MaIl BoX
‘TIS A MYSTERY:
Why drama got the hook in churches Mark Stoddard holds an MA in Educational Theater from New York University and is an award-winning drama director, Equity actor, scriptwriter and college educator in Phoenix, AZ. He sent this letter to the editor. [ www.phoenixfirstdrama.com ] I was struck by the cover story headline, “Why worship drama got the hook.” (September 2011) As the full-time drama director for the past 10 years at Phoenix First Assembly in Arizona, it naturally caught my attention. My first thought — “Oh no, I’m out of a job!” At Phoenix First, we produce 30 to 50 original theater pieces annually, including worship sketches, one-act plays and musicals, illustrated sermons and huge holiday productions – in total playing to more than 250,000 people per year. Like Willow Creek church, we have experienced the impact that quality drama programming can have on a community and congregation. I completely relate to Willow’s challenges of winning over skeptics; improving creative excellence; fostering skilled leadership; and recognizing that drama works best when it doesn’t preach. However, Sharon Sherbondy’s article (“What happened to drama in churches?”) about the rise and fall of drama at Willow Creek, left me with more questions than answers. I felt like a gumshoe murder mystery detective in an episode of “who killed church drama?” I needed a motive. My interrogation begins: • “Churches”? — is this a nationwide, cross-denominational epidemic? • Have other Willow Creek
“churches” eliminated drama programming? Why would they? • Why has Willow viewed drama as “culturally irrelevant”? What has shifted culturally? • Did “resource issues” play into their decision (i.e., the time and cost to produce live theater)? I can only speculate. Maybe it was budget cuts; after all, arts are cut in public and private education on a regular basis. Maybe it was predictability — maybe drama was overused and left the audience and creative team saturated. Maybe it was out of convenience. Frankly, theater is difficult to produce. So for many churches, simply downloading a pre-made video is a lot easier. But at what cost? The live interaction of actor and audience is a unique and powerful dynamic. Watch out pastors, virtual sermons might replace you! Maybe it’s just a matter of perspective. The article gives credit to Willow as the church “that started it all” (drama programming), but for thousands of years, drama has gone through phases of favor and disapproval by the church (i.e., the heyday of medieval cycle plays and the virtual elimination by Puritan censorship). Willow’s decision is just the latest ebb and flow of a bigger picture. Our pastor, Tommy Barnett, has been utilizing theatrical illustrated sermons for nearly 50 years and his philosophy of “the message is sacred, the method is not” permeates every fiber of our church. As a result, drama and the arts at PFA are not stuck in the past, we continue to evolve and shift with the culture. The arts should provoke us to think and wrestle to keeping the church relevant to our communities.
01/2012 | CHUrCH ExECUTIVE | 9