What church drama can learn from the WWE, Pt 1

If you're reading this blog, you fall in one of three categories: you love wrestling and are thrilled by the title; you're at least intrigued by the title; you hate wrestling and are reading on so you can judge my logic. Judge all you want. I am a wrestling fan. I love the WWE and have loved it since the hey day of Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, Andre the Giant, Ted DiBiase, and the Junkyard Dog.

Many people are surprised (and some dismayed) when I tell them that the WWE has been one of the top influences on me as a sketchwriter. (The other leading influences being Saturday Night Live, MTV's The State, and Monty Python.) I'll admit they're not always on top of their game, but on their better days, the WWE produces some of the best sketches and storylines on TV, and they present them with the most colorful collection of characters anywhere. Where else can you see a dead man, a leprechaun, rednecks, Olympic heroes, 1950's greasers, and even the Boogey Man do batttle?

Whatever you think of professional wrestlers, there's a lot they can teach us about drama.

1. Drama is larger than life. I know a guy named Pat. When Pat goes to work in the morning, he says hi to his co-workers, chats for a bit, then sits down to go to work. When Pat's boss has a problem, he talks to Pat about it. They disagree, but they are cordial and professional. Pat is a real life character... and he's boring.

Compare that to Stone Cold Steve Austin. When Austin walks into a room, there's a sound of glass shattering, then loud rock music. He walks in muttering under his breath. He gets in the face of people who make him mad. Then he kicks them in the gut, snaps their neck, and celebrates by chugging beers while thousands - make that millions - of fans scream his name.

Too often when we put on plays in the church we act like Pat instead of Stone Cold. We have to realize that even when you're doing "slice of life" drama scenes, drama is always larger than life. The conversation you have at lunch with a friend is probably going to bore people 98% of the time. Drama is about presenting those heightened moments of tension, the 2% of the time when something extreme happens. Those are the stories we repeat to friends. Those are the moments we write into plays.

2. Drama is physical, not just verbal. Vince McMahon has one of the most expressive physical features on television: his Adam's apple. With a simple bob of the Adam's apple, Vince can convey more emotions than the average person can in their whole face.

Many times actors who are in a rush (like most church drama teams are) will focus on the words and not the meaning behind them. We need to slow down and look for ways to act with our face, our bodies, and tell a story through our whole selves.

3. Drama is about conflict. When I was a kid, I like many wrestling fans was stunned when Andre the Giant ever turn on his good buddy Hulk Hogan. The two had always gotten along so well. Then alone came Bobby the Brain Heenan, who poisoned Andre's heart. He convinced Andre that Hulk was holding him back from being all he could be - from being champion. A conflict erupted, and the two men settled it at Wrestlemania III when Hogan bodyslammed Andre.

What conflict is in the drama you are working on for this Sunday? It may not be spoken; it could be in the subtext. How can you convey that conflict with your face? Your vocal inflection? Your Adam's apple?

4. Drama is about character. There used to be a guy on TV named Steve Blackmon. Steve was a martial artist, a "lethal weapon." The guys in the WWE locker room, a place famous for practical jokes, knew to leave Steve alone. He could literallly kill you with his bare hands.

Unfortunately for Steve, he had the ability to kill something else - the show. Despite his physical gifts, Steve Blackmon was a terrible wrestler by WWE standards. He had no "mic skills", no personality, and his career went no where.

It takes charisma to get to the top. More than that it takes character. Guys like Hulk Hogan, Randy Macho Man Savage, The Undertaker, The Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H, and Chris Jericho are beloved because they are tremendous characters played by performers willing to let themselves go and project their character to every person in the audience - live and on TV.

Granted, we're not likely to encounter many characers as over the top as The Rock on a Sunday morning. But how far are you willing to go to become a larger than life character? What simple steps can you use to get outside your comfort zone?

I have more to share on what the WWE can teach us as theater artists, but I'll save them for another time. Meanwhile, check out this clip from youtube, a classic moment from a series of sketches known as Piper's Pit. There were few characters as large as Rowdy Roddy Piper, and no one could stir up a physical conflict better than he. Enjoy.