More information about
MISCONCEPTIONS
MAIN POINT
What can you say to someone who wants so desperately to have a child and yet, for whatever
reasons, seems unable? There's certainly not much to say. Everything you attempt sounds
trite. As always, when something bad happens, we feel the need to explain it, to make some
sort of sense about it. But there is no sense to it. It's just the way it is. Efforts to
explain it only further injure the suffering person or couple.
So in every difficult situation, the person must suffer not only from the situation
itself, but also from how everyone else handles the situation. In the case of infertility,
the suffering is not isolated to a single event. It goes on and on for years, cycling
through hope, disappointment and despair over and over again. It's like the tragedy that
never ends - straining marriages and couples' friendships with others.
Don't shy away from this sketch because you don't personally know anybody experiencing
infertility. You probably do, but they haven't told you. And even if you don't, the odds
are overwhelming that someone in your congregation is feeling the despair and hopelessness
of being childless. Performing this sketch can help the people around childless couples
know what to say, etc.
CHARACTERIZATION
Lori: This young woman is very stressed. Even though she's naturally an
expressive person, the strain of her situation has caused her to dull her emotions. She
cannot think about it all the time or she'll break down. So she puts on a determined face
to go on with her life, but there's a deadness about her. As she interacts with Sandy, she
is compelled to release the pent up frustration inside. She's like a pressure cooker -
releasing a little and then pulling back - on the verge of letting go but still pulling
back to sensibility. When her sorrow and anger peak at the point indicated in the script,
she finally lets her full feelings out.
Sandy: She is the surprise character. All along she plays the
well-meaning friend who's missing the point. The audience will see an evolution from her
beginning as upbeat and positive, to confusion, to hurt from being accused of shallowness,
to her straightforward honesty at the end. Each of these stages must pass gradually
without obvious breaks. She has to feel all those things herself to make it appear
authentic.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
1) The groceries here are basically something for the women to do with their hands while
they talk. It makes the piece more visually interesting and authentic than just having
talking heads. That should help the actors relax and get into character.
2) Work out a blocking scheme that allows Lori to move. She has too much emotion to
just sit still. She deals with her stress by moving. Sandy, on the other hand, is more
cautious and shouldn't move very much.
3) There are a lot of pauses in this sketch. Don't be afraid of them. Let the
audience feel the awkwardness of a long pause.
4) There's a chemistry at the end that really must be felt. They must feel genuine
compassion for each other and be able to express it. It might help if you picked two women
who are good friends in real life. That might help them with the level of intimacy
required by this sketch.
RELATED SCRIPTURES
What does Paul say in Romans 12:15? "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those
who mourn." How easy it is for us to switch those around and miss each other. The
book of Job has a lot to say about the kind of despair and bitterness Lori has
experienced. A reading from chapter 30, perhaps verses 20-26, would be appropriate. If
you're approaching infertility directly, there's a lot in Scripture about the pain of a
barren womb. Rachel (Genesis 30), Rebekah (Genesis 25), Hannah (1 Samuel 1), and Elizabeth
(Luke 1) all experienced it. See also Proverbs 30:16.
RELATED THEMES
Although infertility is the subject on the table, there's a lot under the table to tie in.
Take compassion for a start. Neither person can muster compassion until she sees the pain
in the other. Pain is the soil in which compassion grows. There's also the whole question
of why bad things happen to good people, and the issue of God's sovereignty. Friendship
and stress are other supporting themes.
