Drama Ministry for the Dramatically Challenged
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Introduction |
Tyler and Shane had no idea what they were getting into. I was teaching a drama elective at a Christ In Youth Conference in Adrian, Michigan. I had just asked how many people in the room had seen that classic film from Britain, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As I expected, about half the room raised their hands.
I asked Tyler and Shane if they would stand up in front of the rest of the class and re-enact a scene from the movie. Without a second's hesitation, the boys dived into their rendition of King Arthur's meeting with the Knights who say, "Ni!" After a few moments of madness, the rest of the audience applauded politely, and Shane and Tyler headed back to their seats.
"Wait a minute," I said. "I'd like you guys to stay up here a moment." The guys returned to the front of the room, a little puzzled. "I have a question for you. I'd like you to tell everyone, to the best of your knowledge, what your pastor spoke on last week in church."
Silence.
Long silence.
Tyler managed an, "Uhhh..." but couldn't follow up. Having made my demonstration, I let the boys sit down and continued. "Does anyone have any ideas as to why they couldn't answer the question?" I asked. The group responded with a number of possible answers, but they seemed to agree on one primary reason: "It's boring!"
You really can't blame them for saying so. The teenage world is not at all what it used to be. Gone are the days when they would spend twenty hours in the library researching the Declaration of Independence. Today all they have to do is hit a button and that research is downloaded in less than a minute, leaving them nineteen hours and fifty-nine minutes to play Doom 12.
MTV and the Internet have created a high-energy, fast-paced, visual playground for the eyes and ears. All forms of information and entertainment are available at the touch of a button rendering patience nearly obsolete as a character trait. Cars are sold in thirty seconds, politicians by charisma, and policy in soundbites. Is it any wonder our country has been so willing to tolerate abortion and homosexuality and yet forbid prayer in schools? It's so much easier to sit back and nod while the TV tells us how we should believe than it is to stand up for the truth!
The problem of reaching teenagers is further complicated by the education system which is now proudly indoctrinating the third generation the lie of evolution. This, like every other humanist philosophy, is accepted with the nod of a head by students who then go out and act like the godless descendants of animals, destroying themselves with drugs and sex. Some dare to search for hope in religion and philosophy, but the voices of a million false prophets dim the odds that they will ever find the one Truth.
Young people today are rather distrustful and cynical when it comes to matters of faith and God, and with good reason. They were trained to accept "truth" based on say-so, only to discover that most of what they were taught was based on opinion rather than fact. They were taught to trust in scientific fact rather than faith, only to discover that a great deal of scientific fact is based on -- what else? -- faith!
Thus we arrive at the challenge of the modern day youth minister. He or she must reach a generation of kids with:
a) Short attention spans.
b) A thirst for entertainment.
c) A hunger for the truth -- the REAL truth.
d) A need to have these truths proven to them.
c) A complete and total distrust of all things grown-up.
Okay, pop quiz: Let's say you are the youth minister at a church with an average youth attendance of around 70. You have one weekly meeting with your group on Wednesday nights in which to give them the truth of God. The meeting lasts one hour: twenty minutes for social time and games, twenty for praise and worship, and twenty for a lesson. (Let's say it's on sex.)
That's twenty minutes for you to make a statement to your youth group about God's plan for sex: a statement which will be in direct opposition and competition with what TV, radio, movies, billboards, T-shirts, advertisements, magazines, celebrities, and most of their own friends will be saying to them during the remaining 167 hours in the week!!!
Question: What do you do?
Answer: You make a BIG statement!!!
Here is where drama can be an effective part of youth ministry. Four weeks from that Wednesday, not even your most loyal youth sponsors will be able to remember your beautifully researched, five-point outline on God's plan for sex. But give that crowd a five-minute skit based on that theme and they have an aural and visual reminder of what you talked on that night which may stay with them for a much longer!
Certainly drama is not the only device you can use. Games, music, dance, and other forms of art can be just as effective (if not more, depending on the crowd and the topic). However, the emotional and mental responses drama creates in an audience make it one of the more powerful tools for reaching youth.
Drama is a flexible art because it can communicate in so many different ways. In its format, drama can be funny or serious; elaborate or simple; realistic or fantastic; sublime or ridiculous. Drama can cause a variety of reactions. It can make people laugh, cry, think, scream, or groan. It may make people identify with the characters and relate the theme to their own life. It can also frighten, surprise, shock, or take an audience's breath away. Or maybe just make them put their finger to the side of their head and say, "Hmmm...."
Drama is also a proven tool for convicting and persuading. Shakespeare captured the essence of drama's power in Hamlet. Prince Hamlet hires a theatre troupe to perform "The Murder of Gonzago", a play depicting the assassination of a king by his brother. When this play within a play is performed, the king, Hamlet's uncle, runs out of the court in a guilty rage, confirming his guilt to the prince.
If you prefer a true life illustration, maybe you'd be interested in why President Bill Clinton sent troupes into Bosnia. He was dead-set against getting involved in the Bosnian conflict until he saw Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg's depiction of the Jewish Holocaust. After witnessing the horrors of genocide depicted on the big screen, Clinton signed the order to send American forces to Bosnia the very next day!
Of course, not every issue can be resolved in five minutes. Sure it happens all the time in sitcoms, but how many teenagers really make a lasting decision about abstinence in three minutes? Drama is not a substitute for Bible study and discussion, but one more tool you can use to help your kids internalize the word of God.
For seven years, I had the privilege of working with a talented group of young actors known as the Dramamaniacs, the youth drama troupe of Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana. During the school year, the Dramamaniacs perform one or two skits every week. In their spare time, they perform at inner city missions, children's homes, youth camps, retirement homes, and other churches in Kentucky and Indiana. We performed for as few as twenty and as many as five hundred: children, youth, and adults. And believe it or not, I took over control of this growing drama ministry a few weeks after dropping out of acting class.
This section of the Righteous Insanity web site a compilation of all I have learned in my years in youth drama ministry. It is intended primarily for the inexperienced drama director, as a tool to guide you through starting and running your drama ministry. If you are interested in having a hard copy of this material, you can order the book Drama Ministry for the Dramatically Challenged on my Books Page. We will begin at the beginning, with the rounding up of actors, scripts, props, costumes, and other necessities. The next section will give you an overview of acting, directing, and managing the group as a ministry team. We will then look at some basic scenes and monologues and the ways drama can help you teach. The fourth section will introduce you to several non-traditional forms of drama, including lip sync, reader's theater, and audience participation.