The Drama Retreat

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 can also 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."

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Planning Your Retreat

Your retreat can include a variety of elements designed to encourage and equip your team.

• Write a Mission Statement. Work together to write a challenging mission statement for your group. To create goals from your mission, ask your group what they want to accomplish in the upcoming season or year. Set specific goals for number, scale and style of performances.
• Get creative. Plan some special exercises to develop creative thinking.
• Trade places. Step out of – or into – the spotlight to learn the unique challenges other team members face. Host mini-training sessions to hit the highs and lows of both technical and performance roles.
• Branch out. Explore selected sculptures, poetry or music as a team. Discuss how other artists illustrate their messages and how other art forms can enhance your own.
• Share your success. Know someone who was affected by a recent drama sketch? Encouraged by a particular audience response? Spread the good news.