The world sees Christianity as backward, unimaginative and boring.

And it's true. We've earned the reputation.

But, if you’re anything like us: increasingly passionate about knowing Jesus, and the role the Arts can play in sharing our convictions that truth can be known,

Welcome to the Party!

After spending the first half of my life in Los Angeles, the city with more theatres than any other city in the world, I grew up in love with both Jesus and the stage. Halfway through my co-starring role in “The Kimberly Creasman Story”, life took a crazy turn toward Singapore by way of joining Church Resource Ministries and learning “yi dian” Mandarin in China.

For the past 9 years now I've been a student of - and serving the church in – Singapore.
With our unique cultural integration of the best of both East and West, we have so much to offer, with limitless possibilities!

I believe that artists in Singapore, along with the well-resourced church here, are in a position to be a great influence not only to our society, but in the region and the world.

I'm excited about this step our grassroots network of Christians in Theatre is now taking to expose and equip the church in theatre arts. TCA College has been offering a Certificate in Creative Arts, but until now, we’ve never worked past a mere introduction on the genres from the Performing Arts course.

That’s why it's been thrilling to put this ½ day together with a wonderful team of friends, colleagues and former students. Once a week, for the past 3 months, we’ve had a great time getting to know one another and rehearsing the various scenes you’ll see today.

Many people believe that theatre requires a big budget and lots of fancy equipment. We have neither. When we came together we had only enthusiasm, a lot of experience & a little bit of talent. We want to inspire you today to employ creativity and drama in your ministry whether or not you've got money for costumes, sets and lights!

K!Mberly Creasman
Dramatist/Explorer
CRM Singapore

TCA College, School of Creative Arts, Adjunct Faculty



Calling Statement:
God delights in creativity and his creatures.
I am called to radiantly reflect his delight and add SPICE TO LIFE!

First, helping Christians discover His Creative Spirit in themselves,
and illuminating the truth of a personal God in fresh and tasty ways.

Then, helping the spicy friends I've made recognize and submit
to the source of their creative spirit.

Through personal relationships, writing, teaching, directing and connecting,
I am called to model holiness to the Artistic, and artistry to the holy!

At the end of my life,
I see the world full of Christ followers creatively and hopefully celebrating this mortal life
because they are made in the image of their Creator and have a strong sense of their unique destiny!

(Into Letter in CITA Showcase/Workshop Notebook)

UPDATE on Drama Showcase/Workshop May 2: TEN DAYS TO GO!

Last night we had another productive rehearsal on sections of our Daniel 2 "finale" at Grace AOG. I hear that Lionel's group has extra rehearsals planned as well. The Playback group rehearsed last week at Grace. A photo of our giant (5 meter tall?) statue/puppet is up on the facebook page. A few of you are putting together your 3 minute testimonies to intersperse through the program (Siew Cheng Lee's is attached below since she can't be part of May 2nd). Joanna at CRMS reports that people have started to send in their $$$ registrations today.

We're really rolling quickly toward May 2nd on multiple fronts!

We finally have a flyer (attached) in jpeg format and are having a few posters made to put up in Christian schools for this last week before our event!

Thanks for helping get the word out. CRMS sent an email blast to pastors, TCA College sent to their list, and everyone I've called so far has been passing on the info in some way or another. I've so enjoyed the process with you, but having a whole bunch of people attending the workshop would be nice. I'm reminded of Jesus words: "Do not let your hearts be troubled..."

Grassroots, personal invitations are always best, so thanks for your help in getting the word out to those hidden drama enthusiasts who just need a little encouragement and training to integrate more artistic expression into their worship and ministries! Note below the facebook event page, and a 40% discount being offered to students.

I look forward to our Thursday night rehearsal at COOS this week. More details will get ironed out and fall into place so that you can "shine like stars in the universe" *

ALSO: We're not without challenges/opposition! Primarily: a number of us have fallen sick or had injuries the past 2 weeks. 

Let's keep one another and this event before God's throne, asking him to be glorified in all aspects of the preparation and the the presentation!

*"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out [dramatize] the word of life -- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour for nothing." -- Philippians 2:14-16

The Ministry of Drama Ministry

I recently asked one from our Thursday CITA group what it has meant to her Christian life and growth to be involved in Drama Ministry. Here's what she wrote:

Im a late bloomer and only started being involved in drama ministry in end year '01 (I think). My friends find me a drama cos I constantly have my hands flying all over when I talk to them and if I want to emphasis on something I will drag my speech.
I thought being in drama was just to come up and prance around. You get a whole audience to look at you. But having been involved through the years I realized that I have more to learn and is still learning.

I have to confess that Im no bible thumping from cover to cover. Ask my mom and she complains that I don’t even memorise the order of the bible be it the Old or New Testament. I now cheat by having tags on the sides of it.

Having done a few shows have helped me studied the bible (not all of it yet). You see I have to memorise the script and most important of all thoughts will be flying through me and it does seem that God is speaking to me through the script. Here are some excerpts from the scripts I have learnt.

In The Gift by Glenn A Hascall (Reader’s Theatre), our lines are only either one word or phrase but yet it kept telling us what this Gift from God is where it is from, where it is coming. Priceless, precious and perfect gift. And we all know that the Gift is Jesus.

Temple Merchant (John 2:13-23) by Debbie Lee. This is the only chapter that I will shiver if had been in the temple. I wouldn’t have thought that Jesus would be so angry. I can safely say that I don’t come to church to make money but on hindsight Church has often been my playground. I get to meet and chat with friends and sometimes loose my focus of coming to church.

All of us know the Lord’s Prayer by heart but what does it actually mean? I only got in depth when I did the Lord Prayer by (I don’t have the name) . Hallowed be thy name, and just like my part in the script that says “It means….it means…(loss of words) Goodness! How should I know what it means? It’s just part of the prayer. (pause) By the way, what does it mean? Does it break your conscience when you say “Forgive us our debts even as we forgive our debtors?” It was quite tough doing this script, I did sit down and cried a few times. I need to reconcile with what I have to say and now it is a constant reminder to me whenever I say it.

In a Christmas play “Saviour” no idea who wrote this. I learnt of the prophets from the Old Testament who predicted the Messiah’s birth. Micah predicted that the messiah would be born in the village of Bethlehem and it’s the village where King David is born. Isaiah predicted that the messiah will be born into the family of King David. Isaiah also predicted that the messiah of Israel will be God himself in human form. The messiah will be known to his disciples as Immanuel which means God with us. Mary already knew that her baby will be a boy who is the messiah. He will be called Joshua, a Hebrew name which means God is Salvation. The Greeks will pronounce His name as Jesus.
So yes, Christian drama does help me understand the bible better. It also helps me to have a closer walk with God. I just cant go out and say lines without it’s true meaning.

SIEW CHENG LEE, Wesley Methodist Church, Singapore

CITA in Singapore

+ & - Space
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.

A good exercise for helping us get past not wanting to touch each other. Our bodies are the positive space, the first person in a marked out square on the floor makes an interesting shape and one by one the rest fill up the "negative space" with other odd shapes!

"The Ledger People"

"The Ledger People"
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.

The Thursday after their success for the Focus on the Family Singapore Partner dinner, they ran it through for us.

PRESCRIPTION: the Spiritual RED BULL of fellowship in Egypt

SINGAPORE. 60% Daoist Chinese. 16% Christian.        

Pop: 4 million. Cultural hub of Asia.

My head is spinning from jet lag, career euphoria and a clash of cultures. There’s an Indian Festival going on in the common area of our concrete apartment blocks. My boys are playing funky American hip hop on the stereo. And though Asia has been our home since 1997, I just got back from turning 47 (middle aged?) in the Middle East.

ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT. 90% Muslim. 10% Christian. 

Pop: 80 million. Cultural hub of the Middle East.

No. I didn’t mix with the terrorists suspected of bombing a popular tourist spot (Day 1) or have a chance to meet more than one Muslim; a girl who’d just graduated from college in Islamic Law (Day 11). I spent all the time in the middle with 80 of the most passionate followers of Jesus of the millions of Arabic speaking Coptic Christians living in the 10/40 window.

SELF-DOUBT. Is it really a good idea to leave your family for 11 days? I mean really, you’re depressed. You’ve had a hard time juggling homemaking and a few teaching commitments. You’re rarely speaking your hard earned and easily forgotten Chinese in day-to-day life. What are you doing running off to the Arab world to teach drama when you’re a failure in Asia as a wife, mother and missionary who can’t keep toilet paper stocked in the bathrooms let alone be involved in any really significant theatre related work or ministry? 

HEALING. Despite having the world’s most supportive and positive husband, I have become world-class at negative self talk. 

However, New Year’s 2009 found the children and I making seriously positive steps toward equilibrium and health on all fronts (so far, 20 doctor visits, 6 prescriptions, and 4 books to figure it out!). Amazingly, it turns out that part of my healing was a solo trip to Cairo. 

SHOULD I GO? When I was invited to come teach Evangelistic Drama Teams again this year, I brought it up with my sensible lady friends in Bible Study. The 6 who since August have most intimately seen me struggling in readjustment to life in Singapore. Instead of saying, 

Egypt? Are you kidding?,  they said,

Egypt! You HAVE to go!

I called the conference planner. I wasn’t sure how Playback Theatre, the style I’d taught last year, could be used with their theme this year to “Train the Trainers.” I could see how it might work to have 4 days to take Actors, or Directors, or Script Writers or Technicians to a level where they might be able to pass on some skill. But I needed to ask him directly: Do you really need me there this year? I was sure the answer would be “Not really, …but thanks for asking.” Instead we had a 2 hour conversation that started with,

I don’t think you understand that you’ve made a huge impact on these people. You are famous here. The first thing people ask when I tell them about the conference is, “Will Kimberly be there?” I’ve told them all “Yes!”…. You have to come.

(Egyptians, by the way, are world class at making people feel special. He may very well have said the same to all of the other trainers!)

So, by faith and credit card I booked the ticket and knocked on only two doors to pursue extra funds to help cover the cost in our internationally flagging economy. Door number two, a Singaporean pastor, followed up with an email, 

Have my secretary cut Kimberly a check for the entire cost of her flight. 

I made 2 Corinthians 12:9 my theme verse for the trip. The Apostle Paul had been complaining about having some kind of a nagging problem, his thorn in the flesh, when he heard God speak to him:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

WEAKNESS INDEED. I made my itinerary to arrive a day before the 5 other international trainers to make sure I’d get over jet lag. A sore throat and drippy nose hit and the now irregular curse hit my aging female reproductive organs full force. By the 3^rd of the 4 day conference I couldn’t get myself out of bed for breakfast. While my achy body waited for aspirin, vitamins and the healing of Jesus to kick in, downstairs the conference prayed for me because I had no voice. I laughed about my theme verse and thought,

The only way I’d be weaker and his power more perfect is if they brought me in on a stretcher and all laid hands on my English teaching notes to learn by osmosis!

BUT THERE IS A GOD IN HEAVEN. And he cares about you and I and our little attempts to please him. More than I could have even imagined before, his power was made perfect in my weakness. Needing to be flexible, and not knowing ahead of time who or how to prepare, I brought those notes from last year, and the Holy Spirit clearly lead my pedagogy for each of the 13 training sessions. I fell in love with the 10 students in my Playback section who quickly bonded, learned to love and trust each other, grasped the difficult and unusual concepts for this new style, marveled that they could use their whole bodies in worship and storytelling, stretched their creativity to the limits and told me over and over, 

I didn’t think this kind of theatre & creativity was possible for Upper Egyptians. 

I was skeptical at first, but now I see how amazingly powerful this can be used to bring people closer together and find common ground.

Playback gives us an unforgettable platform for sharing our testimonies, our stories of faith; our prayers. Not just among us in our drama teams, or in our church meetings, but somehow, as you’ve said, God will show us how to use it in our communities to bring down the walls between us and find what we have in common so that maybe we can open doors to share more…

The class did a performance on the last night. You’d have thought they had been rehearsing for more than half a year. One first time observer called it “miraculous.” A dozen told me they wanted to learn it too. Perhaps my class will train them. Perhaps I’ll get a chance to return again. My fellowship with Egyptian Christians for a week was like a Long-lasting Spiritual Red Bull energy drink. I’m more than just pumped, psyched, and excited about being back in Singapore. I’m full of love and motivation to serve my family, navigate the health issues to complete healing, and follow through on many wonderful opportunities I have to merge my other loves: Jesus Christ, artists and theatre. Especially the group of Christians in Theatre that’s recently started meeting Thursday nights. But that’s another story for another letter.

That Self-talking censor is silenced, and I hear myself saying instead, 

I wonder how much Arabic I can learn by 2010?

About Jane Russell Hollywood Starlett of the '40's

Sex Symbol and Christ Follower | Christianity Today MoviesSex Symbol and Christ Follower | Christianity Today Movies

Lauren Yarger

Been awhile...I haven't quite recovered from another international move (I'm beginning to wonder if I will ever????). And life for the K! (besides a whole lot of really boring homemaking and setting up house and life details) has been all about football and forcing a pre-teen boy to do his homework. Okay, so I'll stop whining and make my post....

Wanted to pass these links on while i was catching up on emails and putting them over in the links column.

Met Lauren Yarger at this year's CITA conference. She's a producer, and has a few blogs:

Thoughts on writing and Broadway reviews:

Additional Reviews at American Theater Web

News and Inspiration for Christian Artists

Coaching vs Telling: How to Help Others

Thanks Kim Zovak for these nuggets you love about coaching. I really have enjoyed employing some of the coaching tools I learned in the CORE COACHING course I took in Feb 2007.

“The carrot and the stick are pervasive and persuasive motivators. But if you treat people like donkeys, they will perform like donkeys.” Whitmore, Coaching for Performance, 1998, p. 100

“If people have always been told in the past, they will expect to be told. That is not the same things as preferring to be told.” Whitmore, Coaching for Performance, 1998, p. 133

For most of us, as leaders, the telling paradigm is what we have been taught and is deeply ingrained in us. To coach well we must believe in the power of listening, self-discovery and the Holy Spirit’s work in people’s lives. -Kim Zovak, October 2008.

Telling Paradigm
When you come to me for help, what you need is advice.
My value to you is in the knowledge, life experience, idea and wisdom I can convey to you in words.
You have trouble solving problems without my help.
I can quickly diagnose and solve your problem with minimal information.
If you get the right answers, you be able to change successfully.

Coaching Paradigm
When you come to me for help. What you need is someone to walk with you.
My value to you is in listening and asking questions that help you draw from your own knowledge, life experience, ideas and wisdom.
You have the resources to steward the life God has given you.
If I help you think this through, you can come up with a better solution than I can.
Successful change is more a function of support and motivation than information.

Modified from Stoltzfus, Coaching Leadership Coaching, p. 24

"We have left the age of the orator and have entered the age of the artist." - Arts Minsitry Training Institute website

ACT: Artists in Christian Testimony (Byron Spradlin, founder, has been empowering artists since early 70's). They had what sounded like a fantastic conference in Nashville last month. Check out the lineup from their FIRST "Arts in Ministry and Mission" conference. I was inspired reading the bios of the presenters.

Also: there's a new online magazine CURATOR, and there's a link where you can upload for free the podcast of Ken Meyers (of Mars Hill Audio and Audition) of the founder Makoto Fujimura.

Find out more about IMA, which was featured this month on the cover of Christianity Today:
International Arts Movement

24 Hours later 1.5 Plays

Had a fun time being spontaneous and participating in TheatreWorks' 24 hours playwrite competition from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. If interested in the whole script let me know. Here's the first 2 pages of...

NOMADS ADRIFT
(working title)

CAST

ASIAN, Caucasian American, male, 20’s, sees things in black & white.

EUROPEAN, Hispanic male, 30’s, strong migratory instincts.

SOUTH AMERICAN, Asian female, 20’s, identity crisis & delayed adolescence.

SET

Larger than life-sized sections of world maps, in angled shapes, are placed upstage at various angles to define the space. One section near upstage center has a functional door, but it is not clearly a door as it blends into the wall and is part of the map. The floor is painted in similar fashion with various sections of world maps. The acting areas are uneven, some raised, some floor level. The whole set has a cohesive uniform look, but it also gives one the impression of instability, randomness and expectation.

OPENING

ASIAN enters. Guitar on back. Juggles two carry-on type bags with ease. Enters with purpose from upstage and crosses downstage. He stops center to pantomime giving over a passport to an imaginary Immigration Officer. Waits, not looking at anything in particular.

From opposite sides, EUROPEAN & SOUTH AMERICAN enter with a similar world-traveler look. They all stop centre, facing the imaginary Immigration Officer from different directions. All three pantomime similar actions.

After a moment of waiting, they concurrently notice the Immigration official is finished. They take back their imaginary passports and put them away. Each continues walking in the trajectory they’d begun. At the same time they stop downstage. Actors are now in three different places DS. They take off shoes. Pick up a plastic bin and place shoes inside. ACTOR 1 speaks to the audience. EUROPEAN & SOUTH AMERICAN freeze in the process of putting their shoes in the bin.

ASIAN

I don’t know, it has always been like this. Well, not this actually. When I was much younger there wasn’t so much security.

ASIAN places bin on the floor and sits inside cross-legged. He gives the impression that he is floating at sea. We discover that some of the set panels are actually opaque when we begin to see a series of rear projected photos depicting Beijing. Faces. The Temple of Heaven. The Great wall. Cherry Blossoms. The character “Hua”for flower.

EUROPEAN

Notices a strange smell. Realizes it’s his shoes. Puts them in his bin.

But this life, it’s always been, well, I guess the best word for it is

ALL THREE

Mobile.

EUROPEAN

The panel upstage of him shows photos of France. The Eiffel Tower, L’arch de Triomphe, Notredame.

I’ve never been able to stay in one place for very long.

Hesitates. Tentatively gets in the bin, then gets out again. Unsure.
-----------------
[just let me know if you want to read the rest, i'll email it to you. K! The 1.5 mentioned above is a cheezy 1st act of a play about my son Cameron and friends when they are 17 - 6 years from now. Not available to the public! :-)]

24-Hour Playwriting Tips

Thinking I may just show up for the 24 hour playwrite competition today. Reading over the rules, I'm reminded of the elements of a good play and hope I can rally enough energy to do this my first week back. theatreworks.org.sg

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!