Have you considered having a Drama Ministry at your church, but are concerned that staging may be impossible on your altar/platform? Will the set of a play interfere with worship with the rest of the service? Will the set make it impossible for the choir/orchestra/pastor to move around after a five-minute play is completed?
Little staging is all that is needed in most dramatic plays and should not be a barrier to producing a play during your church service. Watch the video of my play MARTIN LUTHER AT THE DIET OF WORMS: DAY OF DECISION produced at First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs, Florida. Only a table and chair are required. Add white and red linen coverings on the table along with a candlestick and several books, and you have the setting of the great turning point of the Reformation.
Watch the video to see that this set does not impact the seating of the choir, the altar with candles, or the pastor sitting off to the side of the drama. The set was easily and quickly removed after the play was concluded. For SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY 269 A.D.: THE END OF THE BEGINNING only a small stool is needed to evoke the prison setting in Rome. No set pieces are needed to delevelop the confrontation of Patrick and an Irish king in SAINT PATRICK 440 A.D.: MISSIONARY TO IRELAND. In each production it is the script that makes the difference. If the written words and the actions of the actors are powerful, there is little need for elaborate or complicated staging. If you have a great script, you won’t have to worry about the staging! Watch the videos of each of these plays to learn how easily your church can be transformed to another place and another time with little effort—and then be brought back to the present in 10 seconds or less.
