Gods Healing through Drama - Ellel Ministries United Kingdom

Gods Healing through Drama - Ellel Ministries United Kingdom: "This exciting new course gives an opportunity to explore how performing arts can play a dynamic role in the healing and restoration of our God-created personhood. Although there are some teaching sessions this course is mainly practical and interactive. The relationship between identity and creativity will be explored in the teaching and through the expressive work. Improvisation using the God-given gift of imagination will be part of the weekend but there will also be an opportunity to work in a team on a short prepared piece of work. Digging deeper into our creativity opens up our inner being and this enables us to both learn more about ourselves and to allow God?s healing to touch our hearts in a new way. No previous experience of drama is necessary; all are welcome to come and to join in the fun."

CITA Cross Cultural Theatre Notes

Links for further study

NOTE: I've put the books which were recommended in the CITA Cross Cultural Theatre track over in the sidebar.

The Center for Playback Theatre
has training and resources, and where you'll meet Jonathan Fox who's original group in 1970's started this fascinating new form. Improvising Real Life by Jo Salas is a very easy book to read and understand how to do it (see sidebar for link to the book). There is also IPTN International Playback Theatre Network publishes INTERPLAY a pracitcal journal full of articles by practitioners (find one in multiple languages by K! in dec '05 p22). I've written quite a bit about my performing and training experiences on the spicetolife blog. Just search "Playback" at the top of the page, and you'll find chronicles or outlines of training in Egypt, or Singapore, or Cambodia. I have another blog where I've stored training outlines and notes, including Enacted Prayer and Playback.

Send me your links for YouTube samples of cross cultural pieces, pieces which may be transcultural, or samples of your work! (there's a blog entry just below where you can also see the playlist). The videos we watched in our sessions are not all on YouTube. Find Mark Branner's CircoRedempto (Central China), and Sword Productions (Philippines). But I'm still searching for This Man Called Jesus, and any little videos or photos of Lin's group called New Hope in Slovenia. Also, here's another link to a helpful playback demonstration (not on YouTube).

Raising Support (recommended by the 3C missions resource on DramaShare).

Resources for further study/involvement

1. A Guide to Ethnodramatology based on research for doctoral studies in missiology as it relates to drama. Julisa Rowe's 2CDs plus guide is based on her dissertation comparing USA, India, African drama styles.
It covers three related areas:

• A model is developed for ethnodramatology to help answer the question of how to discover and understand the drama forms of a culture.
• The model is illustrated in three cultures in the attempt to show how and why drama style differs from culture to culture and that a universal drama form does not exist.
• Recommendations are made for Christians to utilize drama in their own cultures, or cultures of ministry. Particularly appropriate forms for change-messages in Kenya and India are suggested.

You can order Julisa’s training resource that comes in a 2 CD set which includes a pdf of the guide and video examples. E-mail at ethnodrama@acquirewisdom.com

2. 3C Cross-Cultural Creativity
Though I've not seen more than the sample pages on the web, DramaShare has put together a 207page training resource ($119 includes a year subscription to their online dramas). A thorough, step-by-step guideline to organizing and creating a drama team for missions or outreach purposes . . . and to teach these skills to the mission field church. It looks like they've done some good work at putting together, and according to the website they have DramaShare members from all over the world, and their staff have been to many countries, but the offer ofa year's subscription to use their downloadable scripts in your cross cultural endeavors makes me wonder about the missiological training elements in this 3C curriculum!

Here's text from their website: Cross-cultural outreach covers short-term missions work around the world, but it also is meant for more local situations, such as inner-city outreach or prison ministry. The methods in 3C will walk amateurs through the "need-to-know" without long periods of study and research. The 3C Manual gives full instructions on team building, warmup games, characterization, training schedules and mime essentials. 3C Cross-Cultural Creativity Manual includes an annual DramaShare membership giving you one full year of full and totally cost-free use of all DramaShare scripts, including many non-verbal dramas written specifically for the 3C program. By using the 3C program you have full, and totally free use of all on-line DramaShare scripts, including a wide range of mime and human video scripts. The 3C Manual is downloaded from their website saving you time.

Mission Organizations Primarily for Arts in Mission
Artists in Christian Testimony Intl * is an evangelical, interdenominational Christian ministry that mobilizes, sends out, equips, and supports artistic ministers and missionaries who carry out various works of the New Testament Church. (*or in Creative Access Nations "Artists for Cultural Transformation")

OMF has an ethnomusicology wing called Heart Sounds International.

Networking Organizations
ICE, International Council of Ethnodoxicologists (indigenous worship arts). Mostly music, but eager to grow in drama!

GCOMM – Global Consultation on Music and Missions Makes CD’s of presentations at their conferences.

TransformWorld (Came out of the group that was AD2000. They have been networking mission leaders/strategists now has an Arts Focus Group) Kimberly has the Arts Focus Group's position paper and covenant if you are interested.

TransformWorld LA Arts contact: cory_raynham@yahoo.com they have regular meetings, with various speakers/artists coming to share what they are doing eg. April's meeting was from a person who specializes in Fund Raising - and spoke on new forms of Fund Raising banquets another large International Arts Conference in Bulgaria later this month

Recommended book list from ArtsLink (an arts arm of OM International)

• All the World is Singing, Frank Fortunato, Paul Neeley and Carol Brinneman
• Art & Soul - Signposts for Christians in the Arts, Hilary Brand & Adrienne Chaplin
• Art & the Bible & How Should We Then Live?, Francis A. Schaeffer
• Art for God's Sake, Philip Graham Ryken
• The Arts in Your Church, Fiona Bond
• The Creative Call, Janice Elsheimer
• The Heart of the Artist AND Thriving as an Artist in the Church, Rory Noland
• Imagine - A Vision for Christians in the Arts, Steve Turner
• It Was Good - Making Art to the Glory of God, Ned Bustard
• Modern Art & The Death of a Culture, H. R. Rookmaaker
• Roaring Lambs, Bob Briner
• Visual Faith - Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue, William A. Dyrness
• Walking On Water, Madeleine L'Engle

David Kitch (Covenant Players) also recommended
On Beauty and Being Just, Elaine Scary
I just went on the CP website and ordered a DVD on their 40 years of ministry - and make a donoation ...The website has a handy way to make a donation if you want to support David and Sarah Kitch. Sure, we all could use more support, but I don't want to miss an opportunity to encourage giving!

If you make it to New York, check out the vibrant Arts Ministry of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. I didn't find anything on the website for cross cultural work, but you'll be encouraged (and a bit jealous) to see all that's going on through this church.

Jessica Lewis mentioned that she found her job in Kazakstan through the website Christianactors.org. Check that out too! Keep us posted Jessica! We're rooting for you as you find out who will be your support team with Navs!

So, there you go...
Look for more of our notes and links in the future, i just wanted to get something up right away. Strike while the iron is hot, as they say...

Christians in Theatre Arts, Azusa Pacific, June 10-13

I've been to many of the CITA conferences over the years, and it's always been encouraging to meet others from around the USA (and a few from around the world) who share the same passions: Jesus and Theatre. My colleague from Singapore/Malaysia, Paul Seow is even coming into town for it.

I'm so thrilled that for the first time there's a new discipline track: Theatre in Missions, and I'll be helping facilitate it. There's a whole list of other discipline tracks too on the website. I'll post notes from out track here later.

K!'s Playlist of Cross Cultural Drama

Playback Theatre in Kenya

I'm overjoyed! I've just read a report from Julisa Rowe, a theatre colleague in Kenya who teaches at Daystar University in Kenya (a Christian University) and leads the Drama Ministry Team at Nairobi Baptist Church. Her team just had their first Playback performance yesterday, and below you'll find part of her report. She was the one who invited me to teach drama in Egypt earlier this year, and while we were there, we talked about the possibilities. Later we skyped about training her team. Equipped with a School of Playback video, a doctorate in Missiology, my notes, and a lifetime of being a theatre practitioner

What they're doing is realizing a long term dream of mine: mature and dramatically talented Christians using Playback Theatre in significant ministry. If you've paid attention to the news in recent months, you know what kind of terrible things have happened recently in this country. Their "offers" in Playback are desperately needed ones, and the performers on that team are instruments of the Lord to bring healing and hope. The Holy Spirit will use the immediacy and intimacy of improvised theatre to do his work.

Below is my response to Julisa followed by a section of her email report to me today.

wow. julisa! given such limited exposure to Playback, it's astounding what you were able to teach, and put together in such a short amount of time.
as we prayed earlier on skype, i do believe that this whole journey for you is one where you (the talented and capable Dr. Rowe) are out of your area of experience and it's forcing you and your team to grow in your trust of the holy spirit to lead, and you're going to be the vessel for his powerful work. THRILLING (and frankly scary) to let go of our perfectionism and see what God can do!

I'm home late tonight if we want to try to skype and talk through some more ideas. I leave for austria the 9-16th (now i wish i were coming a bit farther SOUTH instead!)

you're in my prayers,
K!Mberly

On May 6, 2008, at 11:01 AM, Julisa Rowe wrote:

Hi Kim:
finally, I'm getting back to you with a report of the last two weeks and our first show!
The training went surprisingly well, although I'm still feeling my way through things! The team (I have 8) picked things up well and have fallen in love with playback and its potential. They are thrilled to be the first (as far as we know) official playback team in Africa! (unless the Egypt groups have continued).

On Friday we had a test run with the Nairobi Baptist staff - we were allowed to take their staff devotion time and did it through playback. They were very positive, and after getting over initial nerves, the team did great. It gave us all confidence for today's performance.

So this morning we did our first official show - in Nakuru, one of the hotbeds of the violence. There were 70 attendees there (pastors, teachers, doctors, nurses, administrators, from all walks of life). Several had had their houses burned down and are displaced. Yesterday, the workshop began, looking at issues in conflict and scriptural response. They extended their time at the end because they had so much to report back from their small groups. So they were really primed this morning when we began. We had two hours but it was nowhere near enough time. Everyone was very emotional by the end, including the actors. The last story we had was from an IDP (internally displaced person) who told of betrayal by neighbors, the burning of their house and chicken farm, and her desire for resolution. After reenacting, we chose to finish with an enacted prayer for the group, the people of Nakuru and Kenya. Then we should have done the collage, but it seemed best to go straight into Is. 61 and the closing song. No one knew any different at least!
The biggest challenge we had was actually to get the tellers to stop talking, or to keep their stories short. We were trying to warm up on short forms, but we kept getting 10-15 min. convoluted stories. Just when I heard the makings of a pairs, the person would take a turn and bring in 5 more things! Or go through about 10 things before getting back to the story to finish it. And there were no natural pauses to interrupt and guide. During the audience talk time, the actors asked me if I could get the tellers to focus their stories, but it was rather difficult. Of course, that is really a part of the healing for them - just being able to be heard and tell what's on their heart. Still, any suggestions? One story in particular would have been best as collage, but I completely forgot about that form (although I was wracking my brain during the telling to figure out the best way to do it! We ended up with a fluid, but the team got mixed up somewhere between a reenactment and a fluid. The audience didn't notice, but we want to improve!

But people were very touched, and we have 3 invitations already to come to other communities in Nakuru and perform. So I trust that funding for that will work out soon. It was great to do it in combination with Daystar's week-long workshop on conflict resolution. The facilitator for today told me afterwards that we had already done what he had planned to accomplish today - so he was able to go on and build from there.

Any more guidance from you would be greatly appreciated as we try and refine this work!

Blessings,
Julisa

PRAY for Julisa and her team, that they'll be used in a powerful way to restore people, and bring healing in this nation.

Hello Dolly Chorus, April 20

Hello Dolly Chorus.jpg
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.

Can you find Tyler in olive green and tweed? I was one proud stage mom to see that my kid can sing and dance if he puts his mind to it. The show didn't turn out half bad as you can see! A few more photos posted on flickr (see badge on sidebar).

The Mirror Exercise

TO all my students who've had to do the mirror exercise, here's a way you can use your skills!

The Pageant of Our LORD

A concert with life-sized re-creations of great works of Art depicting the life of Jesus Christ.

I think it was 17 years ago, in 1991, that this Pageant became a big part of my life. It had already become an institution at the church where Jim and I started our married life in ministry in 1985, but 1991 was the year I got involved helping put the show together. That year it became a huge part of what shaped me as a leader, writer, director, artist. It's something that offered growth like nothing before our since in this calling of mine to use theatre as ministry.

Jump forward to Easter, 2008, and it's been 10 years since I've seen the production, let alone be a vital part of the production that engages more than 300 volunteers every year. I almost missed it again on this year that we're back in USA. Caught up in our "home assignment" lives in Pasadena, an hour north of Rolling Hills Estates, CA, it wasn't until the Holy Week that I got the family jets revved enough to get us all fed and out of the house and down the 110 freeway to stay out late on a school night. Without tickets, not knowing if we'd make it in time.

We arrived just in time to see Joan Benkoil walking away from the box office and tell her about our spontenaneous outing. She lead us, like VIP's, to an usher and had him seat us in empty seats in the back left of the house. When we were seated we realized we were surrounded by a group of Junior High kids. "DC Groups" were attending that night, in place of their regular Wednesday night activity.

We were glad to have done such an impulsive thing. Glad to have worshipped and commemorated the life, death and resurrection of Christ with this classy and classical tradition. Glad for our young boys' sakes, to let them see this important part of the church where their dad had been a pastor for 12 years, in the church where both of them were dedicated as babies, in the church that sent us and partially supports our work in Asia. We needed to see the Pageant. All of us were glad we did. Admittedly, the boys did a small amount of eye rolling at the music choices or soloists...at least they were better behaved than the preteens surrounding us.

Now, what got me writing about the Pageant tonight is that I'm supposed to write reports on music concerts for MUSIC 10 at Pasadena City College. This is one of the small (ahem!) hoops I have to jump through in order to take private voice lessons this term. I felt it was perhaps my last shot at getting some great specialized coaching while here in USA and the fee of $27 for the 1 unit lesson drew me in at first. Then I realized after passing the audition, that in order to take that 1 unit, which requires 5 hours of practice time a week, students must also take MUSIC 9 - a class to practice performing in front of your Music Major peers, another 1 unit. Then you must join one of the performance gruops, I'm in Vocal Jazz Ensemble now - and scrambling to memorize 4 song before next Monday when we'll be tested in quartets; another unit. PLUS attend all the campus concerts at noon on Thursdays. This is MUSIC 10. It also requires attending and writing about outside performances as well.

So, you see, what I thought was going to be a little moonlighting as a wannabe jazz singer has become my full time occupation this Spring. I had also signed up for the 1/2 credit music theory course, thinking that this might be my last chance to see if at 46 I am truly a hopeless case about becoming a REAL musician. Maybe not! I'm determined, and I've got 9 more weeks on the music lab computers to find out.

But tonight, as I sit looking over the program again, it's still early in the semester to be writing erudite comments about live classical pieces I heard in a concert. Nope. As I listen to the comments of other students in my MUSIC 9 class, or the chatter outside practice rooms in the music lab, I feel that in this music world I'm peddaling my little tricycle on the autobahn.

I've seen and heard all of the pieces from this Easter Pageant concert/show dozens of times in the past, and all I can come up with for a musical commentary is to say something about how they make me feel, or whether the lyrics or the mood of the piece fit the transition between art pieces or fit well with the art they underscored. The most striking aspect of the entire evening, musically or otherwise, was that after all these years NOTHING seemed new.

Granted, they are still asking every night who is seeing the program for the first time and around 300 people will raise their hands, so, for them it is new. There is also something comforting in having the old standards of A Mighty Fortress for the sculpture of Michael Casting Satan into Hell; or the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah for the resurrection piece at the end. I will never ever get tired of Bach's Air for Michaelangelo's Pieta. These pieces are so perfect and well loved, to change them would be like not having pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

The evening was a "warm fuzzy" night for Jim and I. We always are so encouraged by the love poured out to us when we visit. I nearly cried seeing so many familiar faces (and bodies --covered in all colours of makeup!) greeting us backstage during intermission. We love the people. We love this aging church where this hallmark Pageant of Our Lord continues to have mass appeal as an outing for Retirement Centers. however, as I sat amongst a gaggle of unengaged youth watching the massive choir of mostly grey hairs, I started feeling discouraged about the relevance and vibrancy of the church for feeding the next generation's spiritual lives.

But I am not hopeless about this. Being in the music department of Pasadena City College, listening to 18 year olds sing classical art songs they are obviously passionate about gives me hope. This reminds me that I'm merely an appreciator, not a lover, of classical music, and there are others - even YOUNG others - who are passionate about classical music. Despite my children's lack of excitement about the music, and the rowdy Junior Highers who sat around us for this program, I don't have to become cynical or sad about the traditions my church has become ensconced in. Why? Because some of my young classmates at PCC would have wept instead of wiggled through the Pageant of Our LORD.

Playback Theatre in North Africa

“M here, will teach script writing. J will take the directing track. And we have two performing tracks. C will teach acting, and Kimberly…Kimberly…,” the Sponsor paused and looked to me for help. “She will teach something…something new called Playback.”

This is how the trainers for a Drama Conference in ____ were introduced to the 120 participants gathered for 3 ½ days of training over the leap year weekend in 2008.

As the participants made their choices for which foreign teacher they would be with for the weekend, they wanted more information. The Sponsor invited me to explain, to pitch the Playback track. I stood with my interpreter and addressed a sea of eager faces. This was their first Christian Conference solely focusing on drama training and they wanted to make the right choice. I did my best to explain.

“From the first time I saw Playback in 2002, I have been excited about the possibilities of this new form of theatre. It is relatively new, created in 1975 in USA, but now there is an International Playback Theatre Network, and there are teams which practice it all over the world. It is simple, beautiful, inexpensive, and powerful, even when performed by amateurs. It also seems that it can be all these things in any language or culture. In a lifetime of being a theatre practitioner, I’ve seen nothing else that makes the most of what theatre has to offer that is special and different than television and films. Theatre, you see, is an immediate art form. The live audience is as important to the success of each show as the actors, play, or any technical element added. Playback is improvised theatre that takes the fun of improv – like the television show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” and gives it depth and purpose beyond just entertainment. Why? Because the stories, the content of the plays come from the audience. The audience is part of the creative process. The lives of ordinary people become the subject of art. In teaching you Playback, I don’t have to worry about my understanding Arabic or the nuances of your beautiful culture. You already know what is taboo, you already know what is funny. I will teach you how to improvise it on stage with adaptable rituals we use in Playback, and you will be ready to perform anywhere and anytime. Come learn playback with me this weekend and be perhaps the very the first to know it and use it in North Africa.”

Sixteen brave souls signed up for the Playback track, which, even after the introduction still felt like a mystery to them. But thankfully for me, they jumped in with both feet from the very first session; giving themselves wholeheartedly to the process of learning Playback. My translator D kept remarking about their enthusiasm unhesitating involvement. She said, “I can’t believe they’re doing this! It’s especially unusual for upper Egyptians, because they tend to be more reserved and conservative.”

(write to me if you want the rest of this article).

I fell in love with my students as I picked up some Arabic along the way. But the phrase I’ll never forget is:

"Yalluna Netfallug"… “Let’s Watch!”

Link to photos from Egypt Drama Conference

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spicetolife/sets/72157605865379308/


uploaded photos from the Christian Drama Conference this last weekend in Upper Egypt. 120 attended. It was really amazing. I loved my students (taught playback), and had fun learning Arabic and EVERYTHING. It was also a great time getting to know the 3 other trainers who are friends and theatre colleagues from CITA (Christians in Theatre Arts). The only sad part: Leezibet was supposed to join us to do the stagecraft class and Emirites didn't give her the week off work. We missed having her!

Take One: Beginning Jazz at Pasadena City College

My dance teacher went down the roster asking which students would like to choreograph a dance piece for the final, or who might like to be in one of the student pieces. I said,

"I'd like to teach the class an exercise."

"Oh? Really?"

"Well, yes." I said. "I've noticed that we're all not very good at working as an ensemble. When we do our routines or warm ups everyone is focused only on themselves. I'd like to show you all something that will help us build a sense of teamwork, and make us pay attention to one another more."

So we did. I told them the rules for Diamond Ensemble, and let them have a go. It was fun to see how beautiful it was even on the first pass. My teacher got out his video camera. He asked me the next day to lead it again saying, "I'm going to use this in all my classes from now on!"

I asked the students once they'd tried it, "What did you learn or experience in this first try?" One guy named Andrew says, "I've never before felt so unified with people. It forces you to stop thinking of yourself."

Wow.

So I told them that this is why I love doing it so much and that when I've taught it before it was for Christians - to help them learn about using their bodies in worship, and a symbolic picture of how when we work together following and supporting the leader it's a beautiful dance of unity.

"COOL!" was the reply.

My prayer is that this opens the door this next semester for me to have more opportunites to encourage some of these students in their Spiritual journey.

International Worship Symposium

A little church in Pasadena has been doing this conference for something like 33 years. Taking it all over USA and to a few countries too, they now just stay at home and let the 700+ delegates come to them every year. This time around I got in on it.  Went all by my lonesome to experience loads of dancing and flags and mime and banners and artists doing paintings during worship. My favourite quote from my notes is: "The main event of church is not the 'worship' or the 'sermon,' but is is the presence of God among his people." (Vivien Hibbert) and on John 4 regarding worshipping in Spirit AND truth, "Some 'prophets' are not much more than wandering fortune tellers in the name of Jesus. But on the other side, there are others who are so afraid of experience, and that they might do something wrong, that in their worship and life of faith, they've turned to stone." (Jim Gilbert)

I met Charlene Rice, a visual artist who was exhibiting her Worship Thru Art there. She was one of the highlights. After talking to her the first time she started calling me "Singapore Jazz." She has an interesting new ministry: she posts videos of her process in painting - with a fun a quirky message about following Jesus. Bought one of her posters and she threw in this one, "On a Mission," for free:

I went to sessions to learn Messianic folk/praise dancing. Loved the couple who were teaching! Bought a couple of their training videos and they threw in one for free. Met up with the couple who now run the school started by Todd & Marilyn Farley called Mimeistry. I've showed some of their pieces (via video) in classes I've taught before. Very disciplined and skilled in their craft, they have students who come study with them for 3 years full time!

All in all it was pretty amazing and refreshing and a little weird. Many of the participants were like hippies...free spirited types, if you know what I mean. Lots of people walking around in layers of flowing skirts or trailing vests with wreaths in their hair. Some of it was a little goofy for me to join in with them. But that's what's beautiful about it - they can just be like children before the Lord and not worry about looking foolish - so I admired it). Since i had gone on my own alone, and most of them seemed to know one another for years, or came with friends, I was still more of an outsider and observer. Many times I watched the flags and people down front dancing freely and it felt like heaven.

I went the last day to have some "healing prayer," which was really sweet. I was really ministered to by these strangers that would pray in the Spirit for my needs and specifically my request: to completely trust without doubting in God's goodness from the core of my heart. The themes that came out of their prayers were "Declaring the positive things God has done." "Labor to enter his rest." and "Sing to me, Dance with me."

Then another that was most amazing: "He will give you a nugget of Gold that will be the revelation or remembrance you need to surrender to knowing his love without a doubt."
The very same day I was choosing a song to sing for a missions event. I had decided to not sing a Christian song, but a showtune called GOLD, from "Camille Claudel." To me, "the Gold" is what we have when we know we are in God's will, and in doing it, we sense his great delight, are filled with joy and get a taste of "heaven on earth."

I've changed just a few words, but here are the lyrics I hope to sing in two weeks:

I wonder if when all is done
Anyone heard my voice
But from the start we have no choice
Our journeys just begin

Lord tell me did I do what's right?
Did I fight hard enough?
When the battles grew too rough
Should I have given in? (No)

So here I stand and swear to you
I did the best that I could do...

I know my voice was just a whisper
But someone may have heard
There were nights the moon above me stirred,
And let me grab a hold
My hands have touched the gold

My hearts been driven by extremes
Blind with dreams, tight with fear
But still God knows he put me here
And I've been so alive

And I can lay the past to rest
And in the end I'll do my best

You have to live the life you're given
And never close your eyes
You hold on, and stare into the sky,
And burn against the cold
For any moment, you might find the gold!

And there was joy
Through it all
And I am standing tall

I know my voice was just a whisper
But someone must have heard
There were nights the moon above me stirred,
And let my light take hold
I rode across that sky
And once I touched the gold

Here in my own two hands
I have held the gold

here's a YouTube promo video for Mimeistry:

Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle, graduated to heaven last September. To the world, she is most known for her award winning children's books, the first famous one being A Wrinkle in Time and a series that followed it. (This is a great series for reading aloud to kids!).

However, it has been through her non-fiction books that she had become one of my mentors. For more than 20 years I'd had her book Walking on Water, Reflections on Faith and Art on my shelf. Written in the 70's, nearly every Christian and Artist I respected had told me that this was THE book to read as a Christian in the arts. However, when I picked it up as a younger person it was too "all over the place" for me. I wanted a book on this topic to give me clear answers, and the right answers. At that time I was looking for some book like this to give me a better apologetic for who I was as an artist (because I so desperately wanted to justify myself somehow to my evangelical world who called me 'artsy' with a hint of a scoffing). For my part I felt like I needed to be less "all over the place" myself. This meandering book, was not the golden ticket I was searching for.

20+ years later, in 2007, I picked it up and began to read. No longer with the need to prove my artsy-ness to anyone, and meeting with some other female artists for prayer on Monday mornings, I would read passages aloud to them and we'd all be captivated. Finally at a stage in life where I'm rock solidly convinced this is how God made me, and he has declared it GOOD, Walking on Water was like having a leisurely conversation over tea, or while strolling through the woods with an older and wiser friend. I still haven't finished it, but have felt this past year that I could pick it up savor sections of it when I had the time to listen more to the thoughts of Ms. L'Engle.

She also became a mentor to me about friendship through the book she'd written with her long time friend and publisher Luci Shaw. I wanted to learn what they had to say about female friendships and loved what I found in Friends for the Journey.

I've just finished reading a wonderful tribute to Madeleine written by her friend Luci Shaw. I learned more about this remarkable woman, some character qualities of hers that I'd like to emulate. You can find it in Books & Culture, A Christian Review. This is a free newsletter through Christianity Today.

Have a good day walking on water!

I Got Some New Shoes On

JAZZ SHOES!

I've had the same new year's resolution for 5 years. So the 6th January in a row that I've put "TAKE A DANCE CLASS" down in my journal of resolutions, I immediately went and signed up for a 6 week interterm course: M-TH 2 hours a day!

Taking dance class has been a real workout. Two hours of S T R E T C H I N G me... and fun. Spend more than an hour just doing stretching! It's a real confidence builder. I'm walking taller. Dance is great for your self confidence and poise. My mom was always telling me to stand up straight, but all she needed to do was put me in some dance classes (Back then however, nice Christian girls didn't take dance classes).

I would have made a great dancer. You know why? According to what I can see reflected in the mirror, my body bends better/further than most of my teenaged classmates! At nearly 46!

No, I'm going to rephrase that: I'm gonna BE a great dancer! :-)

It's fun to be an encourager to the slower ones. There's even 8 guys in the class. I was saying to them yesterday how great it was that they were in the class, and that I'd told my boys about them.

One guy says, "So, guys aren't supposed to be in dance class?"

"Oh no!" I remonstrated, as the women around me giggled, "Guys are definitely supposed to be in dance classes, it's just that most of them don't KNOW THAT!"

I don't know that I'll take more classes, but my longing to do this for so many years is more than just for the fun of it. Taking a REAL dance class is a kind of symbolic act of healing and closure for me as much as anything.

That the PASADENA CITY COLLEGE baseball team does their batting practice into nets right outside the dance room door makes this class kind of especially healing. All the while I'm getting emotional closure on my childhood jealousy and inferiority to what I believed in my childhood was a preferred-and-easier-to-raise sporty-baseball-brother, I hear the constant thwack of the bats underscoring the music we're using.

Finally I'm in a place where I can celebrate that they're doing what they love, and I'm doing mine, instead of the "THWACK!" giving me a subconscious bitterness that I am wrong, or bad for not liking sports, it instead makes me happy that it is part of my dance class experience.

I feel so blessed to have this year for doing things like this. It's been such a gift to be able to take courses and fill in the gaps of my education. And that I'm doing it all at the Junior College rates so I can go to school without having to take out any loans, or make excuses that it's too expensive, or feel the need to justify it to people who might think my interests are frivolous.

Last night I had dinner with Christie Gill. A dear sister. We've worked on many a production in the past. Writing, singing, directing, acting...It was a great time to catch up with her. At one point I mentioned that I'd recently realized that all those years being a ministry wife in a church, I had an underlying anger toward God and the people I needed to prove my worth to, and that justifying myself - and my artistic endeavors - was part of my motivation for being a perfectionist. And she corrected me: "You've been angry because you feel you had to justify who you are." In the church, people who are good with numbers, or teaching, or care giving or hospitality don't have to justify their giftings. Artists contributions are not seen as essential to the ministry of a church. What we give is the extra, and is often seen as unnecessary by the typically non-artistic ones in charge.

That's part of my calling. To help others like me know how valuable they are - created by God to be just the way they are, and how necessary they are to the church, even if others around them don't get it. To empower them to, under the discipline and love of the Lord, live out of the fullness of who they are no matter what others might say.

New Book on Playback Theatre

Interactive and Improvisational Drama
a webpage supplement to Hannah Fox's ch 1

So excited to explore playback in a cross cultural setting again. Reading up more and reviewing to prepare for a trip in late February. A friend from Singapore and now stationed in Dubai, may actually come meet me there and teach the tech theatre track for around 150.

RateMyProfessor.com

Duke Stroud - Pasadena City College - RateMyProfessors.com
It's amazing what tools students have available to make decisions about classes! This professor was sweet enough to loan me books on directing over the school break. Generous. however, reading these student evaluations makes me glad I'm not still in my twenties!

Reflecting and Retreats

I've been going over my 2007 journal...what have I learned, what insights have I had somewhere along the way. What do I not want to forget about. Always get reflective between Christmas and New Year. Missing the 5stars and our 4 Seasons escape with post it notes. So, I've sent an invitation to my So Cal friends to see who wants to get together January 7th.

Also came across some busn cards from Singapore...One, from John Chong Ser Choon, a retreat director for Trinity Life Centre I'm going to have to check their retreat center out when I get back to Singapore, but just in case someone in Singapore is looking for a Spiritual quiet get-away, I've made this post with the link.

Here's some subjects to reflect and journal (I'm still thinking about it, so I'll have to fill in the blanks in a few days!):

In 2007 I learned to…

I grew most in…

Another way I saw myself growing was…

One of my best adventures was…

I saw/knew God was doing something when…

A real gift from God was…

Something I really enjoyed doing more of was…

One of the happiest memories of 2006 I’d like to freeze in my mind…

I was really brave when…

Something I’ve grieved about this year was…

I’m still trying to learn what God wants to teach me through this hard experience…

The best word of advice or encouragement I can remember is…

One thing I’m looking forward to in 2008 is…

Phone Salesman Amazes Crowd

Don't Give up on Your Dreams!
have you seen the clip of the phone salesman who ended up winning the 2007 Brittain's Got Talent televised competition?
Go Paul Potts!

Newsletters and blog posts: Word of Promise

Word of Promise
=stars read the word, a new audio Bible. Rich Swingle wrote about it here on his blog...

I disappeared for awhile because I discovered two new things: Facebook and the plays of August Wilson. Two things that can form addictive behavior. Facebook is kinda like hanging out with friends on steroids, alone. The August Wilson obsession has knocked off two more from my list of Pulitzer Prize winning plays. Fences, which loved reading and missed seeing at the Pasadena Playhouse by one year! (starring: Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett!) And The Piano Lesson.




So if you're looking for me, and the date on the most recent posting is getting old, go find me on Facebook,
or assume I'm at the library checking out plays by...hmmm. Who shall it be next? Maybe Eugene O'Neill.

A Thrill to Pass On Some Things I've Learned

Had another chance to explore physical worship with the pastoral staff of New Song Church (San Dimas, CA) this week. Eight of us worked through some very basic ideas of how to use our bodies in improvised movement (Diamond Ensemble) and improvised prayer (Enacted Prayer). A brief description follows, but if you want to read more about both of these forms, click the links or search this blog or my other one for course outlines and handouts (http://spicetolife2.blogspot.com)

Here's what one of the pastors wrote following our time together:

Thank you for yesterday. We had a wonderfully worshipful experience. I hope you felt we participated enough. Although we are a VERY creative group, we aren't necessarily a group that acts regularly. We still enjoyed ourselves immensely. In fact, we were all impacted deeply from the experience and would like to learn more. We are thinking about experimenting with enacted prayer during our Christmas Eve service.

HERE'S A QUICK DESCRIPTION: 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 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 Minsitry & 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). I've had the chance try it out once with Americans, at Yorba Linda Friends Church in 2006.

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.

Differing Views on How to Educate

Today I grinded my axe with the teacher of 2 of my 3 theatre courses this term:

The "Socratic Method" and critical thinking
cannot happen in a vacuum.

A few weeks ago my theatre professor asked me when no one else was in the shop to hear, "So Kimberly, you're an educator, how do you feel your classes are going so far? Are they living up to your expectations?"

And he heard a very long pause.

"That bad eh?"

"Well," I answered. "I still have SOME of my hair left."

(I think it was evident to him that my meaning was: "I've not torn all my hair out in frustration over these courses").

He laughed. Awkwardly.

I continued, "It's just that my kind of personalitly likes to analyze things with an eye to how they could be better. And there is a lot of room for improvement. If you're serious about knowing the answer to my question, ask me again in 3 weeks."

[click the time below to read the full post]

I was thinking and hoping that maybe if a few more weeks go by I won't emotionally tear apart nearly every detail of class time that was, to put it mildly 'not maximized.' I have come to a belief that he's a capable theatre artist, but an inept educator. I feel that though time in class stimulates my curiosity, anything I have learned about scenic design or technical theatre this term has come in self-study, OUTSIDE of my time face to face with this man who has his position at Pasadena City College on the grounds that he knows his stuff and has a lot to offer.

Well, more three weeks have gone by and it turns out that today was the day. All of the others had left around noon and I lagged behind straightening up in the scene shop.

"You know Eric, yesterday's scenic design class was the best one we've had yet." I said.

And then I told him why: before diving into an assignment to make a model box, we sat around at a table, and he showed us how it's done. (Sure, he used the materials belonging to one of the students, thus doing her assignment for her, but at least we were getting A CONCRETE EXAMPLE).

From here we ventured into a very lively and animated discussion. It was really fun. I love to argue and I feel like this was an opportunity to have a hand in sharpening this obviously gifted and skilled theatre artist in his weaker skills as an educator.

I told him that I respected him as an artist and I could tell that he really cared about his students. I don't want to vent my frustrations in writing through a "teacher evaluation" that would be first seen by the head of his department. I wanted him to hear it from me and hear from my lips that I know that he has a lot to offer me and I feel he is cheating me. Let him have a chance to answer to my accusation that he is hiding behind his belief in the socratic method and telling us to go out there an find what we need from the whole world of overwhelming resources that a scenic designer needs to know about. Give him my reasons why he needs to offer more structure and specific instruction and examples in this beginning/foundational course. Tell him that though I disagree with not having a textbook, I think it's entirely unacceptable that he's not even given us a bibliography! Worse yet, we've never even had a handout! Welcome to Junior College in America!

I have to say, it was stimulating to try to hear each other out, to violently disagree, and concede, and to even agree, and I HOPE to encourage him to be more of an inspiration and adept educator in the future.

"Start off this course by telling us about who you've learned from," I said. "What inspires you? Let's not waste our precious few weeks of a one term course to overview a vast subject. We spent nearly a whole class listing what tools we need to buy while you waiting for us to take the time to write it all down? I wrote some of it down wrong! Wouldn't it be better if you gave us a handout of a list and then got on with teaching? And then you let us pick the play we were going to all work on? Scenic designers don't get to pick out the play they design, so let's not waste a week in class of blank looks around the room about possible plays we could choose."

"Are you saying that these students are stupid?" He gave me a smirk.

"No. I'm saying that these students don't have some important core knowledge they need in order to make a good choice of a play, or to execute the assignments.

"These student can't list the titles of more than a few plays between them. The only other kid who had any input said, 'Duuuhhh, I was thinking about maybe a Shakespeare play, but I can't remember the name right now, and you said that it shouldn't be a Shakespeare play, so uh, never mind.' That's why I went and looked into the list of Pulitzer Prize winners and found which ones are the single set shows and brought the synopses to class. I'm someone in the class who at least knew of the Pulitzer Prize and that there is an (almost) annual award for drama. I didn't want to waste my semester working on just any old show! But 2 weeks 'discussing' what play we'll work on as a class? It's a waste of time!

"Why don't YOU tell us a famous play that you're curious about spending time working on. YOU say to us, 'Go read THIS PLAY, and next week we'll discuss it and get to work.' And how can we get to work if these students haven't seen many shows, and the shows we've seen haven't been watched with the eye of a scenic designer? How do we know what the unlimited possibilities are if we haven't even looked at a concrete example of a realistic set design vs and abstract one?

"This is how I understand the educators role who wants to teach his students to think critically: YOU, the Expert, tell us in the first week 'Here's a list of 5 different kind of contemporary scenic designers. Pick one and go research examples of his/her work. Come back next week and report back why you think that they are top in their field.' And if we don't get it right, then don't berate us and make us feel stupid for our amateur analysis. Add to what we share with your expertise. I asked for you list and spelled the names wrong, so came up with only a few to look into from my Google search. I went to the library and checked out a few of the only 16 books in the stacks on scenic design. I brought them to class. 'Meilzener,' you said, 'oh he's one of the greats. Yes. He's very famous.' So I spent hours pouring over his book and reading what he wrote and sketching copies of his designs. Only to hear you say 5 weeks later, "Yeah, he's famous but no one designs like him ANY MORE."

@#$@!!! &*@! %&@! %&!!! At this point I'm thinking that my teacher is not only NOT teaching me anything, he is working AGAINST my efforts at doing any profitable learning this semester!

WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT 5 WEEKS AGO BEFORE I DOVE INTO STUDYING THE GUY?

(Did I say that this discussion was "lively?") He came back with,

"Well he was great, and it is worthwhile to study and know his work."

(I wanted to strangle him.)

He told me some stories of students not completing assignments, or turning them in late, or complaining about him on their class evaluations. So I asked, "Do you have this experience and feedback with all of your classes? Do you get the same lack of participation and reluctance to be the first to turn in assignments? It can't all be student laziness. I don't think you will ever have a JC student who has as much interest in learning the subject with as much free time to devote to it and as much theatre background as I have, and I'M FRUSTRATED WITH NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU WANT. It can't all be the students' fault.

"Do you know that we all talk about our reluctance to be the first person to bring forward an assignment for critique? It's because we know that we'll not have understood it right, and in the process of our displaying our bad example, and you pointing out why we didn't get it right, the rest of the class benefits by finding out, "OH THAT'S WHAT HE MEANT!" so they can go back home and work on their assignments with more clarity.

He replied. "But I am constantly asking people if they understand and no one ever says that they are confused."

"No, you have a bad habit of saying, '...You know what I mean?' every 5 seconds. This is a very bad habit and you have to STOP IT! You have to stop it because, from the start we realize that when you ask it, you do not wait for an answer....And when this is the case, you are not REALLY making sure that we understand, but that you are using this as a crutch in your communication style to put the onus on us for your not communicating clearly!

"Besides, no one is going to speak up in class, in front of their peers and say that they don't get it. People just don't do that. I'm old enough to be my classmate's mother and confident enough to teach this subject without having ever had a course in it, and I'M reluctant to pipe up when I don't understand.

"And if what you are telling me is that these problems are typical in the classes you teach, perhaps not all of the students are lazy or unmotivated. Perhaps many, like me, don't understand the assignments and get deflated in the process. You say your critiques 'are NICE compared to the feedback you'll get in the business.' But in reality all of us are not heading into a career in scenic design where we'll face ruthless directors who rip apart our work. In reality, we are getting a taste of this craft, and an appreciation for what it takes to be good at it. We are gaining a vocabulary for collaborating with scenic designers if we end up venturing into other arenas of theatre work.

"You have this chance to inspire us and intrigue us from the wealth of knowledge and experience in your head, and we're instead getting overwhelmed and defeated by your stubborn refusal to pass any of it on under the guise of a commitment to the Socratic Method. We're trying to take it all on and come to you as if we're experts when we haven't the foggiest idea where to begin!

Moved a backburner idea to the front and turned up the flame:

Only a couple weeks ago I started working on the infancy of a devised theatre project called:

Alternate Endings: Reinventing the Past.


For now it's just a personal writing exercise to help me heal from some of the things of long ago that are still hang ups. But if this continues to take shape, and the Lord keeps giving me a passion for it, I think it may grow into a fusion of a Playback & Devised Theatre piece for helping artists and audiences shake off their baggage.

During my week in Estes Park Colorado (CRM Women of Influence Mentoring Retreat, Oct 20-25) I shared the idea with a therapist with CRM, and another older woman/mentor in CRM and both were very encouraging to move forward with it and see how the Lord leads. If nothing else, it's sure a great exercise for me.

What I'm doing is writing a synopsis of an unhappy event in my life that I didn't process well - A time when I didn't know what to do with the emotions or hurt and never really have been able to put it to rest. After the synopsis, I pray over how it could have turned out differently. Not necessarily to change the painful experience, but to change the conversations surrounding it, and my responses in the face of it. Then I write out a scene giving voices and reality to this 'alternate ending.' This script then can become a part of my memory, and I've found that it has almost immediately given me complete closure over that situation.

Have you any pain in your past that has become a roadblock to your growth or emotional and spiritual or even physical health? If you like to write, try it! Let me know how it goes!

Education by Evesdropping

I have a new circle of friends. Well, they don't know me, but I've become a fan....

About a year ago I started listening to the podcasts from Downstage Center and American Theatre Wing.

I put my ear buds in, hit play and while driving, preparing dinner, or working out, my new friends Howard Sherman (ATW, Executive Director) & John von Soosten (Program Director, XM Satellite Radio, On Broadway) climb into my head and introduce me to their elite circle from the world of American theatre. I imagine sitting in either Howard or John's living room and listening for an hour to the likes of Terry Teachout, Theatre Critic for the Wall Street Journal; Marian Seldes, Rita Moreno, Vanessa Redgrave & Carole Shelley, on their long and illustrious careers; John P. Connolly the new executive director of Actor's Equity Association (some of my recent favourites). I may be only paying $20/unit for my mediocre theatre courses at Pasadena City College, but this education by evesdropping is PRICELESS.

Here's the link to get the podcasts for yourself, with the description from the ATW website:

"Downstage Center, a collaboration of the American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio, is a weekly theatrical interview program that spotlights the creative talents on Broadway, Off-Broadway, across the country and around the world, with in-depth conversations that simply can't be found anywhere else."

Omega Cinema Props, Hollywood

Omega Cinema Props, Hollywood
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.

Truly, there's no business like show business! Today I visited this humongous warehouse of every possible kind of prop you could imagine. And did a little people watching. Hollywood entertainment types are an interesting breed.