Drama Sparks

Very often God works in very dramatic ways. Consider how he opened a pathway through the Red Sea for the Israelites to escape Pharaoh or how dramatic it was when Jesus was raised from the tomb. God created our emotions and emotions are a primary tool in performing drama.

When I was a girl our entire school from first through twelfth grade met together on Fridays in the auditorium. Each class was required to present a program during the school year. The teachers would work hard to find plays to present and the children worked hard to learn their lines and act their parts. It is an excellent way for young people to learn to speak in front of an audience.

My first part in a play was as a red rose in a large musical production. My mother had to sew dozens of red crepe paper petals to a slip for my costume. I was so happy to be a red rose instead of a pink or yellow one like some of the other girls because red was my favorite color. We little roses didn’t sing but we did get to dance. It was fun.

Later I played such parts as Betsy Ross, Martha Washington, and a Pilgrim. All the time I was writing plays. They were always big pageants in which everyone in the class had a part. None of them were shared with my teachers. I just wrote them for fun. However, in high school I did write a play in French for my French class and it was presented before the school. Later I played the lead in the senior class play, “Aunt Cathy’s Cat.” If my memory is correct it was a comedy/mystery. The play was given for the community and was one of the projects used to raise funds for our class trip to Washington, DC.

After I graduated from school my time was all taken up raising children. That was a little drama in itself! Later I attended college and graduate school. Then I began to write plays for churches and act in them and direct and make costumes and scenery for them. I especially liked working with the church youth. We did some hilarious plays. Once one of the dads laughed so hard he fell out of his chair when he saw his son in a funny play about Noah. I wrote musicals, too, and we did drama Bible schools and then put on the musical at the end of the week. That was a real challenge!

Then, I wrote monologues about women in the Bible and began to do one woman shows at banquets and in churches. A monologue is a drama speech for just one actor. I would pretend to be Mary or Eve or Sarah and tell the Bible story from their viewpoint. Now when I act out these stories I often do them as if I were a storyteller from Bible days.

I also love to tell stories in schools. They aren’t just regular stories. NO! They are Bible stories. And I don’t just tell the story. Everyone in the class has a part and a costume and as the story is told the class acts it out. There are props, too, like David’s slingshot and a puppet snake for the Garden of Eden. The children especially love to have sword fights. Each student is given a cardboard paper towel roll taped at the end to look like a handle and the end of the sword is taped to look like a blade and they really fight it out. The teachers are very good to let me turn their classrooms into battlefields! Dramatic storytelling makes it very easy for the students to learn about God’s plan for us and how He has worked it all out through the ages.

Now some of my books and plays are being published. Only THE MAGI CHRONICLE is out at the present time but more will be published soon. In the meantime we can have some fun on this website. Okay? Okay! Have fun and let me hear from you soon.