Category: Dance and Drama

Acting in Church and Community

Acting in church
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Basic information on auditioning, rehearsing, and performing for church-affiliated actors, actresses, directors, and the whole gamut of those who love and practice the theater. Acting in Church provides an important place to start.

By Mark D. Harris

Churches around the world use drama in their ministries, and for good reason. The arts, including drama, music, and dance, communicate eternal truths to the human soul in a way that philosophy, mathematics, and other disciplines could not. Our church, Memorial Baptist Church in Beckley WV, has an ongoing children’s ministry involving music and drama, and will be expanding into adult drama next year. In the interest of having useful instructions for older children, parents, and adults, I have edited information gleaned from the websites below on auditioning, rehearsing, and performing. I hope that this information is useful to other churches as well.

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Remembering What Counts at Christmas – Play 15 minutes

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A 15 minute (or so) play about a good and faithful but worn-out pastor who needs to be reminded about what really matters at Christmas.

By Mark Harris

Characters

  • Pastor Tim – male, mid 40s
  • Cindy – female, late 30s, Pastor Tim’s wife
  • Michael – son of Pastor Tim, 12-13 yo
  • Candali – daughter of Pastor Tim, 9-10 yo
  • Rinna – daughter of Pastor Tim, 7-8 yo
  • Jenny – Church secretary, female, 50s to 60s
  • Jose – male, mid 30s
  • Mariana – female, late 20s
  • Joshua – infant

Setting – A Baptist church in Detley, South Virginia. Pastor Tim and Jenny the secretary are the only paid staff. Tim’s 4th grade daughter Candali and 2nd grade daughter Rinna are doing homeschool work in his office. The roof is leaking, with drops falling into a bucket on the floor.

Time – late Tuesday morning

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Ballroom Dancing

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Songs and dances for fathers to dance at their daughter’s weddings and other important occasions. 

By Mark D. Harris

My daughter Anna is getting married, and I have been taking dance lessons. As any real dancer reading the following can tell, I am no dancer. Yet, like many a lead footed father, I am willing to try. My youngest daughter tells me that when she gets married, I had better be a terrific dancer. I anticipate having a few years, but I need to get on it.

The following list is an attempt to match the right dance with the right song, knowing that many dance styles can be used for many different songs. It is also a memory aid, as it can be hard to remember every dance move, especially when you don’t practice every day.

Principles of dancing

  1. Women dance because women like to dance. Men dance because women like to dance.
  2. The man’s purpose in dancing is to make the woman look good.

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Fatherhood and Ballet

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Going to your children’s events to see them is not enough. Dads have to learn to enjoy what their kids enjoy.

By Mark D. Harris

Last week I was at a ballet studio watching my daughter dance. It was a fun show, similar to ones that I have seen countless times before. Since my oldest daughter was three, I have attended ballet recitals, shows, and the annual Nutcracker. Over the years, ballet has become an important part of our lives.

It was not always this way. My mother was not a dancer and she had two boys. Our nearest cousins were boys and so were all of our friends. Boys dance, but finding a boy in a typical ballet school can be as hard as finding a Republican in New York City. We played football, joined Boy Scouts, and attended church, but never danced, or knew anyone who did. This all changed when our oldest girl was born.

In the early years, I went to ballet performances to see my daughter, the cutest person in the world to me. From Coppelia to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I didn’t want to miss seeing her dance or giving her flowers after a performance.

Loving What They Love

When my little ones started ballet, they began asking me questions after their performances. “Daddy”, one would ask, “What did you think about the Russian dancer?” or “How did you like the Sugar Plum Fairy?” The first time my oldest asked a question like this, the blood drained from my face and I stammered a helpless “They were great, sweetheart, what did you think?” In truth, I didn’t remember the Russian and I couldn’t tell the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Snow Queen. I wasn’t attending dance performances to enjoy dance; I was going there to see my daughters. I thought that this was enough.

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