|
featured article:
extraordinary lessons from
Peculiar People
by Rachel C. Hoyer
“But ye are a chosen generation,a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light ” (1 Peter 2:9, KJV,emphasis added)
If you’ve never seen — make that experienced —
the traveling ministry team Peculiar People, add it to
your to-do list immediately. What makes Charlie and
Ruth Jones of Franklin, Tennessee … well … peculiar is their attitude. (To hear Ruth tell it, “He’s peculiar; I’m people.”) I’ve seen many touring companies, but this
team has a rare combination of servants’ hearts and raw talent. And, oh yeah — they’re really good actors.
Trust is an essential element for any actor —
If the audience doesn’t trust the actor, he’s sunk. Says
Charlie of trust and the actor: “It’s so important from
the opening moment to get an audience’s trust. It’s a
tangible thing in the palm of your hand. And it comes
into play with how outrageous you get onstage. If you
set certain parameters and don’t shock merely for shock value, your audience will trust you. And that trust is key.” You can see they take that concept to heart — when the Peculiar People van pulls up to a church or
conference center, their ministry in that place has
already begun. It’s obvious when you watch the audi-ence that they are participating in a theatrical event
with friends, not just watching performers.
Peculiar People has been touring for 13 years with an average of 50 appearances per year. What keeps them motivated? They asked themselves if they were a theater company that uses religious scripts or a ministry that uses drama. The answer: Their heart is in communicating God’s grace as a ministry that uses drama. (Charlie was quick to note the other option isn’t bad, it’s just not them.) They reminded me of a scene in the film Chariots of Fire. One of the runners says, “When I run, I feel [God’s] pleasure.” Charlie says the same is true for Peculiar People: “God has made us in such a way that I can’t imagine any greater pleasure than acting.” Ruth agrees: “The audience feedback really fuels us. It’s not so much applause; it’s people saying, ‘God did this in my life through your per-formance.’”
But what is it that makes their scripts peculiar?
Charlie explains, “Christian drama has a bad name because it often serves as moralism or propaganda. We ask of each script: Where are the grace and forgiveness of Christ?” You also won’t see Peculiar People portray any biblical characters. “People already have an idea in
their heads of what a biblical character looked like, so anything we would do would be a disappointment. But the primary reason we don’t do it is that it’s more interesting to see a contemporary person encounter Christ in the world today.”
Finally, Charlie and Ruth shared several things they have learned over the years that are essential for a drama ministry to thrive:
1. Get the church leadership behind you. There’s a difference between having their “approval” to do drama and having their leadership. Have a vision for Christianity and the arts and the use of drama in ministry beyond Sunday sketches.
2. If you’re just starting out, don’t do a sketch but once every two months for the first year. You’ll learn from your mistakes, and you’ll find out who is committed to the group and who’s not. You’ll have a better “product” in the long run if you start slowly and build from there.
3. The director needs to take a leadership position, and that’s hard when you’re doing it without training. You need to lead and control the cast. You will get more competent as you go along. But if you don’t lead, you have chaos. Because it’s a church thing, people feel more able to stop in rehearsal and give direction to one another, and directors are willing to relinquish the authority. But the director needs to have a clear concept for each show — what he wants out of people
— and be ready to communicate that. It’s not a democracy.
4. The ultimate goal is the communication of the wonder of grace and forgiveness and the myriad ways those gifts come to us. This is such a fertile playground that we shouldn’t have to use manipulation or guilt at all. If you’re in ministry — and drama is ministry — emphasize what Christ gave us: grace and forgiveness.
Take every opportunity you get to learn from Peculiar People. They embody theatricality, ministry, servanthood and good, plain fun. If you would like to have Peculiar People participate in your church or con-ference, visit www.peculiarpeople.com. And look for scripts by Charlie & Ruth Jones in the Drama Ministry Online Library at www.dramaministry.com.
|
