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Modernizing/Localizing Bible Characters

In the Performing Arts course at TCA College (Singapore), we learn about different performance styles. This particular adaptation has taken a well known Bible character, Thomas the Disciple, and placed him in a modern setting. In adapting this, we imagined Thomas if he were meeting up with his friends in 2009, in a Singaporean Kopitiam years after the resurrection of Christ. Actually, it is a Kopitiam in heaven, because, in the end Thomas tells his friends of his eventual martyrdom for the cause of Christ.

In our placing Bible characters in modern settings, with local language, the audience can more easily identify with them. Otherwise, these characters might be seen as Ancient History and having no relevance to modern people's lives. But a modernized depiction breaks down stereotypes and helps us learn from and apply lessons of these ancient peoples. In the same way Jesus used parables to teach, these modernized Bible characters are just one way of effectively reaching and communicating with 21st century people. May God bless you in your effort to teach God's truths with creativity.

see the script here:
“Doubting Thomas”

Personal Notes of Thanks....

when's the last time you sent a handwritten note? I've rec'd a few in the past month...wow.
They really means so much!
Mmmmmake someone's day! I wish I did it more...
Thanks Victor! Thanks Dee. Thanks Deniece. Thanks Fullerton Evangelical Free Church. Thanks Mom.

Worship Symposium to INCLUDE THEATRE!

Methodist School of Music
Getting revved up to see what will come down. Looking forward to the chance to get to know fellow CITA member Colin Kirton better while he's down from Kuala Lumpur to do the drama training.

Middle Schoolers & Playback

Facebook | Videos Posted by Desiree Den Engelsen: May 29, 2009 7:08pm
Desiree Den Englesen video'd with her phone, so hard to hear, but these young teenagers/preteen girls were telling stories of how they'd grown spiritually or times when it had been hard to be a Christian.

Middle School Dramaworkout ended our year May 28th by performing in the last chapel of the year. All of Middle School was QUIET in the crowded multipurpose room as the girls improvised the stories and feelings for their peers. I was paying close attention to the audience - they were leaning forward in their chairs...a good sign! Teachers came up afterward to say how amazed and proud of you they were -
brave to perform,
braver still to perform improv,
and bravest of all, to perform improv of personal stories!

APPLAUSE!!!!

Samples of Sketches in SE Asia (English)

Just made a playlist of videos of drama ministry I've worked on, or student work in Singapore the last few years.

A couple of our favourites from the recent Showcase/Workshop:

Quote for Writers:

"Firstly, it must be a well-made verbal object that does honor to the language in which it is written. Secondly, it must say something significant about a reality common to us all, but perceived from a unique perspective."
W. H. Auden

Academia

At an Examination Board meeting for an institution of Higher Learning today I JUST HAD TO KEEP FROM ROLLING MY EYES! I am so not an academic!!! I learned today that the Singaporeans get their nit-picky need to obsess on details from the British! I almost laughed out loud a couple of times. Left brain people talking about adjusting every course assignment graded to a 100% scale and then re-doing the math to figure percentages for the grades in a grading systems for a CREATIVE ARTS program. I need an administrator! Absolutely Oxymoronic. and takes most of the fun out of it for me. God knows there's not much money when we add up the hours. Felt like they were tearing my fingernails out and I was just listening. Earners of Doctorate Degrees, I'm sure are mostly all good people. AND, If I just think about Academics as being, say, Slovenes from the Balkans, or Yaminaua Indians of Ecuador, and suspend my judgement of their culture Like i would if they had bones in their noses I'd not be so critical. I LOVE teaching, and seeing students learn, grow, experience life more creatively full and rich. I just can't tolerate the hoops we all must go through to make most of those students feel merely adequate in the end.

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.