Handing it Over

Well, the time is here at last. Safe Haven goes into production this week. Lines are learned, sets are built, and all the little details are (I hope!) taken care of. Time for the director to sit back, relax (yeah, right!) and enjoy the show.

There’s a theater tradition that, going into production week, the director hands the show over to the stage manager. That’s all well and good, and I have nothing but confidence in our stage manager, but as we came into this week, I decided to try something different. I handed the show over to the real Stage Manager. That would be God.

Not that I haven’t always given the shows over to God. (Not much choice, really. They’re His shows.) But I don’t remember ever doing it so specifically before. This was Saturday, and I was in the auditorium spending some time in prayer for the production. I told God that I was taking my hands off, and I was putting the show into His hands. I told Him that He was the manager and controller of the play. And then I stepped back.

And truly, I have stepped back. Okay, yes, I’m still watching rehearsals and giving notes. And yes, I’m still dealing with details. But I’m not obsessing with worry over the show the way I usually do.

Why should I? It’s in good hands.

 

What a Friend

“Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.”

“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is kind of the theme song for Safe Haven, and I’ve downloaded about six different versions of it to use for scene change music during the play. So I’ve been listening to this song over and over and really hearing it for the first time.

God’s answers to prayer are not our answers. This is shown rather vividly in the play when one character has his prayer answered in a way no one would ever choose. Yet, in God’s plan, everything has worked together for good.

I’m seeing this in my life right now, as well. (Funny how often I find myself dealing with whatever we’re working on dramatically.) I pray for peace and healing, and I’d like God to wave His magic wand and make it happen. Yet God’s answer is, Follow Me through this desolate wasteland – peace is on the other side. I ask, Can’t we go around? But God is firm. The only way out is through.

So here we are, wandering in the wilderness. I think back to the words of the song – Oh, what peace we often forfeit…All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. If this is peace, why does it feel like so much turmoil? That’s when I have to cling to faith and just keep following Him, knowing He’s promised to bring me through.

If only I could learn this as well as the characters I write do.

It’s Alive!

We’re nearly a month into Safe Haven rehearsals now, and I’ve been astounded by some of the things occurring among our cast. This play is coming to life in ways I’ve never experienced in any other production. It’s frightening, actually.

 What does it mean for an actor to take on a character? Is that something that happens during rehearsals and performances only, or does it bleed over and become another aspect of that actor’s real-life character? I’ve seen a sudden sensitivity for the homeless among our cast as we’re identifying with them through this play. I’ve also heard actors say things outside of rehearsal that were obviously their characters speaking, not them. I don’t mean actual lines from the play – just regular conversation that suddenly seems like I’m speaking to this character I wrote rather than this person I’ve known for years.

It’s no secret that we take on many different roles during the course of living – we’re one person to our parents, another to our children, someone else to our spouses and different with our co-workers. So what does that mean for an actor who routinely adds new roles to his own character? Is he better rounded, or just more crazy? What happens when you’re playing a villain – how do you keep that from becoming an aspect of your personality?

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for me as I watch this script come to life. I feel kind of like Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice – I got the brooms started, but now I can’t control them. I guess that’s what makes for good drama. The rehearsal process should be a time when the play takes on a life of its own, when it shows you what it’s about so you can draw out those aspects of the script you never noticed until they jumped out and demanded to be seen.

But I’ll tell you – when it happens well, it’s scary. 

I know I haven’t written here much lately, and I can’t promise to do better for the near future. My brain’s a little overwhelmed right now. I had expected to use this blog to chronicle the rehearsal process, but instead I find it’s a process that can’t be chronicled. I thought I could write it as a journal – here’s what happened in rehearsal tonight – as something that might be of interest to other directors. But there aren’t words for that moment when just the right gesture brings a character to life, and half the cast bursts into hysterical laughter – to keep from screaming, because it was just that scary. In a good way. I think.

One thing I do know. Scary or not, I love doing this.

Redefining Christianity

Yes, it’s been over a week since I’ve written. Sorry. Let’s move on.

We had our first rehearsal (read-through) for Safe Haven yesterday. It’s always a little frightening to hear the script out loud for the first time – I hear all those parts where lines don’t sound the way I thought they would, and I end up cringing a lot. But there were remarkably few of those spots yesterday. It went well, and I think I’ll only be tinkering with lines, not writing whole new sections, like I did in Blackwell Inn.

It was also good to hear people reading and feel like I cast it well. Characters and actors are good matches.

One thing I heard as we read yesterday that I didn’t like was how often I used the words christian and christianity in the script. As I mentioned in my very first post on this site, I don’t really like those words. In today’s society, they don’t tend to mean what they’re supposed to. Christian should mean Christ-follower, but to those outside the church, it too often means crazy, hate-filled idiot. A major theme in the script is the difference between those who use their christianity to beat others over the head and those who have genuine faith. I hope, through advertising, to be able to draw in an audience from outside the church, and I hope to show them that following Jesus is different from what they may have thought. But I fear if I use that word too much, they may tune out anything else. So there’s a place for tinkering.

Decisions, Decisions

Well, auditions are over. I had twelve really talented people audition last night. Unfortunately, there are fourteen roles in the play. Perhaps I went too far with my “this will be an intense rehearsal period; don’t come if you can’t commit” speeches.

So now there are decisions to be made. Regular casting decisions, of course, but also decisions about what to do with my lack of actors. One of the roles is quite small and can be easily doubled – no problem there. But I’m still one short. So do I go beat the bushes and drag in an actor who wasn’t sure he wanted to commit? It seems like a bad idea – I’d regret it when he missed rehearsal; he’d regret it when he was overwhelmed by overcommittment. That leads me to Option 2 – there is one role that could potentially be dissolved. I’m not sure that’s a great idea, either, but it is a nice benfit of writing your own scripts rather than renting them – I can do that kind of thing without breaking copyright law.

As Kiera reminded me in her comment to my previous post, this kind of decision can only be made through prayer. I know that God is the real director of this drama ministry, and I’m only a representative. But it’s hard to sit quietly and listen for that still, small voice when my mind is clamoring, “Hurry up, make a decision, everyone’s waiting.” It’s so temting to jump out and make a decision, any decision, just to have it done. I know that God gave me the inspiration for this script, and I know that He knows exactly how it should all fit together. I just wish He’d give me a call, or send me an e-mail, with His preferred cast list. Oh, and could you do that today, God?

Acts of Faith, over and over and over again. 

On the positive side, among the twelve who did come last night, there aren’t many difficult decisions about cast placement. As we did readings, people seemed to fit pretty naturally into one part or another. Some of them fit right where I’d expected them to. In other cases, readings made it clear someone needed to be cast differently than I’d expected. Which is, I guess, why we do readings.

You know, when I typed “among the twelve” in that last paragraph, it suddenly sounded quite biblical to me. The twelve, sent out to spread the Word. Maybe twelve is a better number for this cast than fourteen.

For those readers who auditioned, I’ll post the cast list here as soon as it’s done. For now, be patient. I’m waiting.