'Karate Kid' actor makes movie on faith

Billy Zapka's "Most"
The Orange County Register featured a frontpage article chronicling the amazing story behind Billy Zapka's Academy Award Nominated film "Most." If you want to be inspired as an artist, read this article! It is an amazing story of risk-taking, courage, faith, and perseverance.

This was posted by Joey at The Grove who's recently started a new blog for artists:

Join for free...
The Artist's Heart Wiki by
The Grove Center for the Arts & Media
You're invited to join and become a contributor in The Artist's Heart Wiki...a place where you can post your comments, thoughts, artwork, favorite authors and reflections on developing a deeper life in Christ as an artist.

If you haven't used a wiki yet (Think Wikipedia), you'll love this new interactive forum where you can meet and dialogue with other artists, creatives and dreamers. It's free to join and participate!

I'm looking forward to seeing you at The Artist's Heart from you.

Want to be a better Screenwriter?

Act One trains and mentors Christians of all denominations for careers in mainstream film and television. They prepare students to produce film and TV projects that combine mastery of craft with great depth and meaning. Here's the latest news from them:

Do you have a story to tell?
Is your script ready for production?
Do you have what it takes to make it in Hollywood?

It’s time to find out.goes in each post:
The Act One Screenwriting Weekend is coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan!


What:
Two days of fun, fast-paced instruction from Hollywood pros

*Story *Formatting
*Structure *Visual Writing
*Character *The “Biz”
*Dialogue *Christianity and Culture

PLUS – The Hollywood Insider Event … and much, much more!

Dates:
Friday and Saturday, October 19-20, 2007

Location:
Trinity Reformed Christian Church
60 Port Sheldon Road
Grandville, MI 49418

Scheduled To Appear:
Writer/Producer/Director Thom Parham (JAG, Touched By An Angel)
Writer Chris Riley (After The Truth, 25 To Life, The Hollywood Standard)
Producer and Act One Executive Director Thomas Deason (Fool’s Errand Films)

Registration:
$195 – (includes study materials, Saturday lunch and Hollywood Insider Event)
$175 – Early Birds (before October 1st), Students (with ID), and Groups (10 or more)
$10 – Hollywood Insider Event only

Act One, Inc. is proud to partner with our co-sponsor, Compass Film Academy
and additional sponsors Pepperdine University and Baker Publishing Group


SPACE IS LIMITED – Visit www.actoneprogram.com to register online NOW!
$20 Early Bird Registration Discount extended to October 1st!

Don't Scale the Walls of Hollywood, Go Around Them!

Being a great fan of YouTube, I was thrilled when I recently learned about a new show called "The Interior." Casting was done on YouTube, and the fan base is being built by allowing the public to see and comment on episodes as thy are broadcast on the internet as webisodes. Season one will go directly to dvd once it's completed. Something else that makes me love it: The protagonists are contemporary young missionaries who don't seem to have it all together (read: oh how well I relate!). One of the creators is an MK who has made some successful documentaries. Enjoy the link!

Enacted Prayer & Playback Theatre

Enacted Prayer is a style of improvised physical prayer developed in the 90's by the Theatre Department at Northwestern College in Iowa (under the direction of Jeff Barker). I was first exposed to it at the Christians in Theatre conference in Irvine, (CITA, 2003), and subsequently had one of the Northwestern graduates teach a workshop with some of the Christians I work with from Singapore churches. I've since had a chance to teach Enacted Prayer with Senior Theatre Majors at the Wesley Institute for Ministry and the Creative Arts (Sydney, Australia), at the CRM Worldwide conference (June 2006), and the new course I teach: Performing Arts and Ministry Applications at TCA College in Singapore (Theological Centre for Asia, Certificate in Creative Arts Ministry).

Enacted Prayer came out of a form of improvised and highly ritualistic theatre called Playback Theatre. Playback is used in community settings to improvise plays from stories told by the audience. It was originally developed in the 70's by Jonathan Fox in New York State (they have numerous annual residential training sessions at Syracuse University). Though I haven't had a chance to study in New York, I am a member of the International Playback Theatre Network and spent a year training and performing with Tapestry Playback Theatre in Singapore. I've had a chance to explore it as a means of expressing Christian faith and our Christian experience in an orphanage in Cambodia, with children in an International Christian School, and in the college classroom. I've found a link to one video online that gives & shows a decent description of it, while expressing the heart of what playback practitioners are hoping to accomplish.

I'm excited to meet with church drama leaders in USA and have another chance to share about some new theatre forms with great ministry potential. It will be fun to give it a try, if you're game, and discuss how you see it being used in the American church context.

Pulitzer Drama Readings of the Week

1. Our Town
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, Our Town may be the most popular American play ever written. It explores traditional American values of religion, community, family, and the simple pleasures of life, while employing innovative elements such as minimalist stage sets, a Stage Manager who narrates and controls the action, and a character who speaks from the grave. (see link to more from enotes). Enotes, also says, "It is quite possible that on almost any given day of the year, somewhere in the world, Our Town is being performed by either a professional company or an amateur troupe of actors."Now, that's one popular play!



2. The Skin of our Teeth, (1942) "Thornton Wilder's unconventional drama about the history of humankind.... Disrupting traditional notions of linear time, Wilder's play tells the story of the twentieth-century American Antrobus family in three acts which recount such epochal events as the onset of the Ice Age, the start of Great Flood, and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Ending exactly as it began, the play illustrates the cyclical nature of existence, celebrating humanity's resilience, inventiveness, and will to survive." (see link to more from enotes)

Wanna read what i have to say about them? It's not much, but you can...

I have to admit that while I was moved to tears by Our Town, and my immediate life lessons are resonating with what Becky learned in Act III, I'm going to have to go and re-read The Skin of Our Teeth again, now that I've looked at enotes and searched out someone else's explanation of the play. I found it amusing, and indeed unconventional, but wow, i just didn't get most of it. As I read I knew that it was burgeoning with allusions to all kinds of juicy deeper meaning. It was a harvest of subtle clever fruit that was admittedly just over my head, so i went online to wrap my mind around it. Here's my favourite quote, from Act III ""Oh, I've never forgotten for long at a time that living is a struggle. I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for--whether it's a field, or a home, or a country.
All I ask is the chance to build new worlds and God has always giving us that."

Have you ever read either of these plays? Go get a copy of one today. Really terrific literature. Inspiring creative genius. I'm liking this pulitzer prize reading quest!

BOUNTY

Andy Silk (calls in a panic): i need a female vo for a section of a video. can you do it for me by tomorrow afternoon?

me: love to, but i don't have the tools. just the internal mic on my ibook.

but, i tell him i'll look into it. i'm attending a class on Sunday mornings with Entertainment ppl: "The Bridge" so before class next day i ask one of the guys

me: do you know if there's anyone here who lives nearby who may have a usb mic? i need to do a quick vo.

guy: sure. me. i just got a new mic, need to try it out. give me an excuse to clean my room.

recording later, guy offers to show me the trailer of the film BOUNTY he's almost completed. wow. really not bad! captured a photo from watching the trailer again. check it out! excited for him to be so close to finishing his first feature film. thankful for his help on the last minute recording need for crm.

click on title of this post to see the trailer. click here for BOUNTY website.

Learning Your Way Around the Shop

Measuring/Marking Tools:
Tape Measure, Pencil - duh
Mitering gauge - the red thing
Chalk line - the yellow tool
Bevel (Swivel) gauge - used for transferring angles from one pc of work to another.
Carpenter's level
Roofer's square/ speed square - a 45' triangle
(on R in 3rd photo, below)
Framing square or Trim square - L Shaped steel 16" on bottom, 24" tall, checks 90 corner joints combination square.

Saws:
"Cross cut" cutting against grain
"Rip cut" goes w the grain
Less teeth means a smoother cut
Jack saw - angles down
Mitre saw - rectangular shaped blade
Hack saw (far L) various sizes, cuts metal small ones used more 4 carving
& Clamps to temp hold stuff together:
Grip clip or spring clip - used in tv film a lot
C clamps
Wood clamps/Yorgenson clamps

Hammers:
Claw framing hammer - 16oz, or rip hammers (not shown, have the straight top)
Tack hammer
Rubber mallet - deliver force w out damage, shape thin metal
Ball peen hammer - used in metal work
Sledge hammer - not often used in theatre


Painting Tools:
Ladders, scaffold (ha, not shown!)
Rollers + texture roller
sponges - hide flaws
Chip brushes - a nice disposable brushes
Paint tray or pan - "charging" the brush
use a W or x pattern when painting
5 in 1 one tool - scrapes rollers, open pant can,a staples out
Extensions - tools to screw onto rollers to give longer reach.
Planes - shown L in photo
Paint dryer - (not shown) looks like a hair dryer
Water based paints contain VOCs: volatile organic compounds. Meaning? They can rot.

Pliers & Wrenches (R-L):
Wratchet or socket Open end wrench Box wrenches - really a circle, have the measurements on them
Pipe wrench - 4 used in hanging lighting (big with red handle)
Vice grip/locking pliers
Ice tong thing is really just "fancy plyers"
Dikes are the curved pliers Long-nose/Needle nose - Slip joint - popular, multifunction, the pliers with the red handle
Box/combo/open ended wrench, Crescent or C wrench -wow so many names!


Various:
T50 hand stapler/staple gun - hangs curtains temp
Crimping cutting tools 4 metal
Wire strippers - (bottom L, black)
and a pencil (duh)

various chisels



What are the red and yellow handled tools at top of this photo?
Pop rivet gun (black & red) - don't use much
Alan wrench/hex head screws (silver L's)
Black Crow bars & "wonderbar" (not shown)

scissors - duh

Blades:
"Exacto" or Matte knife - most common accident tool has a string cutter & place for extra blades. handy.

Stock flats:
2' 3' & 4' width stock flats are the often used flats you keep "in stock" to always have on hand.

"stock" also refers to the material you're working with

Power Tools:
Battery operated screw guns 'deWalts'
Dry wall Phillips screw
Battery chargers 9v to 18v
Keyless chuck to tighten chuck which holds the drill bits
Michitas are the older brand
Angle drill

Panel or circular saw - Battery op power, saw plywood Luan sheets, light duty cutting
Less teeth for rough cuts
can pivot to make beveled cuts
Worm drive saw - corded has more power
Sawsall or reciprocating saw -
Bosch saber saw (not jig or scroll saw) - can cut curves better than the michita brand, better for handling

Router - shaping tool flush cutter

Numatic staple and nail guns:
Portable compressor uses air pressure for...
finish nailers (the big one)
pin nailers doesn't hold as well as staples but use it for crown moulding or other items you'll want to pull off the stock sets later.

Sanders
Square ones , name?
Belt sander
grinder - will cut metal use composite blades Metal is bcoming more popular in theatre

Stationary Power Tools:
Band saw - blade is a band
Drill press -
radial arm saw makes many repetitive cuts, has a rip fence and you c clamp a 'stop block' as guide

**Table saw - unisaw, delta makes good table saws, generally used for rip cuts- along the grain of wood. Tracks are for holding rip fence always use blade guard.
Make sure to see that the bolt is locked down

Push stick don't get within 4-5" of the blade
Don't cross your body while running power saws

Chop saw or mitre saw, the yellow one Dewalt brand specialty cuts angled etc.

Disk sander

'doesn't make sense' notes on framing:
in lumber, a 1 x 3 is actually a 3/4 x2 1/2
use 1 or 1 3/8 staples for framing, change the staples for 'skinning' putting the luan on the front of the frame.

Romancin' the Blues

I just realized I never posted this video. One of the songs I sang last for our concert last April. I've got to find an outlet for more sining here so that I don't start making this my theme song in California. I snatched an hour yesterday in a practice room at school. The instrument has gotten a little rusty with all this moving and traveling. Hope you enjoy this song from Linda Eder's album: It's No Secret Anymore. Wish I sang it as well as she does, but I sure enjoyed singing it, which made my audience love hearing it. -K!M

Scenic Design: Assignment 1

Eric Larson wanted to get to know his new students, and what is our raw knowledge of his area of expertise. So, the link (click the title) is to my first completed assignment.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Dramas

Year in USA entry 2:

As everyone else in my immediate and extended family immerse themselves in American Football,
especially College football,
well even more specifically UCLA football,

I've hunkered down with a GRAND OBSESSION for myself:

Reading the Pulitzer Prize winning dramas
I've not yet had the chance to read or see.

So, my INPUT strength has kicked in full force and I've just taken most of the day to compile a list with links to the best descriptions I could find for now. (See the link underlined above, it's pretty nifty...well, if you're as nuts as I am about theatre).

A few days ago, when I got the inspiration, I made my first visit to our local library.

The Central Branch of the Pasadena Public Library is one of the magnificent 1920's buildings of downtown Pasadena. It has tremendously high ceilings, reading tables with pull string-green shaded lamps, dark wood paneling, crown molding, and carved quotes of literary masters surrounding the grand main hall. Each room of the library is a place I'd like to spend hours hunkered down in a chair or wandering the stacks.

Of the 6 I checked out the first one I tackled was THREE TALL WOMEN by Albee. Finished it last night. Really amazing. Genius. You come to find out in the second act that the three women of the first, aged in their 20's, 50's and 90's, are actually the SAME WOMAN who are getting to know one another just before she dies.

I seem to be on a roll with plays about aging. Before this Pulitzer quest, I read a play from my library that I've been intending to read since an old friend David Calkins gave me a copy of the script more than 15 years. ago. Though it didn't win a pulitzer I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER it should be better known. It is also a powerful play about growing old and father/son relationships. (It was produced off-broadway in 2003 and made into a movie in 1970)

So, what do you think of my obsession?
Anyone interested in joining me in reading some of the best American plays ever written?

Back to School

Year in USA 1:

What an unusual year this is for me. I have a break to be able to study whatever I'd like until next summer when we plan to return to Singapore.

I've gone back to school at 45. From the very start of our dreaming about a year in USA, I knew WHAT I wanted to learn about. There are some gaping holes in my undergraduate theatre education. But I'd wrestled long and hard with WHERE to study. Do I commute to school a bit further to take 2 semesters of upper division Theatre History (etc)? Do I apply for an MFA at Cal State Long Beach...or somewhere else? Somewhere that would offer me graduate level academic challenges coupled with an excruciating daily commute on the congested LA freeways!

Choosing Pasadena City College in our neighborhood is certainly not the most prestigious or career advancing choice. But it is a school in Los Angeles County that produces more than 8 shows a year and a convenient, and cheap option.


An MFA would take more than one year to complete, and it will be another 4 until I could continue on the course.

So with PCC I'll learn as much as I put into it while studying near the children's schools and actvities. It will not only be a replentishing sabbatical year of study, but a rich and rewarding year for us as a family to enjoy. PLUS I'll not have to endure sitting on highways looking at red tail lights. Maybe I'll take on that MFA when Cameron is in 9th grade and Tyler starts college.

But I'm posting this entry to say:
I've survived my first week back to school.

Yes, there were the students on the first day who stopped me in the halls to ask directions or advice because I look like a TEACHER.

But I'm off and running. Here's a link to my first assignement, a Scenic Design Survey. Our instructor wanted to get a feel for what we know before he launches into lectures. Next week we'll choose the play that we'll all work on for this first semester. I'm excited to learn a little about drafting, and white model making, and pushing my realists' head to more theatrical, abstract ideas.

Besides Scenic Design, I'm taking courses in: "Theatre History, Technical Theatre & Music Theory. It was hard to choose from the catalog of offerings. I was a kid in a candy shop. Prudence limited me to 12 units.

NOTE: The photo above was taken on my new iphone - yes! i got one! and it'd very very cool! But back to the photo: I was sitting in this cool spot under a tree after I'd hiked up a the foothills near our home. I'm loving living at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. They are breathtaking in the early mornings and at sunset. I'm discovering all kinds of places for early morning hikes and quiet time with the ipod of my new phone tuned to favourite worship songs. I admit I'm crying a lot these days, just overcome, and I'm not sure why. On this day I'd imagined that the rolling of the hills on either side of me, as I was sitting near a canyon, were the folds of the Saviour's garments as he held me in his strong arms.

breif UPDATE on CONCERT:

alabaster jar 2 at the Arts House friday night was an amazing night. very relaxed. PACKED house (seats all full and 40 people sat in the aisles and on the floor!). good music. the presence of God was palpable. it was everything and more that we hoped it would be (except for hearing that the box office turned some people away).

For the record, I've posted what I said to intro the songs. It's my Playden Playlist script posted at another location.

(here's a shot from our warm up at Arts Cafe at Esplanade the week before!)


FYI: Wanting to be on the up and up for this gig, we got a PERMIT from COMPASS to sing these copywrited songs. Permit no: 0704552. Did you know that technically evertime a song is played or sung publically it needs to have a permit to do it? Drag. The minimum fee for a ticketed event – no matter how small is $150! (for us that is about 10% of gross ticket sales!) Differing venues have different rates. This year there are only 2 venues in Singapore with annual permits that cover any performance going on there (Victoria Concert Hall and DBS Auditorium). Yikes. Did you know that the fines can be up to $10,000 per song? Ouch.Check out the link to read more of the bad news for amateurs who want to be honest.

Alabaster Jar 2

In a public venue, The Arts House,
A really cool artsy performance space downtown,
a place that wasn’t church,
didn’t feel like church or look like church,
some Christian artist friends of mine and I wanted to invite people to come and enjoy a night of great music
and hopefully in that, experience the presence of God.
You know, at the end. We wanted everyone to just say,
“[sigh] Isn’t God amazing to create music?”

We didn’t want it to be a “Christian concert.”
But…we’re Christians. How can we get on stage and be ourselves and not have people be touched by God? It was kind of like an experiment.

Three women, artist friends of mine here in Singapore,
we just wanted to be ourselves.

Donna Ong, a visual artist organized this thing called Alabaster Jar 2,
and was quite frankly, giving us a chance to show off
and tell our stories.
Have a chance in a normal non-preachy kind of a way to tell people how real God is in our day to day lives…
And how much he loves us.
You know, “this is how faith works out in my life. Let me sing you a song that’s spoken to my soul about this, or that, or something else.”

So many of us, as Christians don’t live it out in our daily lives. Our Christian life is relegated to Christian activities, like quiet times or even more sad: only when we’re attending worship on Sunday. Jesus just isn’t invited along with us in the commuting, or the laundry, or the kind of music we listen to or the movies we watch. And (pschaw) we have an even harder time talking about our faith with people who aren’t Christians! What is that?

So, with these friends of mine, these passionate believers in Jesus, these artists who don’t necessarily feel like they fit at church into the typical “ministry opportunities” in a church like cell group leader or usher or bulletin stuffer, we made up our own ministry opportunity. One that suits our giftedness and passion: a performance!


Every step along the way we’re asking God for inspiration and his involvement. What songs should we sing? for Dawn Fung it was also in writing new music and lyrics. What order should we sing them? Who would be willing to play for us or with us? Could the whole process of creating be worshipful and enjoyable and not just the event itself?

Yes….YES!

It was a rush. It was a total rush. Every step along the way was sheer delight. There was such sweet unity and encouragement among the gals and our musicians, and then tonight was amazing. It surpassed our expectations…even our dreams! The place was packed, I heard they turned people away. The crowd filled up the seats and then the aisles and even the floor in front of the stage area. And loved each set.


Dawn sang her folk music on her Yamaha guitarelle and everyone loosened up when she was freezing cold and said, “I think I’ll run backstage and get my sweater.” Everyone knew this was a place to chill (literally!) Then her poetic lyrics stretched us and made us think, her casual- at ease attitude…She started things off and warmed up the crowd no matter how cold her bare feet were!



Shan came next with her sassy attitude and splash of fushia in her hair. And her bossanova and ballads. She sat down at the keyboard and sang as if she did this everyday. Isaac her guitarist was way too cool, and talented too. I don’t know. All of the musicians who came alongside us that night were too good to be true. We could have just made it an instrumental evening and we’d have all been blessed.


My set was a compilation of songs that tell my story in Singapore, so I wove that in as well. The crowd laughed when I talked about wheeling my little grocery cart to and from the mall in the hot sun and that this jilted lover song “Romancin the Blues” was what I felt like singing to God for the way my life was turning out. To share with them them why the gospel songs about Gratitude or the miracle of mercy gave me perspective even when life doesn’t seem to make sense. It cracked me up that when I sang a popular Chinese song they got out their cell phones and waved them in the air to the music. I loved closing my set with Anything Can Happen. I seriously felt like the hope in this encouraging song hit the target of everyone’s heart.


The crowd cheered us on. They laughed and and they cried with us. And, when it was over, after our last encore when we sang together, the audience seemed like they didn’t want to go home.

One man, I’d never met before, was standing around when nearly everyone was gone. He said, “It just seemed like rain was falling. I saw rain over the audience. God’s love and healing was raining down on everyone in the room. It was amazing.”

Yeah. It was. I can pretty confidently say that everyone there, whether or not they’ve submitted their lives to the King of Kings, and Lord of the Universe, had a powerful sense God was personal and real. Because he was there. My prayer is that as even the skeptics ruminate over what happened tonight, they don’t let it become just a neat experience, but that wherever they are in their journey of faith, because of Alabaster Jar 2, they’ll give give their hearts more fully to Jesus.

Concert April 27th!

Alabaster Jar Email Flyer.jpg
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.

To celebrate my 10th year in Asia and before we go back to USA for 1 year in California (June '07-Aug '08),
I'm thrilled to have been invited to share a concert with two talented Singaporean friends.
In an intimate theatre setting of the Old Parliament Building, I'll be singing a line up of songs that I've come to love and associate with my journey in Singapore. My set includes songs originally recorded by Linda Eder, Nichole Nordeman, Susan Ashton, Steven Curtis Chapman and even Jacky Chan!
Playing for me are Lee Meng Cham, Charles Wong and Deniece Foo. Paul Seow is joining in on vocals.
I hope you'll come and have as much fun enjoying a variety of good music as I am preparing it for you!

Fridays @ Lunch

Fridays @ Lunch
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.

Before Leezibet makes a career shift from freelance theatre to flight crew stationed in Dubai we're meeting up to talk about calling and destiny! Meeting together with Elizabeth DeRoza and Lee Soon Hoong.

Arts4Jesus & Praying on Mondays

I can't even remember when it was that Dawn Fung and I started praying on Mondays for A4J and the other influential friends in Singapore's arts community.

It started 'cause we inherited the moderation of the group from Mary, Sean and Lucilla.
We just wanted to be asking God what we should do with an egroup like this.
We really weren't sure (we still aren't!).
All we sensed at that time was a need to be praying for the group. So we started.

I admit to you, I've never been a so-called "prayer warrior" (i like to DO things) and I admit I'm sometimes (often?) skeptical about the difference our prayers are making.

But I am starting to see the effect this dedicated prayer time is having on my own heart
and my compassion
and trust in the LORD to fulfill his purposes
in my joy
and humility
and a growing deep curiosity about how the LORD of ALL responds to the prayers of his people.*

As Dawn took on a day job in January, she can't be praying on Monday mornings for now.
However, there have been a few others who are coming along when they can, or who are planning to come when the schedule is free.

Our high-tech group is getting a little higher-touch.
That's a good thing.

If you're free 10AM and want to join us, let me know.
Or let us know how to pray...
If your not free during the mornings, I've started making lunch dates at 12:30 after we've prayed.
This next Monday we're meeting at the Esplanade Library cafe. Wanna join us?

*We ARE praying for some BIG only-God-can-do-it kinds of things for people. I long to see miracles! I want to hear of artists we know and love, and others we only read about in 8 Days or LIFE! come back to a deep abiding love relationship with Jesus. I'd love to be a part of that! I'd love to see our community be full of people who, despite crummy earthly examples, know and trust their Father in heaven, and the way of life he has laid out for us in Scriptures, enough to DESIRE to live a holy life which pleases him. I envision Arts4Jesus members filled with same Spirit who rose Christ from the dead! Yeah! What would this world be like if you are all powerfully, creatively alive as holy and radiant lights in this world so damaged by the effects of sin?

See? this prayer is chainging me. i didn't used to say/write stuff like that.

Exploring Drama in Ministry

6,13,27th February 2007
(with the possiblity of more!)

3 workshops to introduce 3 forms of theatre that are easily incorporated into worship or educational settings. The first two are the easiest forms to use in introducing church leaders and congregations to Drama in worship. Participants who are interested will get hands-on experience with these styles, as well as a wealth of information from which to learn more in the future. A nominal fee of S$20 is charged for the workshop sessions.

Venue/Host: Barker Road Methodist Church, Wesley Hall,
Bukit Timah Road, Singapore
(Take lift to L 3U from car park lift, turn right, walk to end of passage way)

Time: 8.00pm to 10.00pm

Contact person: irenetangp@yahoo.com.sg Tel: 64608238

Workshop Facilitator: Kimberly Creasman, a dramatist from Los Angeles, obtained her BA in Communications/Drama in 1984 from Biola University. Since 1999 she's been in Singapore living out her calling: to empower avocational and professional Christians in theatre to live lives of exceptional faith and art.

Tuesday 6 February: Biblical Storytelling
This workshop will help you experience how easy it can be to memorize and make the text come alive as if you were an eyewitness telling it for the first time.

Tuesday 13 February: Reader's Theatre
Also called "theatre of the mind" because you do not use any props or sets. There are
special skills associated with this form of theatre which can present effectively many types of literature.

Tuesday 27 February: Slice-of-Life Sketches
Short plays or scenes which are related to the sermons or the topic of worship. In the same way a pastor uses illustrations in his sermons, these sketches are used to soften hearts as the congregation identifies with the issues by seeing drama or comedy reflect their lives.

Great Local Play!

This week I probably saw the best local production I've seen in 7 years. I can't think of another that was so outstanding on every level.


Action Theatre's Everything but the Brain. Kind of an unappealing title for a show that was so wonderful. Terrific script (Jean Tay), well acted (go Gerald Chew, Pamela Oei and the rest), super directing (Samantha Blackhall-Smith), the lighting was a clever and integral part of keeping the story moving at a fast clip (Suven is always aweson), educational, endearing, heartwarming. I'm still thinking and remembering moments of the show even 5 days later. It closes today. Shows come and go so quickly here. Hardly time to get the word out. At least for this show I brought along 7 others - 6 from TCA College and Gemia Foo, a theatre artist with a day job in desperate need of some creative outlets!

Almost went a second time with Jim last night, but inertia set in after dinner. Maybe I'll rally to go at 8PM for the final show...

"DeMystifying Mentoring" Talk

you're welcome
it was my pleasure
let's do it again
sometime!

I'm getting geared up to teach the 2nd semester of the Certificate in Creative Arts Minsitry program at TCA College. Theatre Arts & Ministry Applications. An overview of just about anything about theatre that is not the performing part and can be crammed into a fun, informative, and practical 15 weeks.

Here's the online description of the course: http://www.tca.edu.sg/pdf/coursebrochure/tca_sca.pdf

TCA College Website.

For last semester's Performing Arts Course, I had the students use a blog for photos, videos and course assignements. A good way to archive our work, and for prospective students to get an idea of what they're getting into!

November Rained on My Parade

I've been hit by a snooty artist ego monsoon and am now stuck in the mud.

Last night I attended a performance put together by many of the people I've come to love here. Have spent a lot of time with learning together, creating together, teaching...And it was torture. For all their work and effort I can't think of anything but critical things to say about it. Of course art is subjective but this.... I'd better not say anything more until I come up with a way to be constructive. Lord help me.

My heart is torn. I want to encourage everyone to be more creative. I want to be part of helping people experience the joy that comes from being part of the creative process. I get great joy in unlocking God's image in believers so they can freely experiment and grow. But then I see it up on stage for an audience and I am embarassed that this is the best the church has to offer and wish that there were some way to filter what is allowed to be presented under the banner of the Lord of Creation. I don't claim to be an expert or master artist, I'm learning like the rest. But the bar is so desperately LOW in what believers are putting forth as their best in the creative arts. Oh me. Oh Lord. How do I reconcile these two strong and seemingly opposing callings?

Followers of Christ: We must make more strides in craftsmanship. The gap between our experimentation and our public productions of "art" is too too narrow. But keep working at it. Let's humbly keep learning and growing together.

Attack #1: Inadequacy & Fear of Humiliation

After our Last night of class one particular student, our wonderful foreign student from Nagaland, admits his feelings of inadequacy and fear regarding his academic performance in another class and his ability to be what the teacher expects of him. Never mind that he's a NEW Christian taking theological courses. OR, that he's studying in English - a second language for him! Both factors that reveal he's a man of great courage. As usual I was too full of advice but hopefully I'm learning to ask more questions than give answers...and take my own advice:

Q:
Inadequate to WHO?
Who is it you are fearing?

Certainly not THE LORD. God of heaven and earth who according to Zephaniah 3:17 "takes great delight in you. Quiets you with his love, and rejoices over you with singing.

This little afterclass conversation also reveals that feelings of inadequacy and fear of being humiliated are what has kept or is keeping most of us from being all that we are meant to be. It's pan-cultural. The Enemy's univesal-no-fail-power-attack.

Even if you're from Nagaland!

Singlish Speaking Pig Farmer from Mark ch5

Here's a recent guest performer my Tuesday Night class. Christine Yong, of a local drama ministry, dusted off this monologue from a performance in 2003 (search this blog for Traveling Light for a production notebook of the show). The sound's not too great, and if you're not from around here, you may not understand much. But to us it's pretty funny to see a peripheral character from a Bible story sound like a local.

The Power of (Short) Story - LeadershipJournal.net

The Power of (Short) Story - LeadershipJournal.netI love to hear stories. Hear them from the people who expeirenced them. Not just read the stories, but hear them. Maybe this idea (from the article) is something that the folks in my church would take on. I'd help them "coach" the people who's stories are chosen!

My Unbuilt Bridge Between CRM's Focused Leaders and Focused Artists

K!M: Work in Progress: The Unbuilt Bridge Between Focusing Leaders and Focused Artists I've gained so much from the tools Jim uses with pastors and ministry leaders to help them know their calling and live focused lives of following that unique calling, growing from the input of mentors and staying intimate with God and hearing from him about direction. I enjoy helping Jim out as a "table coach" when he's leading a retreat. But I still haven't had a chance to convert it for use with artists. I wrote about why at this link.