I spend my year with high school students, teaching and directing actors of widely-ranging talent and committment levels. While it is very gratifying to watch how theatre can transform a nervous Freshman into a confident Senior, the process of teaching someone to be an actor can be slow and sometimes frustrating for student and teacher alike.
However, when I am working with the adult actors of The Wordplayers, I can take off the teacher hat and just become coach. It is such a pleasure not to have to teach acting because the actors have training and experience onstage and off and a wealth of combined abilities. My role as director is to turn them loose with an idea and then get out of the way as their instincts for blocking and line interpretation are usually spot-on and only need some tweaking. They clearly understand that their role is to create and mine is to see what works and what needs to be changed/modified/enhanced. I trust them to learn their lines and blocking and they trust me to oversee all aspects of the show and make sure we are telling a unified theatrical story.
What a pleasure! Besides the high level of craft, the Christian atmosphere is so special and supportive that it is as if Jesus was there in the flesh learning lines and rehearsing stage combat. Besides having the Lord in our midst for production, we are able to minister to each other through encouragement and prayer. Why do theatre any other way?
Come see The Case of The Missing Bodies at 7:30 on 9/11 at the MCM . It’s a great cast, a clever script and it delivers the Gospel right on time.
” Don’t miss this one, sweetheart!”