The
Drama Retreat
by
Kelly Adkins
Article Listing:
How to Take it From the Page to the Stage
What to do When the Unexpected Happens on Stage
Do You Know Where You're Coming From?
What Your Kids Get From Drama Ministry
What to do When Your Drama Team Doesn't Care Anymore!10 Things to do Before Your Performance
Extraordinary Lessons from Peculiar People
Tech Talk: Costumes
Jeni Fabian's costume book recommendations
Actors tired? Techs
uninspired? Leadership less than wired? When your drama ministry needs
a change of scene, a retreat offers a unique opportunity to refresh your
team and renew your creative spirit. Here are some great ideas for planning
a productive getaway.
Start Small,Think Big
If you've never hosted a team retreat, start with a one-day or evening
event. Keep things simple: Focus your first meeting on one or two areas
of ministry you'd like to strengthen. For instance, if your team already
schedules regular planning meetings, your group may need time for building
relationships. An evening of creative thinking exercises or a brainstorming
day at the park might be perfect. On the other hand, if your team members
know each other intimately but need to develop the vision of the ministry,
use your time for intentional planning, dreaming and setting goals. Once
you've held successful smaller events, your retreats can expand into multifaceted
weekends with elements covering all aspects of drama ministry. But even
if your team is ready for two days of vision casting, creative thinking
and performance scheduling, plan plenty of unstructured time in your retreat.
"So much can happen when artists are sitting around … just talking
and sharing," advises Joy Sawyer, author of The Art of the Soul:
Meditations for the Creative Spirit (Broadman & Holman, 2000). "There's
a lot of creativity that occurs out of just 'being' together, as opposed
to the often-scheduled 'doing.' "
Drama on Purpose
A retreat can help your team reconnect with its purpose-or even define
that purpose for the first time. "It is so easy to get off track
and start thinking about how many laughs you're getting or whether you'll
get the next part," warns Alice Bass, author of The Creative Life:
A Workbook for Unearthing the Christian Imagination (InterVarsity Press,
2001). "It's important to regularly focus on your purpose of serving
God through drama."
Include a brainstorming session to develop a mission statement for your
team, or discuss the ways your efforts have succeeded or failed at fulfilling
goals you set at previous sessions. The simple questions "Who do
we want to be?" and "What do we want to do?" can focus
your conversation.
Your event also can include time for planning performances, generating
script ideas, exploring other art forms or stimulating creativity through
improvisation or group exercises. Tailor your workshops to meet the immediate
needs of your team, adding at least one session each time that intentionally
stretches the talent level and thinking of your participants.
Retreats and Relationships
Like many other church ministries, drama teams focus most often on what
they do, not who they are. "When we're together, we're rehearsing,
creating or performing," explains Rory Noland, author of The Heart
of the Artist (Zondervan, 1999). "We're focused on those things more
than each other. Retreats allow us to pull away from the ministry routine
and focus on each other as people." A few hours or days to enjoy
your team members as individuals can help participants grow from mere
coworkers to an authentic community.
Drama ministries are often divided in another way as well, separating
those on stage from those behind the scenes. "In the secular theater,
the attitude of 'tech against actor' is often considered healthy competition,"
Bass says. "But theater should be a collaborative art form. Everyone's
offering is valuable to the final piece." A retreat is the perfect
opportunity to bring both sides together to increase understanding and
build unity based on the team's common goal.
Ultimately, this is what any drama retreat should be about-recognizing
each member's individual talents as unique gifts and coming together so
God can use them for his purposes. "What we all have in common is
our dependence on Christ-that it is 'Christ in us, the hope of glory'-no
matter if we're an actress or an audio tech," Sawyer says. "This
is a unifying bond that goes deeper than art."
|
Planning
Your Retreat |