through the roof.
The
paralytic who was lowered through the roof by 4 brave friends became a spunky Cantonese speaking woman in her pyjamas, surrounded by her loyal friends.
The story of the demoniac and the pigs who jumped off a cliff was told by a
pig farmer from Tuas (She ended up going into the travel business since she lost her livestock). The
widow who gave her mite was a Mandarin speaking Auntie. And the
servant girl in the temple courtyard who recognized Peter as one of the disciples was a fast food working A Lien ("holiday job lor").
And then there was the
original music. A few key musicians from Grace, with another keyboard friend who's new to the family of God took it on. They composed original theme music for scene transitions or sound effects. Their live presence added a wonderful dimension to the atmosphere.
GOOD FRIDAY WAS GOOD
I began to second guess myself as we headed into production week. The process had been wonderful. There'd been lots of growth artistically, relationally and spiritually; but perhaps our play was too bold, or modern for this conservative church. Would the audience be blessed and drawn to the Lord by our work, or would they be offended rather than be drawn into the story in a fresh new way. I've only been in Singapore 5 years and perhaps I don't know the audience well enough. To be on the safe side, we invited, no, URGED the senior pastor to attend one of our dress rehearsals. He was glad we did. He didn’t put a damper on our enthusiasm and said he would defend us if there were any complaints.
God is good! We followed his leading in our hearts, and there were NO complaints. None that I've heard of anyhow. Everyone seemed pleased and touched and excited by the story of Jesus through "Traveling Light." From before the show started they were hooked.
As the audience entered, the
4 piece band looked like buskers as they played jazz on the floor stage left. They’d even hung up a tin can and handwritten "God Bless You" cardboard sign.
The children and youth were ushered up to the front to
sit on the ground on picnic-style blankets.
Preshow mingling with the audience.
The
actors all wandered the ailes and mingled with the audience and talked with them, in character, saying "I didn't know you were on this flight!" "Which town are you headed for next?" or other such nonsense.
When it was time to start, the actors sat among the audience and when the
Power Point showed their name the corresponding passage from Mark, it was their turn to
hop up and tell their story. Each actor came out from the crowd instead of from backstage.
Mid-way through the show, after the widow gave her little offering, we were invited to share ours. As the ushers came forward, and one of the actors (the Rich Man!) prayed, I heard one person say behind me, "Is this for real?" Her friend chuckled. "Yes. Better get out your money. I think it is!"
While the disciple
Thomas told about the feeding of the 5,000 he got all the disciples to pass around 12 baskets full of bread and dried anchovies. No one was forced, but everyone enjoyed getting into the story. Everyone, including the audience got involved in the drama of this worship service!
Judas the traitor.
Everyone except for Jesus. It's tough to present Jesus in any way, let alone in an amateur production. I'm averse to fake beards and wigs and flowing robes. They never look right, and are distracting. For the majority of this show, Jesus was simply a voice-over with a special lighting on a white scarf. Jameson Soh, an ASA actor who attends another church, agreed to help out with our show. He pre-taped all the voice overs and then on the night of the show, he wore the scarf and started out as one of the musicians, singing old standards about traveling with the band. The first character in the play started the show by getting the scarf from Jameson, and off we went, using the scarf as a reference to our Lord…until the end. Pilate had come out to tell how the body had been taken by Joseph of Arimathea, and he placed the scarf in the footlocker downstage. Thump went the lid of the trunk. Off went the lights. The band played Jesus' theme music as Jameson walked on stage, the lights came up slowly as he reached in the trunk for the scarf and began the last monologue,
"Early in the morning…on the third day…the women came to the tomb to anoint my body for burial…"
He motioned for the disciples to gather around him and he sat down on the trunk to finish the last part of Mark. He gave them the great commission:
"Go and make disciples...."
As he did, the band began the intro to our final song. Even the director got in on the dramatic worship. The band asked me to sing the final song, so I came up to sit among them all and sing "Come and Make My Heart Your Home." The cast joined in on the chorus. What a memory of sweet fellowship on stage!
A HAPPY ENDING
We finished the song and the show with a curtain call. The cast stood to fill the stage for the last note of our song which led into the sound of a train as it traveled off into the distance. Senior Pastor David Lim joined us on stage, took the microphone from me, and Jameson placed a mantle of the white scarf around his neck. The cast sat on the stage as the pastor gave a short and meaningful wrap up and invitation to the congregation/audience travel light with Jesus too.
Joen Wai, who helped with the script and played the role of Peter, has made a website for
Traveling Light! Check it out!
