Righteous Insanity

Christian Academy of Indiana presents.. JOSEPH!

Christian Academy of Indiana Theatre will present Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" April 2-3, 2009 at Christian Academy of Indiana. "Joseph" is a re-telling of the Bible story from Genesis where a young shepherd boy is sold into slavery by his brothers, only to rise to the second highest position in all of Egypt. This is a high energy, fun show that will entertain ALL ages! Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults. (Groups of six or more, $7 each.) Reservations can be made by calling 812-944-6200 or emailing johncosper@yahoo.com

Why people hate Christians

An English teacher shared a note with me today from an irate parent. The parent was angry that the teacher was teaching religion in class. The woman, a God-fearing Christian demanded that the teachers stop what they were doing; or, if they needed a lesson on the Bible, she invited the teachers call her... or her attorney.

 

Guess what "religion" the teacher was spreading in class? Greek mythology.

 

That's right. Zeus. Hera. Hades. Poseidon. Apollo. gods (lower case) that no one has worshipped in centuries. gods whose stories permeate our culture and our literature to this very day. Every genre of literature, drama, and film - from westerns to sci-fi - has the mythology of the ancients at its roots.

 

And now, Christians are threatening to sue over it.

 

This is just the kind of ignorant, off the handle nonsense that the world uses to validate itself when we try to share real Truth (upper case). Just because we have Christ in our hearts doesn't give us the right to blindly, ignorantly rant and rave and fly off the cuff about every little thing, especially when we're completely ignorant of what's really going on.

 

If anything, a study of mythology is a validation of the Christian faith. The fact that every culture, religion, and mythology in the world tells essentially the same story (the hero's quest, the Christ allegory, however you define it) not only reveals that we come from one and the same mother and father, but that there is a spiritual dimension to us. We know we need to be saved. We know the means by which we must be saved - a Savior, a King, must die and be risen again to give us new life.

 

When you consider this same story has come out of the hearts of people who never heard the gospel, it is clear that God (upper case) has placed in all our hearts a longing, a burden, a hole that only he can fill.

 

The biggest obstacle to accepting the gospel is our own pride and sinful nature. Only second to that is when Christians make fools of themselves like the parent who wrote to my friend.

 

Christians, educate thyselves. Read, research, and understand before you speak. And when you do speak, speak with love, not lawyers.

Musical auditions

Last night was the first musical audition in Christian Academy of Indiana Theatre since I took over two years ago. Here are some thoughts and tips I wrote down to give students for future auditions:

 

1. Be brief. Sing for a minute or less. Think American Idol; it doesn't take more than 20-30 seconds to know how well you sing.

 

2. Pick something to show your range as a vocalist. Amazing Grace and The Star Spangled Banner will both do this, if all else fails.

 

3. Don't pick a "character song" that is more about acting than vocals. It's a good way to show off your acting chops, but we want to hear how you can sing.

 

4. RELAX. It's only an audition. Some of the old vets were really nervous last night, having never done a singing audition. It took a lot of courage for a few of them, and I've never been prouder.

 

This last tip is just a general one for any audition: it's okay to express a strong interest in one role, but don't make a huge deal about a part you don't want to do. If you put out the "I don't want to do it," vibe, it make me as the director think you're going to be that way with everything. If you get a part you didn't really want, be gracious, and take it as a challenge. It will speak far more to your character than saying, "I'll do anything except..."

"When am I ever gonna use this?"

This is a question we all asked ourselves in school. "When am I ever gonna diagram sentences in real life?" "When am I ever gonna solve equations like this? I want to be a journalist!"

As a parent, if your child comes to you an asks to take some acting or drama classes, you may very well ask the similar questions. "Why should I let my child take acting? I don't want him going to Hollywood! Should I really be encouraging this?"

Whether you want to encourage or discourage your child from a frustrating life in film or stage acting, a few acting classes may be of more benefit than you realize. Acting teaches students to have confidence in front of an audience. It helps them learn to speak up, to have stage presence, and to become a stronger communicator. Can you think of any positions outside the theater and film where that might be helpful? 

Teachers

Lawyers

Politicians

Pastors

Community Activists

Missionaries

Sunday School teachers

Business leaders 

Entrepreneurs

Coaches

Journalists

Sales Reps

Anyone who has to get up in front of people and speak would benefit greatly from some acting classes. What's more, the younger they are, the more benefit they will receive. Younger students are far more fearless than older students, and if you can get the fear out of standing up in front of an audience out of them at a young age, it will never haunt them. 

If your home school organization offers acting or speaking classes and your student is interested, give it a shot. There may be more benefit for them in it than you realize. 

Our Town - A play more relevant now than ever

Our Town is a deceptively difficult play to produce, but the rewards of the play are well worth the challenges. My kids at Christian Academy just finished their production, and I can honestly say it was the finest work they have done in four shows since I joined the school.

I have to admit, I was not excited when I first started looking at Thornton Wilder's most famous work. Like many high school kids, it bored me as a student. And I'm a comedy guy, so doing a drama wasn't high on my priority list either. Nevertheless, we (the school) needed to do a drama to broaden the students' theater experience. Our Town was a low budget (no set!!) option, and fit into the classic theater mold the school laid out for its theater program. Auditions were held, and we went to work.

One of the first lessons students learned was that the lack of set and props did not make life easier. In fact, it was three times harder to work without them. Students had to work in invisible kitchens and keep track of invisible props constantly. Some improv games we did along the way certainly helped.

 

The actors were further challenged by the characters. Many students were taking on their first big leading roles, and all of them lived up to the challenge. I saw more growth in veteran actors as well as younger, less experience actors than at any other time I've worked with them. You expect that with the new kids. You don't expect it with the older ones who are set in their ways.

 

Everyone working on the play came away with a greater appreciation for the play itself. The themes in the play about appreciating life while you have it run deep. Wilder does an amazing job revealing his thoughts about life, positive and negative. You don't notice life as it happens in Act One; you gloss over it with the same lack of care the characters do. But you feel its richness and agonize with Emily in the Third Act when she comes back for one day, only to find that no one else living has any sense of the wonder and joy life truly has. It's not a Christian play, but we as Christians got a lot out of it. One gets the idea that Wilder had read the book of Ecclesiastes more than a few times in preparing to put pen to paper. I went home every night and hugged my little girl, especially on nights when we ran Act Three.

 

The disappointment to me about the production was the lack of interest from the student body. The students at our school have turned out in large numbers for past productions, even Shakespeare. But when they heard "serious drama about a small town," they all turned their noses up. It's a shame. They missed some tremendous work by their peers. More than that, they shorted themselves by refusing to even give the play a chance.

 

I recommend Our Town for any Christian school or home school group as a production piece. I do caution you to plan enough time to prepare your actors for the challenges within. Find a copy of the stage version (not the movie) to get an idea what your students are up against. This is definitely not for novice directors or casts. But if you've got a few plays under your belt, if you're ready for a challenge creatively and intellectually, you will find more than you bargained for in Our Town.

 

Field Trips

This may seem like a no-brainer, but I think it's worth mentioning. Whether you're leading a home school group or an adult drama group, you need to take your actors on a field trip and see some live theater.

 

If you're working with students, take them to the children's theater. Don't confine yourself to church Christmas pageants. Take them to see a classic like Ann Frank, Our Town, or even Arsenic and Old Lace.

 

Take your church drama team to a grown-up play. Or just as good, take them to see an improv comedy team.

 

If you live in a theater rich community like I do (yep, Louisville's a happening theater town), don't restrict yourself to one place. Check out the community theater as well as the professional theater.

 

Don't forget the high school theater either. No less than four high schools within 15 minutes of my house have national reputations. My alma mater (New Albany High School) even made the front page of the New York TImes.

 

Whatever age group you have, EVERYONE should see Shakspeare.

 

Not sure it's "safe" for your Christian group or young eyes and ears? Call the theater, ask about the content. Check the improv group's website. There are comedy teams - even non-Christian ones - that still believe clean comedy is the funniest.

 

The point is, there's no excuse for not visiting the live theater with your class or team. There's nothing quite like live theater. Take a field trip every once in a while to experience it for yourself!

Home school study - Music and Spectacle

Aristotle said a great deal when he gave music and spectacle equal importance with the elements of story that we, as modern students of language, consider most important. But are they really on equal footing with plot, character, ideas, and language?

(Bear with me... I am a pro wrestling fan.)

Back in the day, wrestlers would come to the ring with no fanfare. Your typical wrestling match would begin with the wrestlers' names being announced over a loud speaker with no music and no fancy lighting. Not even a spotlight. The fans would cheer or boo, depending on if they liked that particular wrestler, but there was not much to it.

Then, along came Sgt. Slaughter, a former marine, who asked Vince McMahon Sr. if he could walk to the ring with the Marines hymn playing over the PA system. The crowd ate it up, and the promoter saw a golden opportunity. Now everyone has not only a theme song, but their own light and fireworks.

 

The music and spectacle that is the entrance of the modern wrestler has a powerful impact on an audience. Much like the trumpets that heralded the coming of kings in ancient Israel, theme songs inspire an almost Pavlovian response in a crowd. Some wrestlers are so connected with their fans, that the opening note (the bell of the Undertaker's theme) or sound (the shattering glass that precedes Stone Cold's theme) are enough to bring an arena to its feet.

Music is a powerful force in drama and film. Take the Star Wars movies, for example. George Lucas once said that the Star Wars movies were basically silent films. They would be more than incomplete without the musical score of John Williams. They would be empty. Music amplifies the story. It is the glue that holds the story together. It is the bridge that connects the story with our emotions.

Horror films are another great example of how music can create tension in an audience. If you have a copy of "Creature From the Black Lagoon" handy, fast forward to the scene near the end when the creature climbs on the boat and grabs Julie Adams, dragging her into the water. Watch it on mute, with no music. Then roll it back and play the music. See what a difference it makes?

Spectacle is obviously a huge part of modern film as well. Steven Spielberg used it to masterful effect in his films. The first time a brachiosaur is seen in Jurassic Park is a powerful example of the emotional impact spectacle can have on an audience. Yet even there, the spectacle is heightened by the themes of John Williams. It's something the movie audience at the time had never seen.

Many church drama teams have taken to human video - which is really just a fancy new term for mime without the makeup. In human video, actors will tell a story without words set to music. Take away the music, the effect of the drama diminishes greatly.

The traditional big church Easter pageant us a great example of music and spectacle in drama. In addition to the music that tells the story, the large set pieces, live animals, and makeup effects used in crucifixion scenes add spectacle to the drama. Some churches have even used flying rigs to send Jesus up into heaven at the end!

Writing exercises:

1. Let the students work in groupr or pairs on this one. Choose a story from the Bible that you want to tell using music. The drama can be all set to music, like a human video, or it can use music as a dramatic element, like in a horror film.

2. After you have chosen your story, write an outline or a simple script for your drama, indicating where and how music would be used.

3. Looking at your drama, what elements of spectacle can you incorporate? Can you use costumes or props to make it more real or dramatic? What sort of surprises can you give your audience within the drama?

4. Allow the students time to work on the scene. Then come back for another session with music, and allow them to rehearse further. Each group will present their drama, using music. Groups can enlist help from other groups if they need more actors or someone to press play on the CD player.

Further Questions:

Have one of the groups perform their drama without the music or spectacle elements. As a group, discuss the difference that the music and spectacle made on the drama. What was the difference with and without those elements?

Home school study - Language

Language is the glue that holds the first three unities of drama together.

Language conveys story; the dialogue between characters guides us through the exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution. Stage drama in particular is a mostly verbal form of storytelling. We cannot get into characters inner thoughts like you can in prose fiction, and visuals are not as easy to pull off as they are in film. Therefore, the playwright must rely on language to tell his or her story.

Language also conveys character. It allows us to form judgments of character just by the way people use it. Close your eyes, and you can tell the difference between a country bumpkin and a Wall Street tycoon by their grammar and diction. If you've ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, for example, you can distinguish the knights and royal characters from the peasants by how they speak English. The knights use more sophisticated language; the peasants speak cockney.

By way of conveying plot and character, language also conveys ideas. Again, we do not want characters delivering sermonettes. But through their words, we will learn the lessons inherit in their stories. Abstract ideas become concrete thanks to the words our characters speak.

Writing exercises:

1. Choose a story from the Bible that has two characters. You can use part of a larger story, but the scene must have a beginning, middle, and end. Spend a few moment brainstorming on these characters. Who are they? How do you think they might speak? How can you use language to distinguish between them?

2. Write a script of the story using the two characters you have chosen. As you are writing, be sure to:

a. Move the story forward using their dialogue, with each line building on what has gone before.

b. Convey who the characters are. Avoid having them say "I'm Elmer Higgins the world champion chicken plucker." He can introduce himself as Elmer (unless the other character already knows him), but don't have them come out and say who they are. Use the dialogue to tell us without specifically stating who these people are.

3. Read your scripts aloud with the group. As you do, critique on another on how well you've told a story, how well you used dialogue to define the characters, and how clearly the ideas and thoughts of the story are presented.

For further discussion:

1. Language us a good way to convey character in part because we judge people in every day life based on the way they speak. What sort of judgments do we make about people based on language? Is it fair to judge people in this way? How would God want us to make our judgments about others? 

2. Language in drama can be tricky, because characters often say one thing and do another. Are we guilty of the same thing in real life? How does that affect the way other people look at us?

Home school study - Idea

Ideas/Thoughts are the messages that writers convey, consciously or subconsciously, through their writing. Every story has at least one idea. The larger the story, the more ideas you are likely to encounter.

Writers who set out intentionally to address a certain idea often struggle with writing a good story. The tendency among many writers, including Christian writers, is to become preachy. Remember, your job is to tell a story. Leave the preaching to the preachers. If you find characters are starting to preach and give long monologues, cut the line entirely and find another way to deliver the message without the sermon.

Here's a writing exercise for exploring ideas in writing:

1. Have each student write down a character name and one or two word description on a piece of paper. It can be as simple as "Bill - Cowboy" or "Hannah - Business executive." Have them write down a second character name and description on a second piece of paper. The two characters can be similar, related, or completely unrelated.

2. On the second piece of paper, have the students write down some sort of conflict. For example, there could be an argument over who was at fault in a car accident; or a sports contest; or a negotiation of some sort.

3. Have the students pass the second paper along to someone else. They will then take the first character, created by them, and the second character, created by someone else, and write a short script that pits the two characters in the conflict written down with their second character. (To save paper, have them use the pages they wrote characters and descriptions on to write their scripts; the trees will thank you.)

4. Have the students pair up, and read each play aloud. As a class, discuss the story, the conflict, and see if you can identify the ideas or themes the author has written about. In other words, what message did the writer convey through their story?

5. At the same time you are identifying themes, dig your Bibles out and try to find a verse than can correspond with each play.

For further discussion:

1. How could you use these scripts in ministry? Are they useable? Could they be adapted?

2. Did you find yourself writing consciously writing on the themes in your work?

3. Do you agree with the message in your drama? What does that theme or idea mean to you?

4. Think about the last movie you saw. What messages did it convey? Were they worldly messages, or did they agree with a Biblical worldview?

5. Can you think of a "worldly" movie that had a strong Christian theme within it? Why do you think that happens, even with writers who are not Christians?

Home school study - Character

Characters are the people in your story. They can include a protagonist who is usually the main character and often the hero. The protagonist has a goal; there is something they want that drives them to act. By pursuing their goal, we then have a plot, or story to tell. Often times there are forces or people that oppose the protagonist in their quest. This person is called the antagonist. Their goal may be to stop the protagonist from achieving their goal. They may share the same goal as the protagonist, with the added goal of achieving their goal before the protagonist can.

The pursuit of the goal leads to conflict, which can be internal or external. Often times protagonists have both internal and external conflicts that are connected. By achieving the external conflict (such as winning a race or finding treasure), the protagonist can also resolve their internal conflict (such as finding self-esteem or love).

Characters also have strengths and weaknesses. These traits will affect their ability to reach a goal, and may help or hinder them from overcoming obstacles. A character climbing a mountain may have physical strength but be afraid of heights.

Writing exercises:

1. Pick a character from any story in the Bible. They can be a good guy or bad guy, an antagonist or a protagonist. Read the story, and identify that character's goal.

2. Make a list of strengths or weaknesses this character has.

3. Write down anything else you can identify that makes this character unique.

4. Identify any obstacles or people that oppose your character. What is the relationship between your character and the obstacles?

5. Looking at your character's strengths and weaknesses, identify some other character "types" that could possess the same traits. For example, could your character be a cowboy? A Wall Street trader? A dirty cop? A lawyer? A super model?

6. Take one of these different types and create a new character, based on the original. Identify their goal and their opponents or obstacles. Write a short outline, telling the new character's story from their point of view. Remember the outline you learned from the previous lesson on plot.

For further discussion:

1. We already identified some "types" that your character compares to. Have you seen this type of character in other movies or literature? Who are they?

2. What lessons can we learn from your character? What do we learn from their actions? Their strengths? Their weaknesses?

3. How might your character's fate have changed if they had made different decisions? What if the bad guys chose to be good, or the good guys did something wrong? Would we learn anything new from this example?