drama

A Case for Dance in Worship

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The church’s uneasiness about including dance in worship stems, in part, from the dualism that equates the body with evil and the spirit with good. Worship demands physical and spiritual involvement that can transcend this dualism.

In the beginning, there was dance. Before Israel, there was dance. Before Jesus’ birth, there was dance. Before the writing of the Scriptures, there was dance. Before words there was dance. “Dance” has been described and performed in many different ways from one worshiping community to another throughout history. Here I will examine dance historically, practically, and theologically by addressing some common questions, concerns, and opinions about this most ancient form of worship.

Why Should Dance Be Part of Christian Worship?

Many people fear the idea of dance in worship because their visions of “dance” include the awkward stumbling of children’s dance classes, memories of dance forced upon them by overzealous physical education teachers, or even the experience of watching poorly executed dance within the context of worship. The word dance is often accompanied by feelings of embarrassment and discomfort. Here I will propose helpful, natural, and appropriate ways in which dance can be utilized within worship.

I define dance in a more general way than perhaps many have in the past. Some may be surprised to hear that they are already dancing in worship! When arms are raised in prayer, when we make the sign of the cross to remember our baptisms, or when we kneel to express humility, we are participating in a form of liturgical dance. Any expressive movement of our bodies within worship can be considered, in a general sense, liturgical dance.

In the beginning, God moved over the waters and created. If we accept the definition of dance as expressive movement, we need no further proof of the importance of dance. Expressive movement is an integral part of the human worship experience.

To witness the natural human response of dancing, we need only look at our children. Even before a child has mastered speech, he or she will likely whirl and jump in dancing movements. In responding to the wonders of creation, which unfold daily in the life of a young child, it is probably not words but movement and music which come most easily and naturally as a response. In the perception of many children, all of nature seems to sing and dance.

Dance was one of the first forms of worship for humankind, and it was also one of the first forms of Christian worship, inherited from the Jews. Dance in worship is part of our Christian heritage. It was practiced earlier than our creeds, most of our hymnody, and even our naming of God as Triune. Yet, while historical precedent goes far toward justification of a practice, I will not use that argument for the continuance of dance. As with any religious practice, we should examine our reasons for maintaining or discarding it regardless of historical precedent. We must judge dance using the criteria we use to judge all practices we call “Christian”: does it enrich our worship, carry spiritual meaning for us today, and reflect the good news of grace and forgiveness we have through Christ?

As a child, I looked around at the stony faces of adults in church pews and wondered how they could sing. “We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory” with faces and bodies absolutely devoid of expression! When I could understand the message these words were intending to proclaim I was at first puzzled, then amused, and finally saddened and frustrated. The love and grace we proclaimed were incredible; the God we worshiped, awesome. How could these people have the restraint to keep from dancing, shouting, embracing, or at least smiling?! I could not understand or accept a response limited to reluctant vocal chords.

Why should we embrace dance as a valid, even necessary part of our worship? Because expressive bodily movement is fundamental to our humanity. When we hear the gospel of Jesus the Christ, how can we help but express our joy with all of our being? The question now becomes one of form.

How Can We Dance Appropriately in Worship?

Some think that no dance is appropriate in worship and consequently use a very narrow definition of dance. Others feel that only congregational movement is legitimate. Some insist that any spontaneous movement by anyone at any time during worship is acceptable and a gift of the Spirit, while others insist dance should be done only by those who are properly trained.

By defining dance as I do, it becomes an action done by nearly all worshiping people and includes a wide variety of things. Different forms of dance are appropriate in different settings. Here I will mention a number of specific forms dance can take, some of which are not acceptable in every congregation or in every worship setting:

1. Common Worshiping Movements. These movements include special postures of praise or reflection (e.g., kneeling, raised arms, folded hands, bowed heads, and embracing) in the name of Christ. Unlike simple walking, standing, or sitting, these movements are done not merely for the practical reason of moving from point A to point B so the service may continue, but they are done by the individual to express something specific and meaningful about his or her faith. Under this definition, one who presides at a worship service does a considerable amount of dancing.

2. Communal Movement. This includes movement shared by an entire congregation which helps to emphasize equality and community among the worshipers. The movements generally resemble simple folk dances, if they are structured at all. The movements of charismatic congregations come under this heading, where the movements are extemporaneous and unrestrained. This form of “dance” is difficult to classify, as it may be done by many or only a few within a congregation; and whether it promotes unity or equality may be debated. Historically, communal movement has been accompanied by singing or chanting. The most common forms are circular and processional.

3. Fine Art Dance. This is performed by one or more dancers with technical training in dance and a sensitivity to liturgical practice. This involves the community in a less direct manner. These dancers help to set the mood for a community’s worship, using their particular gifts to express the community’s praise, repentance, gratitude, sorrow, or joy. It is more refined and ordered, using instrumental accompaniment more often than vocal accompaniment.

4. Mime and Clowning. While these expressions of the Christian message fall under our definition of dance as expressive movement, they should be seen as separate expressions of worship and faith. Confusion results when these things are lumped together with liturgical dance in the forms of communal or fine art dance. While all three are expressive movements, they are very different and should be studied separately.

5. Drama. This too deserves a classification all its own. While drama involves much expressive bodily movement, it is confusing to speak of it as dance.

In what form then, should dance be a part of worship? I consider any of these forms appropriate as long as it is done in the proper setting and with willing participants. The choreography must fit the occasion and contribute to a worship experience that enriches the faith of all involved. Where it is possible, communal movement is a wonderful vehicle for enriching the worship of a congregation. It beautifully illustrates our oneness as the body of Christ. More realistic, however, is the performance of fine art dance. In twentieth-century America, this form, in most instances, best expresses our cultural identity. Dance is no longer a part of our shared communal identity, woven into our culture as it once was through folklore, recreation, a celebration of life events, and natural cycles. If the dance is properly done, the dancers do in fact dance for the whole congregation. The more experienced the dancers are with both dance and liturgy, the more naturally this bond is formed.

If Dance Was Once Part of Christian Worship, Why Did It Not Continue?

The debate over dance and what forms are appropriate within the context of Christian worship has gone on since the church’s first days.

The Old Testament references to dancing make clear that dance was inseparable from Jewish worship. J. G. Davies tells us: “The religion of ancient Israel was without question a dancing one” (J. G. Davies, Liturgical Dance: An Historical, Theological and Practical Handbook [London: SCM Press, 1984], 96). Dance for Israel was a sacred expression of faith, one worthy of heaven itself. Daniels writes, “The idea of heavenly beings encircling the throne of God and singing his praise goes back to the Talmud, where dancing is described as being the principal function of the angels” (Marilyn Daniels, The Dance in Christianity, A History of Religious Dance through the Ages [Rams, N.J.: Paulist, 1981], 18).

As Christians considered the “new covenant” in Jesus the Christ, many forms of Jewish worship, including dance, were adopted as a natural part of early Christian worship.

The string of dancing prophets continues with Jesus, as described in the Acts of John. The often violent opposition to dancing by the Church Fathers throughout the centuries has made us forget the significant role of the dance in the life of the early Christians. (Walter Sorrel, The Dance through the Ages, [New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1967], 19)

The Acts of John (c.e. 120), an apocryphal writing, describes dancing at the Last Supper. The disciples gather around Jesus and perform a circle dance, with Jesus speaking the words, “Whoso danceth not, knoweth not the way of life. Now answer thou to my dancing” (Sorrel, Dance through the Ages, 20–21; Daniels, Dance in Christianity, 14).

Eusebius tells of the worship of the Therapeuts, which consisted of an all-night festival, including sacred dancing: They all stand up in a body and in the middle of the banqueting-place they first form two choroi, one of the men and the other of women, and a leader and conductor is chosen for each, the one whose reputation is greater for a knowledge of music; they then chant hymns composed in God’s honor in many meters and melodies, sometimes singing together, sometimes one chorus beating the measure with the hands for the antiphonal chanting of the other, now dancing to the measure and now inspiring it, at times dancing in procession, and at times set-dances, and then circle-dances right and left. (Sorrel, Dance through the Ages, 20)

Throughout the ages many leaders of the church have loved and promoted dance as a form of worship, defending it against many false perceptions. In the second century, Lucian of Samasta called dance “an act good for the soul, the interpretation of what is hidden in the soul” (Ronald Gagne, Thomas Kane, and Robert Ver Eecke, Introducing Dance in Christian Worship [Washington, D.C.: The Pastoral Press, 1984], 39). In a late fourth-century sermon on the text of Luke 7:32, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, gives this defense of dance: The dance should be conducted as did David when he danced before the ark of the Lord, for everything is right which springs from the fear of God. Let us not be ashamed of showing reverence which will enrich the cult and deepen the adoration of Christ. For this reason the dance must in no wise be regarded as a mark of reverence for vanity and luxury, but as something which uplifts every living body instead of allowing them to rest motionless upon the ground or the slow feet to become numb.… This dance is an ally of faith and an honoring of grace. The Lord bids us dance. (Daniels, Dance in Christianity, 18–19)

There are numerous references to dance as a beneficial and welcome part of the liturgy in the early church, including those from Gregory of Nazianzus, Bishop of Constantinople, Basil the Great (334–407), Bishop of Caesarea, Jerome (340–407), Ambrose (who requested that persons about to be baptized approach the font dancing), Hippolytus, and Clement, among others. These people judged dance according to its place in Scripture and tradition and encouraged sacred dance as an acceptable, even necessary form of worship and praise.

The first limiting factor for dance was space since Christians met (often secretly) in private homes. In days when Christians were persecuted and driven into hiding, dance was limited for practical purposes.

Official prohibitions against dancing began for a variety of reasons. When people were converted to Christianity from other religions, they sometimes wished to bring with them the dances of their former religions. This was troubling to the early church leaders and led to a fear of dance becoming a pagan intruder into Christianity. Not all of these dances borrowed from other religions lent themselves well to the purpose of expressing the Christian faith.

Some early church leaders also tried to prohibit dancing in order to set Christianity apart from Judaism. For this reason, many Jewish practices were “spiritualized.” Christian practices may also have fallen victim to spiritualization due to the Hellenistic dualism of flesh and spirit, body and soul which was a part of the culture into which Christianity came.

Under Constantine dance faced another obstacle. While Christianity was made the state religion and grand, ostentatious worship spaces were built, a wedge was driven between clergy and laity. Participation of the laity in worship, especially in the form of dancing and singing, was discouraged.

Dance nevertheless continued. Some of the most well-known dances were the “Dance of Death” and the “Mozarabe.” When plagues swept through Europe, touching the lives of all (especially the Black Death, 1347–1373), peasants believed that if they could catch the devil (who caused this terrible malady), they could drive him off. In the Dance of Death, this was symbolically done.

The Mozarabe was a seventh-century dance where a wooden arc of the Testament was carried through the cathedral in procession with eight boys dressed as angels, dancing and singing. In 1439 it was forbidden by Don Jayme de Palafox, the Archbishop of Seville. The dance was so beloved that the people of Seville collected money and sent the young dancers to Rome to dance before Pope Eugenius IV, who responded, “I see nothing in this children’s dance which is offensive to God. Let them continue to dance before the high altar” (Daniels, Dance in Christianity, 22–23).

The reaction of church officials to dancing appears to be a subjective thing throughout the church’s history. In 539 the Council of Toledo condemned dancing in church processions in Spain and dancing in churches during vigils on saints’ days. In 633 the Council of Toledo forbade the Festival of Fools with its singing and dancing. In 678 the Council of Toledo suggested that the Archbishop Isidore of Seville compose a ritual with much-sacred choreography (Gagne, et al., Introducing Dance in Christian Worship, 82; Daniels, Dance in Christianity, 22). Many such examples can be found throughout the history of the church.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Dance began as an expression of the faith of common people as inherited from the Jews and was used to express faith through the centuries despite the warnings and prohibitions of the church hierarchy. The rationale for these prohibitions ranged from legitimate concerns about inappropriate practices making their way into Christian worship to clericalism to confusion between sensuality and sensuousness.

Sensuality arises when the body is objectified and is thus stripped of its sacramental meaning. Sensuousness is a natural and good aspect of being human that needs to be recognized in our worship. We cannot worship as disembodied spirits. James Nelson writes:

Because the human body is vitally and spontaneously sexual, many Christians in their dualistic alienation have been offended by the radical implication of the incarnation.… The Victorian within still winces at the thought that the incarnation might be “a tale of the flesh.” (James B. Nelson, Embodiment: An Approach to Sexuality and Christian Theology [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1979], 74)

Why is dance not a more widely used expression of worship today? If we hesitate to use dance but not song because we feel one form of worship has more historical precedent, we must look more closely at our history. And if dance is omitted from worship solely out of our fear of causing someone to notice the beauty of the human body and of its movement, we need to confront our own fears and ask whether they are valid reasons for prohibiting someone’s worship of God. Deiss writes, “[Humans are] not only spirit, but also flesh. Our creator has given us bodies endowed with beauty and grace, and expects us to use them—not as a hindrance in our progress toward [God], not as “weapons of iniquity” in the cause of sin, but rather as “weapons of justice for God” (Rom. 6:13). It is, therefore, natural that the inner prayer of the soul express itself outwardly through the body.” (Lucien Deiss and Gloria Gabriel Weyman, Dancing for God [Cincinnati: World Library of Sacred Music, 1965], 3)

Worshiping as whole people should not frighten us. We should, in fact, look for ways in which we can “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Rom. 12:1). Our worship should incorporate all of our being: our voices, our minds, our eyes, our ears, our hands, and our feet. Worship cannot be restricted to one day per week and certainly should not be restricted to watching the show in the chancel. Jay Rochelle writes: Dance in church still seems offensive to many not only because of the focus of the human body, but because of the active nature of that body as instrument of worship. Our sense of the passive, even quietistic, uses of the body as receptor may block us from seeing the body active in offering, thanksgiving, and praise. (Jay C. Rochelle, “The Contemplative Ground of Craft,” NICM Journal [September 1977])

Our liturgy does not occur in a vacuum, it reflects the whole of our Christian life. If we will greet one another in the name of friendship, why do we hesitate to greet others in the name of Christ? If we will leap for joy when the Chicago Cubs hit a home run, why will we not leap for joy at the good news of Jesus the Christ? And if we feel the unquenchable impulse to dance, as Gene Kelly declared in “Singing in the Rain,” shall we not dance also for our God?

Involving Children in Drama for Worship

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Involving children in a drama ministry provides an appropriate way to use their unique gifts in the life of the congregation, encourages their spiritual growth, and makes an important contribution to common worship. These and other benefits of a children’s drama ministry are described here.

Children’s chancel dramas or musicals have become a popular means of bringing young people into active participation in the worship service. Often such musicals serve as the proclamation of the Word, sometimes even taking the place of the sermon, or they may serve as the anthem for a particular Sunday. Since children remember and reflect on the biblical texts and stories they have sung as anthems or performed in a chancel drama, these musicals are invaluable methods of Christian education.

A drama of any duration requires costumes, lights, blocking, and extra instruments, and may take many hours to prepare. The time is well spent when the focus is a chancel drama because its preparation offers multiple opportunities for children’s spiritual growth in, for example, the following areas: (1) commitment and cooperation; (2) biblical and theological insight; (3) musical and dramatic skill; (4) awareness of church aesthetics; (5) mission awareness; and (6) a sense of ritual and “liturgy as theater.”

Commitment and Cooperation

At the basis of any learning process is commitment. To have learned to give one’s self and to take pride in that giving is a lesson that benefits all dimensions of a child’s life. Children often exhibit a phenomenal capacity for love and commitment when they agree to participate fully in a project. When choir leaders and choristers share the commitment, their rehearsals come alive.

In the presence of such vitality, a spirit of cooperation and teamwork is likely to follow. Openness and a desire to participate and learn to develop a corporate sense among the children. Nothing is more satisfying to the group or its director than putting aside age and personality differences to work toward a common goal. Within such an atmosphere, a choir community can produce excellent music or drama while also participating deeply in the church’s purpose and mission.

Biblical and Theological Insight

One criticism of chancel dramas is that the people in the pews often already know the biblical narrative being presented. Young and old have heard the stories of Adam and Eve, Jonah and the whale, Noah and the ark, the three wise men, and other stories since their earliest years. Yet fresh insights into biblical stories are always being discovered by scholars, preachers, church educators, and musicians. Children can be part of an ongoing biblical exegesis as they explore and memorize the texts of anthems and act out Bible stories.

Stories are remembered in more detail and with greater understanding when they have been sung and dramatized. Children (and adults) begin to understand by role-playing how their character interacts with other characters, and how each player fits into the storyline. For example, when I directed Winter Star by Malcolm Williamson, our choir worked at “getting into character” by talking about how each character or group of characters acts and reacts in the story.

During discussions and rehearsals, we also explored the story’s theological symbolism. Winter Star is a retelling of the familiar tale of the three wise men. Among the insights that the children discovered for themselves were these: the star character is a symbol of God; Jesus is a gift of God’s love for us, and the kings and shepherds are representative of humankind. The choir’s retelling of the familiar story provided the children and others with fresh insights into Christian theology.

Musical and Dramatic Growth

To reap the immense rewards of participation in a chancel drama, the script must be chosen very carefully. Many musicals that have clever, easily-learned tunes and simple stories do not lend themselves to dramatic enactment. While they may be fun for the children and well received by the congregation, they have little educational and spiritual value. If a chancel musical is to be worthwhile and fulfilling to the children, the music and drama must be interesting, challenging, and a joy to perform.

Interest can be heightened by the use of a variety of compositional techniques: canon, different meters (including ones like 5/8 and 7/8), different melodic notes, melodies that identify specific characters, and “ensemble finale” endings in which all characters come together and sing their own thematic material. Williamson employs many of those techniques in Winter Star, and the result is a successful, creative dramatic expression. For example, he uses differences in modes and meter to create unique characterizations and atmospheric suggestions for each player and scene. The 7/8 march tempo of the kings gives the impression of the rocking movement of the camels on which they ride—though fortunately, no live camels appear! The radiating star—a circle of five young girls with their backs to the center and arms clasped above them—revolves to the motif of consistent eighth notes, a sparkling star in sound and appearance.

Many of the choristers involved in Winter Star found that they were able to memorize much more music than ever before. Struggling with its various meters and modes, they learned unusual aspects of music that are often never encountered in the education of young church musicians. The musical success of the final project so increased their confidence that later they tackled difficult pieces and performed them with ease.

The children’s growth as actors was facilitated by a talented local actress who volunteered as production director and choreographer. The children learned how to make the audience believe they were watching shepherdess, kings, angels, and a star; in other words, the actors learned how to become the person or things portrayed. After discussing each character, we took some time to allow each child to play at “getting into character.” Several of the children had such fun that they signed up for drama classes in the local youth theater program.

Mission Awareness

Too often young people’s singing groups offer their talents only once a month, usually at the “family service.” It is important, however, that parishioners also become aware of the benefits of the children’s choir as part of young people’s Christian education. The young church people of today need a sense of belonging and affirmation for their contributions. A children’s musical is an opportunity for such affirmation, especially if it is presented at all services.

The sharing provides an occasion for young churchgoers to participate actively in the parish’s ministry to those within the church. An external ministry also occurs as the children bring their friends from outside the parish to participate in the chancel production. Once the newcomers are part of the drama, they often choose to stay with the choir for other events; the children’s choir program gives young people a “hands-on” experience of drawing others into the church.

Aesthetics in the Church

I believe that a chancel drama is one of the best ways to instigate reflection on church aesthetics. In such a project, children can be made consciously aware of all aspects of corporate worship. They concretely explore aesthetics in several ways: (1) by using the space within the church building in a variety of ways; (2) by using movement that is appropriate to a text; (3) by being made aware of a specific text as it relates to an entire church service; and (4) by learning to use different kinds of sounds and periods of silence.

In James Pottie’s More Profound Alleluia! (Washington, D.C.: Pastoral Press, 1984), Erik Routley is quoted as saying that “art is a mode of human public conversation” (p. 64). Instead of a dictionary-like definiteness, the artist communicates subtle meaning and value. The art of music communicates with sounds and rhythms. The addition of a text couples useful information with beautiful sounds. Often if we recall those beautiful sounds, we can more easily understand and remember the words. Our subconscious is filled with biblical stories learned in this way. Pottie likens the artistry we try to instill in our children’s choirs to Jesus’ communication with his disciples through parables.

The artist, as Jesus does in his parables, invites us to go beyond the “letter,” i.e. mere information, explicitness, usefulness, or instruction. Only the Spirit gives life. Artistic forms participate in some way in the life-giving spirit. (Ibid., 64)

Art in all forms becomes part of the aesthetics of our worship. Worship involves the whole assembly: presiders, preachers, readers, musicians, architects, and of course all those who do not exercise a specific liturgical ministry. Music, as an integral part of the whole, must be carefully selected, prepared, and performed, not as a concert or entertainment, but as an offering.

This view of worship is an important concept that can easily be communicated by the director’s attitude and actions. In my situation, I try to make time between rehearsals to discuss such matters. We often begin a time of vocal rest with a simple question about an attitude of worship; for example, “How does our anthem fit into this week’s service?” or “What can the choir do to make the service more meaningful to the parish?”

The Sense of Ritual and Theater

Ritual involves an assembly of God’s people who seek to communicate with one another and with God. The ritual is the communication; it weaves together signs, symbols, and events, such as the cross, the paraments, and the blessing of the vessels for Communion, into a structured order of service. Children and adults often perform rituals week after week without really entering into the communication process. One role of the children’s choir is to teach the wonder and mystery that is liturgy, “the work of the people” and the church’s most ancient forms of communication.

In A More Profound Alleluia! Pottie devotes an entire chapter to the relationship between ritual and communication. He writes: Ritual, then, is corporate symbolic activity. In the context of a Christian worshiping community, it is the medium of communication revealing the God in Christ, who is the ground and reality to which the ensemble of signs and symbols refer. This ensemble serves also to communicate to the participants of the assembly gathered in faith the meaning and context of their coming together. On both levels, the ritual activity (i.e., the ensemble of liturgical signs) is the means of communication of the Christ-event to and among the assembled worshiping community. To know what aides and what hinders the flow of communication through the ritual action allows the ritual to do its proper task: the communication of life, meaning, and value for the gathered. (p. 19)

A significant chancel drama-musical helps children to begin to understand this concept. Choir members and directors need to examine the routine of ritual and discover how the choir’s contribution can enhance and develop with the spoken word, the corporately sung word, moments of silence, gestures, and other ritual elements. With careful explanation, children can begin to see the entire scope of that communication while gaining a sense of belonging and participation in it. Under ideal circumstances, this reflection will take place even if the choir is dealing with less elaborate anthems.

The idea that worship is theater has been the subject of many theoretical writings. Erik Routley, for example, was a proponent of this concept. Theater and drama within a church setting include communication forms such as prayers, readings, music, and sermons. Each week the church presents a drama depicted in a way that connects with our own life settings. The service functions as a link between our spirits and God’s. It is a delicate link; worship as theater encompasses, engulfs, and involves the entire person and the whole church community.

It is imperative that children know and believe that all the senses are involved in the church’s dramatic action. Children are subconsciously aware of shape, color, movement, sound, and silence. Our job as church music educators is to help them develop an appreciation of themselves as members of a corporate worshiping body.

While anthems can be used to teach worship to our children, the larger chancel drama incorporates an even greater number of aesthetic, musical, and Christian ideals. Though much work is involved in any such production, the rewards are far greater. Through them, we can enrich the lives of young church members with the ideals and love of Christ.

Beginning a Drama Group

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Preparing drama for worship requires much time and skill. The following article identifies many of the issues that need to be addressed in beginning a drama ministry and describes helpful procedures for making this process efficient.

Religious drama is finding its way into the liturgy and pedagogy of religious institutions. Laypersons who wish to begin such a “drama ministry” need assistance in knowing how to form a religious drama interest and a performing group. They need to realize that drama has a historical connection to the church and can continue to be useful in presenting the Christian truth. Christ used narrative and stories to present his truth during His brief ministry here on earth. Humans seem to discover deeper aspects of their faith through stories and narratives, and today this form of storytelling can be best offered by means of dramatic production and presentation.

Religious leaders have had a “love/hate” relationship with drama throughout history. The early Hebrews composed group chants, praises, and prayers that were dramatically interactive in group and leader recitative. The basilicas of early Christianity were so immense that group liturgists projected the sound of doctrinal pronouncements so that those attending could hear and understand the tenets of the faith. From these beginnings, the Mass evolved to incorporate segments of group reading, recitation, and drama. The early mystery plays portrayed the lives of Christ and the apostles in outdoor and cathedral settings.

For some well-meaning theologians and believers, the “drama” of the early church was suspected of participating inadvertently in evil, because believers portrayed other personae, potentially compelling the faithful to deception, false implications, or connections to the sinful secular culture. An early advocate of drama’s distinct sacred potential was the tenth-century German nun Hroswitha, who came to the convent at Gandersheim in southern Germany from an educated life as a nobleman’s daughter. Once converted to monastic Christianity, she disavowed all connections to her past love and appreciation for the Roman playwrights and decided to compose plays for a cloistered audience in Latin. Hroswitha was so concerned that her plays might be linked with secular stage productions that she specifically wrote stage directions that her plays be read rather than performed. Predating the modern readers’ theater art form, Hroswitha’s six plays regaled the local community with tales of saints tortured and abused for their faith. She called these dramas “comedies,” because each saint went to spend eternity in heaven at the end of each reading.

Does drama have a place in the church today? Many realize that the answer is resoundingly affirmative. The topics presented in drama bring people to the edge of confrontation with social values and traditions. That tension is a given; good drama must have tension. But the good “play” with resolution, direction or rhetorical premises seeks to provide answers to life’s dilemmas. Drama in the church today should have five purposes: (1) worship; (2) education; (3) entertainment; (4) evangelism or conviction; and (5) mature growth and appreciation.

Drama can lead us in worship as we listen, hear, and meditate on the attributes of God: his work, his plan, his essence, and his majesty. Drama tells Bible stories to educate us and our children or to relate biblical injunctions for contemporary living. It can evoke feelings of happiness or sadness as our emotions entertain our passions and deepest thoughts. Drama can relay the message of evangelism in an unpredictable manner, leading to conviction. Finally, we become more balanced, more mature Christians as we absorb drama’s efforts to instruct us on growth and change in Christian life.

For the past twenty years, contemporary Christian music has revitalized the local congregation, introducing percussive instruments, contemporary rhythms, and even making inroads into secular culture with crossover artists like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Philip Bailey. But within the past five years, drama in the church, which had lagged behind in renewal, has begun to catch up with contemporary music. Churches are recognizing the power of drama, incorporating scenes, skits, full productions, and pageants into regular services, as well as creating specialized formats for presentations. Reformed Jewish synagogues like Temple Beth Tikvah in Columbus, Ohio, have experimented with modern liturgical formats that involve the congregation in dramatic and choral recitation; they create a “theater of worship.” Other ministries experiment with clowning or puppetry to tell stories to “media-raised” youth, enhancing traditional religious and spiritual training. Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois has been on the cutting edge of innovative approaches, coaxing the unchurched to attend through an emphasis on contemporary, locally produced drama. Proscenium full-staged productions to stark choral readings are part of the growing interest in bringing drama back to the church in our day.

Laypersons who have talent and experience in dramatic presentations have been neglected for too long in our churches. To utilize drama as a communicative system, a local training program may be needed. Consider the following pedagogical guidelines, suggestions, and resources for a local church to begin a “drama ministry.”

Stimulating Interest in Drama

A good quality dramatic script and performance will stir interest in a congregation for more dramatic endeavors. As a stimulant, bring in an outside group to perform before starting dramatic training. A highly polished and prepared group will demonstrate to all, especially the cynics, the power and communicative impact of religious drama. Find a local church with a strong drama program and ask the members if they would perform at your church. Local Christian colleges (such as Biola University in California; Northwest Nazarene College in Idaho; or Gordon College in Massachusetts) have troupes that can be invited for local church gatherings. Parachurch dramatic organizations, such as Lamb’s Players in San Diego or A. D. Players in Houston, can be contracted for various dramatic productions. A local civic theater may have a “secular” play with religious overtones, and the cast may enjoy an opportunity for interaction. A question/answer period following a presentation of Amadeus, Luther, or J.B. might stimulate religious thought and growth.

Other mechanisms to stimulate interest in drama might include:

  • A dialogue sermon in which two leaders speak in tandem, occasionally in choral-line delivery.
  • Readers’ theater, a “Theater of the Mind,” in which minimal staging and dramatized prose, poetry, and drama selections call upon the audience to “imagine” actions and scenes.
  • A pre-sermon/homily monologue in which a biblical character or religious persona reacts to the principles of the day’s message. This could be a costumed monologue or predictable dress presentation.
  • A choral reading of the Scripture passage by two or more readers, seated in various places among the congregation.
  • A combined choir and drama musical presentation. Various publishers listed at the end of this article offer many full-length plays with music for congregational use.

Any of these suggestions should stir interest in creating a local drama troupe. The congregational leader needs to be aware of drama seminars and source material available for production. Look for local or area-wide drama specialists who will come to your church for a one- or two-day seminar on drama. Choose a seminar that offers information to the novice actor as well as stimulating the veteran drama enthusiast.

Source References for Dramatic Presentation

An annotated bibliography appears at the end of this chapter listing titles and publishers of religious drama. Though more Christian publishers are offering more dramatic script texts, entertaining, instructive, and powerfully compelling material is sometimes difficult to find. You may choose to write your own material, clip, and adapt religious poems, essays, editorials, vignettes, and stories for use in creatively compiled skits or readers’ theater productions. Try your hand at writing short or lengthy original material as well.

Locating the Drama Enthusiasts

Finding those members of the local religious center who are interested in dramatic performance can be frustrating. At first, a director will gravitate toward finding the performers for specific parts, but as an alternative, consider beginning with a survey card that indicates interest or background in all facets of drama. Most religious groups have an abundance of hidden talent just waiting to be asked or discovered.

Hand the cards out as a bulletin insert or at the door as worshipers come in for a service. If possible, augment the survey card with a public announcement of the need for performers, set designers, lighting, sound technicians, make-up artists, music, choral readers, costume designers, and publicity people.

In addition to basic information about name, age group, address, and experience, establish a planning session time, usually a week or two weeks from the distribution date. Appeal to all ages, and if the interest is high within an age grouping (e.g., high school) you may wish to cast performers from within the predominant age group. Drama has the ability to bridge the generation gap, so casting a multi-aged group can bring the religious body together in a cross-generational activity.

At the planning session, find out how interested your attendees are. For those who want more information, indicate to them that you would like to start a drama ministry that would allow opportunities for the local church to put on shows similar to the kind performed by your guest troupes. Discuss with attendees that a drama ministry can augment the pulpit or liturgical presentations. Try to instill enthusiastic anticipation for what a drama ministry could mean for the congregation and the participants.

Choosing a Performance Piece and Casting

When you have a good idea of the number and quality of those interested in drama, choose a dramatic program to present. If the anticipated presentation is seasonal, select a holiday-themed program. You will need to write to the publishers for royalty information if you choose certain plays. If you compile a readers’ theater program, copyright obligations may compel writing for performance permission. Some legal advisers believe that if nondramatic literature is presented to an educational audience or in a nonprofit setting, permission and/or royalties may be unnecessary. Some older literature is definitely in the public domain and does not require a royalty. You are clearly in violation of copyright laws if you charge admission for royalty-earning plays or equally designated nondramatic forms without writing for permission. A good rule of thumb is to check at the beginning of any published work to see if specific permission or royalty fees must be paid prior to the performance.

You can meet separately with the technical crew as the preliminary plans progress. Inform the technical crew of their responsibilities and your needs and prepare them to run their “dress rehearsal” (cue-to-cue rehearsal) on one of the nights preceding the first performance.

At your planning session, you may wish to designate two times for performance auditions. During the auditions, hand out an “audition sheet.” This sheet asks for basic information about name, address, telephones (work and home), age group, and an explanation of drama experience. The sheet should clearly indicate drama rehearsal times (e.g., Sunday afternoons, 3 p.m. until 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. until 12 noon; Thursday night dress rehearsal; Friday night dress rehearsal, etc.). Ask for a clear indication of days on which the performer cannot attend. Finally, leave a blank space for “director’s comments” or helpful notes about each person who auditions.

At the auditions, you will need to stress commitment to rehearsals and performances, but be a little more flexible than you might be with a school or “graded” class. Too much pressure will drive participants away since they have no extrinsic reason to stay with the activity. You must build intrinsic commitment by emphasizing the ministry aspects and the opportunity to communicate in a novel and effective manner. The indication of rehearsal times on the audition sheet should preempt some, but not all, of the “no-show” problems. Try to instill in all the performers the necessity of being at rehearsals on time, because you will be committed to letting them out on time. Set the example as a director by always being on time and keeping to a clear schedule. You should cast performers who will commit themselves to the practice times and performances. Drop a cast member who fails to meet the rehearsal times regularly. Allowing this kind of behavior brings down the performance level and morale of the whole cast.

Auditioning can be accomplished by any number of methods. The following patterns may be useful:

  • Audition individually. You make script copies available ahead of time or have a “cold” session. Bring in each performer separately and feed them cue lines.
  • Audition by a small group (2 to 5 people). Divide up the scripts and allow several combinations to read and reread short one-minute to three-minute sections of the script.
  • Call-back auditions. If you choose to narrow the field of performers for one last decision-making audition, set up an additional audition time by posting, phoning, mailing a “call back” list. Some directors feel more secure when they cast one or two alternates or understudies.

During an audition, the drama leader should choose performers with an enthusiastic dedication to the rigors of the endeavor. As a director, listen for such variables as vocal tone and range; believability; appearance; abilities to portray personae (e.g., older or younger people; those with regional dialects or noticeable psychological characteristics); cooperative attitude; and the somewhat enigmatic but powerful concept of stage presence.

Sometimes after casting, and once you have begun rehearsals, you may wish to ask some performers to switch parts or line reading. Try not to make it seem like a promotion or demotion, but rather a fine-tuning of the best combination for presentation.

Adapting to the Performing Area

Religious centers are seldom built for “proscenium” or theatrical presentations. But the space available for performing—“found space”—can be adapted for presentation by altering the environment or using the space as is. The church sanctuary platform area may have a removable pulpit, but choir banister and loft seats are often permanently attached to the floor. You may choose to use the already existing steps to the pulpit area or add risers or leveling platforms over the stationary choir seats. If the congregational seats are movable, a theater-in-the-round format might be utilized. If a readers’ theater format is chosen, you may use stools and boxes to stand or sit upon to represent staging areas.

Consider the focus for the performers. If a play is presented and the primary eye contact is on-stage, position the performers in such a way that most of the time they are readily visible from all parts of the congregation. If a readers’ theater format is used, consider an off-stage focus (imaginary scene placement above the heads of the audience) or audience focus as the main means to keep performers in clear view.

The use of lapel mikes and mike cords can be a nightmare of entanglement. Ideally, try to perform without the benefit of electronic amplification. If this is not possible, try to set up at least four omni-directional microphones at levels that will project most of the sound. Technology is constantly improving the means to amplify sound, but you still may be at the mercy of a microphone with a bad battery, external sound competition, or other mishap. Stress, again and again, the need to project all dialogue and recitations so all can hear and understand.

Rehearsal Practices and Training

The first series of rehearsals require that a director give direction and insights into the meaning and interpretation of the script. Read through the script around a table, pausing when necessary to ask questions concerning character analysis and motivation. Try to get your performers to discover the deeper layers of personality in their character parts by asking questions, or doing demonstrations or role-plays. Especially in preliminary rehearsals for readers’ theater, work for energetic cue pickups, and matching pitch tones for multicharacter line readings.

Some directors have found that an initial ten to fifteen-minute period of “theater games” provides good warm-up technique. Improvisations with characters from the presentation, calisthenics, and verbal scale recitations (“Ah, Ay, Eee, Oh, Ooh,” etc.) can help prepare performers for a more in-tune presentation.

When the read-through rehearsals have led up to a point of familiarity with the script, blocking rehearsals should follow. If you are presenting a play or chamber theater, memorization of parts should accompany the blocking rehearsals. If you are presenting a readers’ theater, stress that 60 to 70 percent of the time eye contact should be off the manuscript. If your performers are novices, you may wish to hand out a blocking pattern of the stage area. Divide a staging area into nine segments (e.g., upstage right, upstage center, upstage left, center stage right, center stage, center stage left, downstage right, downstage center, downstage left). Remind your performers that upstage is always away from the audience and downstage is toward the audience. The “power” stages are those central to the playing area and gain the most attention from audience observers. Have performers bring pencils so that they can mark blocking moves into their scripts or notebooks. As a director, you will need to schematically map out your blocking and staging moves ahead of time (e.g., diagrams in a notebook or amplified script copy) or ask the cast to move around for aesthetic decisions and composition variables of staging.

As blocking rehearsals continue, offer refining comments about cues, nuances of character movements, and entrances/exits. If necessary, offer to meet for individual coaching sessions. Usually, a cast will forget or lose some interpretive character business as they learn blocking, but with a gentle reminder, the performance choices you desire in your actors will return, accompanied by the well-timed blocking moves.

For the first night’s dress rehearsal, prepare your performers for a cue-to-cue technical rehearsal. Bring all of your sound technical crew together and walk your performers through each segment, pausing to ensure that lighting, sound, and scene change crew members know their parts. For the next night’s dress rehearsal, invite a small select audience to come, watch, and meet with the cast and crew afterward for final corrections or reminders. When the performance night comes, meet early with the cast for prayer. Encourage them to do their best and to have fun.

Religious Drama Is Ministry

Continually stress that, unlike any other performance, religious dramatic endeavors are meant to minister as well as entertain and provoke thought. Remember to be reasonable in your praise and kind in offering constructive criticism. Your cast will give you their best if they are encouraged and gently corrected rather than publicly disgraced or humiliated.

After the initial performances, consider other outlets for using religious drama. Speak to the pastor about augmenting the sermon/homily with a dramatic scene. Consider a summer dinner theater for your religious center. Use drama as a pedagogical tool (e.g., a production concerning pain and suffering and God’s role, followed by a discussion). Encourage age-group drama troupes to form so that they can teach their peers. Take your production to another church and introduce drama and its possibilities to them. Religious dramatic presentations can minister in effective and dynamic ways, thereby increasing the number of ways to reach the needs of the various congregations.

Drama and Preaching

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Drama and preaching are both means for communicating biblical truths. Yet they are fundamentally different in their most typical forms, with preaching presenting a message and drama representing a narrative. This article gives helpful historical perspectives to the use of drama in worship, as well as guidelines for the appropriate relationship of preaching and drama in worship today.

Two places in which we have a right to expect to hear the truth spoken are the pulpit and the stage. For that reason, if for no other, preaching and drama should each find an ally in the other. Sadly, this is not and has not been the case.

Drama in the church arose out of the liturgy in a period preceding the Protestant Reformation, that is before the proclamation of the Word had assumed a central place in Christian worship. For that reason, many elements in the liturgy were receptive to the introduction of dramatic material: the responsive sections, the liberal and expanding use of music, the clergy’s colorful vestments, symbolic actions and gestures, and the architecture of the church or cathedral.

Perhaps the single most important development leading to drama’s emergence in the church was the widespread medieval practice of troping. The custom of beautifying the service of worship by inserting tropes, or verses, could hardly have occurred in early Reformed churches. The idea that the worship of God needed any kind of beautifying introduced an aesthetic concern that the Reformers would probably have considered irrelevant if not irreverent. Any attempt to make liturgy aesthetically satisfying would have underlined the part played by human sensibilities in the worship of God. For those who held the human imagination to be vain and profitless, such beautifications were perceived as leading away from the pure worship of God and toward human self-aggrandizement. Not accidentally did the Puritans in England engage in a steady conflict with the secular theater. It was during Oliver Cromwell’s twelve-year rule that all the theaters in London were closed. Naturally, then, nothing that smacked of theater would find acceptance in the churches.

In Reformed churches, it was chiefly the centrality of the Word that worked against dramatic development. To some degree, all the Reformers, for different reasons, eventually emphasized the service of the Word over the celebration of the Eucharist. These services—Lutheran, Zwinglian, Calvinist—tended toward simplicity, the reduction of opportunities for congregational participation, and the abandonment or simplification of clerical vestments. Preaching became absolutely central. The Word of God was proclaimed and explained. The service shifted from a mysterious rite toward an instructional and educational experience.

This centrality of the Word and the simplicity of the liturgies, especially those of Zwingli and Calvin, diminished the elements that made drama possible: dialogical progression, symbolic action, and symbolic vestments. Calvin, struggling with the question of how Christ is present in the Eucharist, said: “I will not be ashamed to confess that it is too high a mystery either for my mind to comprehend or my words to express, and to speak more plainly, I rather feel than understand it” (quoted in S. F. Brennen, et al., A Handbook of Worship [Philadelphia: The Heidelberg Press, 1941], 50). The Reformer’s apparent discomfort with the mysterious action in the Mass, represented by the doctrine of transubstantiation, helped to push reformed worship in a direction toward which it was already oriented biblically, that is, the predominance of the ear as an organ of perception. In the Mass, the eye was predominant, for it was the moment of the elevation that medieval crowds rushed from church to church to see. In the Reformed tradition, the prominence of the word shifted the emphasis from the eye to the ear as the chief organ of perception, as it was in the Hebrew Bible: “Hear, O Israel … ”

This emphasis on the ear is of course not totally antithetical to drama, but the shift does not particularly encourage the art. Drama performed is essentially an art that appeals to the eye. The Greek word from which our word “theater” is derived is theatron, which is literally “the place of seeing.” Though Aristotle in the Poetics places spectacle last among the six elements of tragedy—plot, character, thought, diction, music, spectacle—the emphasis remains on seeing. We go to see a play not to hear one.

Although many segments of American Protestantism have witnessed a movement for several decades toward more liturgical services, the unadorned worship in churches of the Reformed tradition continues in some places. In a recent visit to the Reformed Church of Hungary, I was struck by the brevity and simplicity of the Sunday morning services. Hymn singing provided almost the only opportunity for the people to participate. Furthermore, the high, prominent pulpits are a testament to preaching’s importance. Here as elsewhere, the dominance of preaching emphasizes the use of reason in the service, in contradistinction of feeling and mystery.

The Church’s Uneasiness

While drama has found a home in some Protestant churches, in many there is still some uneasiness about its use, the causes of which have their source in the writings of the early church Fathers and were strengthened during the Puritan attack on the stage.

In an ethos in which God’s glory and majesty put into sharp relief the sinfulness and depravity of human nature, some saw drama as turning people’s attention away from God, its rightful object, and toward the performer, thus encouraging idolatry.

When used in worship, drama is described by some as “enlivening” the service. For others, like its medieval and Puritan critics, drama makes the church a place of spectacle, where people are drawn by the “cheap tricks” and “false effects” of the theater. Far from enhancing worship, they say, drama detracts from an atmosphere of worshipfulness and reverence.

Some fear that by imitating real life, drama introduces jarring crudities into a place where a reverential spirit should be cultivated. The language of the street and marketplace, gestures appropriate for profane transactions, and attire suitable for the cocktail party are things that cause people discomfort when seen or heard in church. Some suggest that the pretense and human imagination that are drama’s genius stand against the majesty and glory of God, distort our understanding, and confuse our perceptions about worship’s true object.

Finally, in using drama in the church, we stand in danger of undermining the liturgy itself. “Some feel that it is not wise to bring drama into too close contact with worship, as the congregation may turn itself into an audience and confuse the distinction between the two.” (Joyce Peel and Darius Swann, Drama for the Church, 2d ed. [Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1970], 13). A good deal of the uneasiness about using drama in the church may be resolved by arriving at some clarity about drama’s place and functions in those services of worship in which preaching is central.

Preaching and Drama

To those who think of a play only as a sermon in dialogue form, it should be pointed out that drama and preaching are fundamentally different, not only in form but in intent and function. Preaching is presentational; drama is representational. That, of course, is a general statement which for the moment ignores different styles of preaching and different styles of drama. The preacher proclaims the Word of God. She or he presents the claim of God on our individual and collective lives. The prophetic formula “Thus says the Lord” is the sermonic pattern, even though the language may vary. Using biblical stories, teaching, and exegesis, the preacher analyzes the human situation, delineates to the best of her or his ability what God requires of us, and exhorts us to do it. However embellished by dramatic incident, language, symbolism, or dramatic gesture, preaching’s function is to declare clearly God’s demand on us. Preaching is therefore direct, rationally oriented, instructional, and motivational.

Shakespeare saw the function of dramatic art as holding up a mirror to nature. The figure of the mirror is an important one, for in the play we do not look at life directly but by way of a contrived imitation of an action, the essential parts of which the playwright has selected. Through the medium of human imagination, playwrights, actors, and audiences together construct a “reality” that we know is not an actual fact. Through their creation, our own existential situation is illuminated. The drama, as Picasso is credited with observing, is a small lie in the service of a big truth.

The play, then, cannot fulfill a sermon’s function of declaring directly, clearly, and prophetically what our human situation is, how God has acted, and what response we are called to make. If the play attempts to do this, it runs the risk of becoming propagandistic. It simply imitates an action, the experience of which may illuminate the spectator’s own experience and help to clarify his or her decision making. By allowing the spectators, in all their human vulnerability, to be exposed to a life situation with which they can empathize, response in freedom is made possible.

Drama, then, gives the spectators another place in which to stand to hear the truth. Preaching not infrequently puts the hearer on the defensive and elicits an adversarial response. Drama provides what Francis Ferguson calls “direct perception.” It communicates through the intellect but also above, around, and below it, at the level of the subconscious as well as the conscious. “Because drama is written to be played, it both offers and requires a peculiarly immediate understanding” (Francis Ferguson, The Idea of Theatre [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968], 10). The immediate vision or understanding offered by the play may then be corrected and amplified by theologians, historians, and preachers. Indeed the sermon may complete the work the play has begun.

The Value of Drama’s Ecclesial Use

To appreciate the potential value of drama in serving the church, we must distinguish among its several uses. There are plays that are suitable for use in the worship service itself. The nature of dramatic art does not make it inimical to worship. John P. Newport has reminded us that art refers to the aspect of that life that expresses itself in the creative, imaginative, and dramatic and that the artist is one who awakens and heightens our faculties of perception (“The Arts in Worship,” Review and Expositor 80:71–83). Through symbol, language, and theme, a play may move us to the contemplation of God’s goodness and majesty or to a sense of sin and repentance. Henri Ghoen’s Way of the Cross is a profound meditation on the Passion, which has deeply moved congregations of very diverse traditions.

Some plays are unsuitable for the worshiping service but may be excellent for supplementing or complementing another preaching function: teaching or instruction. Drama is an excellent tool for teaching the Bible. As an incident or event is acted out, the participants gain an immediate and personal understanding of the situation and the play’s interior action. This is especially true in creative dramatics where the participants make up their own play. The exploration of character, circumstances, and conflicts serve to bring to life even well-known biblical stories.

In India, I observed that Hindus for centuries have used drama as a primary means of religious realization and the transmission of the stories of heroes and heroines of faith. The Ras Lila, the dance of love, is a dance-drama used to achieve a living experience of Krishna. In October of each year, the Ram Lila (the play of Rama) is enacted in most of North India’s towns and villages. The exploits of Rama, the ideal king-son-husband, are reenacted with great pageantry over a ten-to-thirty day period. Through these reenactments, devotion to Rama is deepened and the ideals of Hindu society are reiterated most memorably.

Of course, drama as a mode of instruction is not confined to biblical material; it is also an excellent means of exploring social and public questions as well as personal and domestic ones. The nature of drama does not admit of clean-cut answers to questions raised, nor is that result necessary or desirable, but the clarification and examination of issues is in itself of great value. Arthur Miller in After the Fall draws on the great symbolism of the Jewish and Christian traditions to illuminate both his hero’s (Quentin’s) ethnic experience (the Jewish Holocaust) and his personal dilemma focusing on two broken marriages. Standing in the tower’s shadow (symbolic of the Nazi concentration camps) with the woman he’s attracted to, but with whom he fears developing a relationship because of two failed marriages, Quentin’s realization is twofold. On the social level, he acknowledges complicity in the world’s cruelty: “My brothers built this place.” Ironically, his recognition of this fact is gained by realizing his personal guilt in regard to the suicide of his second wife, Maggie. The play ends on a note of hope:

And the wish to kill is never killed, but with some gift of courage one may look into its face when it appears, and with a stroke of love as to an idiot in the house—forgive it; again and again … forever. (New York: Viking Press, 1964, 161)

Finally, drama can be an effective aid to evangelism, the speaking and showing forth of God’s act of forgiveness and mercy toward the whole human race. Because the play makes no altar call and issues no decision cards, it engages those who watch in total freedom. But from that freedom may issue a willingness to hear God’s direct claim on their lives. In this sense drama is preparation for hearing the gospel.

Preaching is the stable, continuing element in most Protestant worship services, while drama waxes and wanes. The longstanding hostility between pulpit and stage should not prevent drama from fulfilling the functions it can perform in worship and church education. Preachers with vision should recognize that preaching and drama complement each other; and performers who, like Grotowski’s “holy actor,” empty themselves and sharpen their skills need to know that their playing may be done well and directed to God’s glory.

Readers’ Theater in the Church

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Readers’ theater is a form of drama well-suited to the church. It attempts to present a text rather than to represent or portray an event. It minimizes the staging that may be difficult in some worship spaces. This article describes both the history of readers’ theater and gives suggestions for its use in the church.

Readers’ theater is a dramatic hybrid that combines the oral interpretation of literature with the theatricality of performance art. Readers’ theater has been a viable expressive art form for centuries. The Greeks used a chorus of chanters to link stories and episodes in their plays. The chorus served as a reminder of plotlines or as a transition from scene to scene. The performers in chorus might comment also on the philosophical nature of the play or give a moral pronouncement evident in the performance. The ancient Hebrews composed group chants, praises, and prayers to augment their public worship. Many of the Psalms have verses intended for antiphonal or call/response choral effects in worship. The Catholic Mass emerged with segments of group reading/recitation so that the words and the Scriptures could be heard in the vaulted expanses of the large basilicas and cathedrals. In 1945 the term readers’ theater was first applied to a Broadway oral recitation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Later in 1951, the first major readers’ theater production was presented on Broadway: George Bernard Shaw’s Don Juan in Hell, a difficult act to produce from his play, Man and Superman. Four prominent actors, dressed in formal attire and carrying black notebooks, stood behind lecterns and brought the philosophical scenes to life by means of vocal and physical expressions. In more recent times, the evolving art form of readers’ theater has been apparent in staging decisions of such prominent Broadway plays and musicals as You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Evita; Godspell; Nicholas Nickleby; and The Grapes of Wrath.

Though used in the secular performance arena, readers’ theater has its roots in religious communication. As early as the tenth-century a.d., the German nun Hroswitha wrote plays about biblical characters and saints, not intending that these plays would be acted, but that they would be read aloud in the confines of a monastery. Today, ten centuries later, we need to rediscover the legacy of Hroswitha and look to “RT” as a performance option for today’s churches.

Although the word readers imply that performers read their scripts, today’s RT performances may or may not have scripts present. “Readers” means that performers offer a text, the words of literature, and ask the audience to imagine what is happening. The readers need not wear actual costumes, sit on actual sets, or have makeup that actually reveals their character. Readers can present more than one character in a performance, (a narrator, a male or female, young or old, funny or sad) by means of vocal variety and nonverbal gestures so as to suggest an imaginative landscape without elaborate lighting or set design. “Theater” recognizes that mere reading without expression or drama cannot sustain interest or imagination. Readers can be expected to move in place, use mime actions, or move in and out of scenes. Multimedia (music/slides/video/film) can be presented simultaneously to augment the imagined scene. Wearing apparel with colors suggests mood changes or character traits. Eye contact may be with the audience, in off-stage pointing (suggesting imagined interaction between characters), in on-stage eye gaze, or in indirect soliloquy musing. Stools, blocks, ladders, and levels can be used to turn a stark stage area into an arena of creativity and imagination.

Thus, a definition of readers’ theater is formulated: readers’ theater is the presentation of prose, poetry, or dramatic literature by two or more performers in such a manner that the words are theatrically offered and recreated in the minds of an audience so that all involved can consider the persuasive intent of the literature. Readers’ theater is not superior or inferior to conventional drama. It is another art form. Conventional drama requires that literature be scripted in a dramatic form, where, in most cases, exposition is discovered in dialogue. RT has no such restrictions. Readers can dramatize narrative portions of short stories, novels, essays, newspaper articles, or poems. Conventional drama normally requires a pictorial space, a specifically limited playing arena, usually box-like with sets and curtains, lighting, and theatrically actualized reality. Readers’ theater uses acoustic or found space: the whole environment, including the audience’s minds.

Readers’ theater may be the most practical dramatic outlet the local church has in these modern times. While not every church has facilities that allow for fully-staged dramatic productions, every church has space that can be creatively used for RT performance. Readers’ theater scripts may consist of single works, written specifically for RT format. Readers’ theater may emphasize its ability to stress persuasive messages by thematically linking various literary selections with original transitions, creating a collage or combined script. A special form of RT called chamber theater combines staged drama with narrative prose literature. Narrators in a chamber theater are considered characters but may have manuscript notebooks with the literary text present and visible. Other personae in the cast may be fully costumed and respond as if in a staged drama. Variations of the RT form can be viable and extremely creative for performance options.

Frequently, readers’ theater makes use of the “split-line” technique, dividing a sentence between multiple readers for effect. Generally, the tempo and pacing of RT performances move at a faster pace than traditional drama. Most audiences can sustain interest in a 30- to 45-minute readers’ theater production, but short sketches or vignettes also work well as lead-ins to sermons or other forms of public communication. Performers need to be aware that their voices and nonverbal communication share most of the intent and help assist the audience in recreating the described scenes on the platform of their own minds and imaginations.

Preparations are identical for the RT performers and the traditional dramatic actor. The difference in the art form is one of degree in actuality and imaginative response. Good believable acting and dimensional credible readers’ theater preparations are essential for any performance.

Blocking or staging an RT requires as much creativity as staging a proscenium drama. In the church sanctuary, you may choose to block your performance on one of the three-axis planes: the x-axis, the y-axis, and the z-axis. The x-axis consists of the right to the middle to the left stage, the straight-line-across-the-stage effect. The y-axis places readers along the upstage/downstage continuum, up and back away from the audience. The z-axis is vertical and can be varied by means of short to medium-tall boxes or ladders or levels. RT makes use of clusters of performers, angles of performers, motivated movements of performers. Effective blocking attempts to keep all readers visible when in a scene. Power areas of the stage are central to the action, and any major character or action should be blocked to the center of the audience’s visual attention.

Readers’ theater can be an important addition to the ministry of any church. It can be used as an important and creative evangelistic tool as well as a teaching mechanism. It can reach and teach people through strong messages, coupled with humor and dramatic pathos. RT can join with a strong biblically-based pulpit ministry to share the good news of God’s grace and the dependability of Christ’s faithfulness to us. Christian readers’ theater dramatizes principles that may have been preached or taught to congregations for years. We live in a media age. Radio, TV, and film have turned us into dramatic consumers. Christian readers’ theater can take the performing art of drama and use it to share the deep truths of Christ as we strive to impact our world for him.