Please see the post Drama!Drama!Drama! for the beginning of this series.

Let us make this point clearly. I am not trying to be an authority on the subject of church drama, this is merely an exercise to chronicle things I have been dealing with in drama (or would like to deal with in the future). I am writting down what I know and have seen, but I certainly acknowledge that there are those who have been doing it longer and better. This is not my purpose or concern. This is a journey for me, and am looking to network with others in either helping them or the reverse.

So now let the journey continue…

I absolutely love the Art of Misdirection in the flow of drama design.

This may be a long post so be ready.  I personally noticed the value of this in my very first live performance of Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba, though it seems to be a pattern in all of their productions.There was so much to see when you go see La Nouba. At any given time, there is something happening to the left or the right, the front or the back, above and below until the act comes forth and all the others disappear. I love that. So much going on and you don’t know where it is coming from next. That surprise kept it fresh and exhilarating for me. It kept it interesting.

So, I thought, why can we not do this in church dramas???

In our Christmas play, Scrounge, I incorporated the art of misdirection. While running this Opening Titles video and in it, after it scrolls the names, I had “live” performers come from every opening in the church (back foyers, left and right, choir doors left & right, stage doors left and right). 

I misdirected the attention of the audience to the big screen video while action came from them at every possible angle. After they came out dressed as carolers, I had the audience peering ahead as all of this action passed them now congregating on the stage when out comes the main character, Scrounge (yes a take off of Scrooge). It worked wonderfully.

The very first time we did this was a segment in our Easter Production JESUS: Name Above All Names entitled The Judas Kiss. It was a bit of mime where the demons of hell are dramatized in warfare while JESUS is in prayer at Gethsemane. While everyone was watching JESUS praying and four “demons” came crawling out on stage, everyone’s attention was drawn there. People “got” the spiritual warfare immediately. Then just as they were glued to that action, you would hear a scream or a Hmmph! as unbeknown to the audience a second set of demons dressed in black sweats and hoods crawled along the floor of the aisles. It was an wonderful moment as people realized they had been caught unaware with a “black clad thing” moving by their feet. These “demon players” would eventually join the others on stage, but it was a unique dramatic moment.

The art of misdirection, the unexpected turn, keeps it interesting and actually moves the traditional stage lines from “the stage” way back in the room to beyond the back of the audience. I call it the 4-D stage. Running all elements in every direction to keep the attention of the crowd alive and interested.

I like to make use of aisles, particularly, and bring the action right into the audience’s space. There is a connect there as if they themselves are drenched in the drama. It is a thrilling effect and puts expectation in the atmosphere.

And people really get into it.

One year we had JESUS and a Roman soldier walk through the aisles a if they were moving down the Via Dolorosa. It put the action right in their face, it could not be denied. What was unknown to the audience is that the actor who portrayed JESUS, and the Roman soldier had been best friends since childhood. They could really work the crowd, so the Roman soldier really pushed JESUS in the drama and a little too roughtly. As friends it was an accident. But the audience was upon it. I thought ther was going to be a mob.

Those that did not know these two personally (the visitors) reacted almost fiercely. One I talked to afterwards said, “I was going to tackle that Roman soldier, you are not supposed to treat JESUS like that!” Priceless, drama that drives home the point. It was interactive.

Let me know if you use a 4-D stage or plan to in the near future. See what it does for your presentation.