CROSS CULTURAL DRAMA: training notes

1st Hour

Video samples from YouTube channel.

Intro myself by the video: the people in my life and work. "Gold" from Camille Claudel musical.

As people arrive. Video samples of things that might be transcultural. It was

too cold to stay indoors!

Games that work without common language. (Explained using Chinese and

see that they can learn just by me showing...they helped each other learn. That

will happen when you are in a place they can't understand your English).

Whoosh (pass) Zap (point to another person ‣ looking in their eyes).

Ah! (Changes direction)

Games with no words:

Savior / Enemy or "Good Dad/bad dad" (attacker/defender)

Cathy took down the names of other games...

Zoo (sue explained),

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Elephant, Fish, Rabbit (Kimberly explained)

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Crossed wrists, slapping table around a circle game (Cathy explained)

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The shoulder to shoulder chasing game

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• The London bridge game - call out "1,2, or 3" (we suggested learning the

words for "Angels, Believers & Light" to make it spiritually symbolic)

Who's here?

State Name & where you went (or want to go) on a missions

trip.

In a large open space we made a World map of where we had traveled

overseas.

Standing on the spot on this map where we'd gone, we each told a story about

what we'd learned about culture when there.

A few others nearby create a human snapshot of that story illustrating it.

Each person prayed a sentence prayer for the country they visited in the past as

they stood on their spot in the world map we'd created. Then we sang a chorus

(Shine Jesus Shine, which Sue M told about in her Kazakstan story of singing in the

desert

BREAK: What will make these 3 hours a success for you? How can

I deliver what you have come hoping for?

Gayle provided a nice lunch for us and we sat around the table getting to know

one another better. I read to the group some of the info below and asked

questions of them about their experiences.

2nd hour

Signal Systems & the Onion layers of culture:

Info download time...

(From Julisa Rowe's Ethnodramatology 101 paper. She is a missionary in Nairobi Kenya wrote her dissertation on

drama in missions and what she has termed Ethnodramacology. blue text added by Kimberly)

If your goal is to share your world view/to communicate through your art, then you need to make sure your drama is

understandable.

Think of each culture as an onion, with many layers. What are the layers of the onion?

outside: BEHAVIORAL LEVEL: This is the most obvious and we've been talking about the behavioral layer the most.

We've already talked about language (verbal and written). we've talked a lot about learning the language of the place

we visit...even if it's just a few words... but there are also Has anyone ever had their handwriting analyzed?

There is also numeric and pictorial aspects played out in cultures. For us, we know what it means if we saw or made

reference to the numbers 666, 7, or 13, but ... in other cultures they might not understand that. The same with

times/hours, which in cultures can have special meanings because of literature or pop culture or religion. For instance,

we would understand a reference to the 11th hour or something coming out at midnight). in the same way, special

dates which have meaning culture to culture (February 14, Ides of March, October 31st)

In china people love 8 (sounds like prosperous) but never hold a party on the 4th (sounds like death).

Pictorial (which might be used in programs and backdrop), artifacts, (what props might you use that have meaning in

the country you are visiting?), audio, kinesic (body language). Optical (the use of color in makeup, lighting and

costumes), tactile, spacial, temporal. Olfactory too! if we had more time (like a semester) we'd go into it.

next layer AUTHORITY LEVEL: 1. ideological (formal statement of belief of a people) 2. social (patterns and

standards enforced by peer pressure, social pressure) 3. economic (economic patterning determines other layers of

authority; e.g. economics of communism)

layer under that EXPERIENCE LEVEL: 1. History 2. Environment (which influences experience; eg, Southern

California has a different environment than Oregon, therefore different types of housing, clothing, lifestyle, etc. )

3. personal experience

CORE: the world view. Values, informal beliefs and assumptions (things that you just know to be true and aren’t up

for discussion.)

What do we normally do with our missions dramas? We can really mess things up in clearly communicating what we

want to say when we don't know these signal systems and say or do things that strike our audience as rude.

[Ask 3 people to pantomime a story of one of Jesus' miracles with Chinese song playing] We, as non Chinese

speakers watch the drama but don't really understand.

Jesus looked for feedback to see where people’s understanding was at. (“who do people say I am?”). He didn’t just

drop clues and be symbolic. Likewise, we need to check if the message is being communicated. Do the people hear

what you are hoping they’ll hear? What purposeful steps are you taking to move people along during the drama, and

after the play is over?

The process of discovery differs with differing world views, so in order to maximize the discovery process, you need to

know the world view of your target audience—which can be tricky, because people differ. A green onion looks

very different from a Walla Walla sweet, and both are different from the jumbo yellow: but they are all onions. It’s just

that the core has different programming— and that’s like the differences between cultures; why Koreans behave and

believe differently from Ethiopians, and Americans behave differently from the French.

sample: I have a special testimony as an example. [see below]

We must know others’ world views if we are to effectively reveal Christ to them.

Q: How do we know their world view?

We can begin by looking at the outer layers of the onion, and work our way in; kind of like searching for clues to

unravel a mystery, only this is observing outward behavior and structure to discover what’s important in that world.

These outer layers are what we notice first when going to other cultures (most obvious between different country

groups, but also applicable across subcultures in our own city).

There are 12 signal systems for figuring out another culture.

Exercise (we didn't have time to do)

Three groups come up with examples- what are they saying about that culture/person?

Clothing—

prostitute vs business woman: different purposes, job descriptions

women commonly wear trousers in the US, but in many countries respectable women wear dresses.

Generation X dresses differently than postwar: different views of the world.

Personal Space—

Italians have a small personal space; Americans have a large one. Get them together and you’ll see the Italian

chasing the American around the room trying to feel comfortable, while the American is backing away trying to stay

comfortable.

Artifacts—the stuff around your house tells people about your values and interests/personal culture. if I had

a Hippo collection in my house. The obvious is that I like hippos. The deeper meaning is that I struggle with weight

and started collecting them to remind me not to stop struggling with it. That also shows a worldview where thin is the

ideal.

Q: So what do you know about other culture's drama styles? Each country has a different way of dramatic and

artistic expression. [hear the participant's examples]

What is revealed to me about the culture through their drama style? Eg musical theatre/opera... i just saw "Les

Mis" movie from my fav novel/musical of all time. Incredibly moving and impacting. My 16 year old son says,

"That is just wrong." (Tough days later he admitted that thinking about scenes and songs have seeped in to

affect him)

Indian storytelling or Chinese opera, Japanese Kabuki theatre —melodramatic poses, codified body movements

Egyptian churches only doing Bible plays or stories of the Coptic saints, only using the old language. To use

modern language would be disrespectful. Teens and young adults did modern improvs of characters behind the

scenes in the Damiel 1-3 story. They loved it, and it made the story memorable and added a lot of depth to their

understanding of the text. but were concerned that it might be disrespectful to God to act this way.

(In many places, especially remote or more isolated places, or with the older generation change is not valued, the

traditional way should be preserved; tradition is important. This is changing with globalization, but even among

youth, you cannot assume they are open to accepting everything they pick up from the western media)

Japanese— jo hai kyu: the importance of presentation and control. Value of discipline.

Styles that DO work:

[15 min] Tableaux Vivant - Slide Show make still pictures. Use of opening and

closing eyes as the curtain/lights. Have audience close eyes while someone

reads a section of the story and cast moves into place and freezes. Then the

reader says "curtain up." Or use and instrument (triangle or a drum) as signal

to open and shut eyes.

3rd hour

Teaching nationals "Improvisations with purpose" is like the "give a man a fish,

feed him for a day. teach a man to fish Feed him for a lifetime." proverb...

Applied Theatre forms: Playback, theatre of the oppressed. Enacted

Prayer.

Similar to "Whose line is it anyway?", but with the goal of honoring people's

life stories and discovering what we have in common.

Short forms in playback warm up the audience. Long forms are for making a

play from a persons story.

Honors the storyteller with making art (a play) out of their life.

Emotional sculpture (ie Cathy's make believe 􂿞 story of surprise at getting a

puppy for Christmas) frozen, no sound. Look up video demos of "fluid sculpture" or "fluids"

on the YouTube playlist)

􂿞3 sentence story (Keith's story in Beijing airport was merely 3 WORDs: LOST,

RESCUED, FOUND...I think!)

Action Haiku (Gabby's story of her trip to Mexico)

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Narrative V (Gayle led the v in telling of Cathy's rescue in the ocean)

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There are many other forms...

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Q&A

When does this advice not matter so much? In Cultural exchanges.

Where can one learn these signal systems in the places we are going before we

get there? Find an advisor/mentor from the country to give you feedback as you

plan.

If Extra time:

Other Games with no words you can use with a translator:

Fish tank: claps and various freezes. (Levels and using the space)

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In Small Groups of 5: Fill the small square, fill the empty space

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Soundscapes: create the sound environment ‣ of places they know. Eg. night

Bazaar, highway, hospital, schoolyard, rainstorm coming and going.

Mime Games Which Don't need a translator:

􂿞Pass the [imaginary] ball. (Demonstrate how to estabilish what looks

like a ball, pass it 1x around) Each person changes the size (1x around).

􂿞Pass the cloth. Each person changes what the cloth is or does and the

rest guess what it is before it gets passed.

􂿞Entrance. Find an [imaginary] object. Hide the object somewhere else.

Exit.

Diamond Ensemble find a song in the native language that is appropriate.

Look this up on http://spicetolife2.blogspot.com, there is also a demonstration of

this on the YouTube playlist of cross cultural drama (Jazz dance class at PCC

trying it out

(Similar: Holding ends of ropes or short poles, 3-4 people create different

shapes. Try it blindfolded.)

How we can offend the people we've gone to serve without

realizing it:

MY TESTIMOnY (Imagine I'm from another culture coming to share with you, all of the things I'm

saying would not be considered rude in some countries outside of USA)

I want to convince you that being an overseas missionary is a good career.

I think you will see that the only way to truly be an obedient follower of Christ is

to forsake father and mother...well EVERYTHING, and follow Jesus to where the

workers are few.

God will provide all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.

How am I doing so far? I do hope that my poor English and understandings of

American culture is not boring or offering to you.

Back in the days When I was a girl, even before the onset of mensus, I was always

fascinated with other cultures and language.

My parents were committed Christians and modeled service and generosity. Even

though they both worked, their income started at less than $50,000. But they

gave much of it away, even as their salaries grew they gave more than 10%

(which is a traditional figure regarding stewardship)

They took us on a mission trip to Mexico. I enjoyed preparing by learning the

songs and Bible verses in that lower class version the Mexicans call "Spanish,"

I was satisfied to meeting the people and telling them the gospel. It was not a

problem for me to sleeping on the cement floor or having to use the crapper

shack.

I liked missions very much. You could say I was trapped as early as 12 years old.

I learned French and took a summer mission trip to France when I was 19.

Even though people say that French people are stuck up and rude -especially to

Americans- I didn't find this to be true. On the train I took into Paris, I shared the

gospel with a man who would not stop looking at me. After talking, he asked me

to marry him, but I refused. Even though he chased me through the train station. I

escaped and he didn't force me to have sex with him.

This was just the beginning of my missionary career!

Being a missionary is really not too bad! You should consider being one too.

It's an exciting career.

Amen.

From Facebook announcement: Workshop on using drama in missions next

Saturday in the South Bay (Los Angeles). Join me? Or, pass this along to someone

you know who's into theatre, Jesus, and sharing our good news! https://

www.facebook.com/events/127569437405342/

Drama in Missions

Why Offer a Seminar:

There is much more to drama in missions than preparing a Mime. In fact, in some

cases a mime is a bad idea!

Los Angeles is a cultural melting pot. We are surrounded with multiple languages,

hand signals, body language, even dress. All of these elements are communication

signals (and only one of these signals is verbal!).

However, our learning to cope with all the signals in our culture has been more

caught than taught. If we don’t quite understand when someone tells a joke, or

someone bumps up against us doing or saying something that strikes us as odd,

we have learned to be patient. We wait to see if we will be able to interpret the

signal another way. Sometimes, we don’t worry too much about these odd

experiences or misunderstandings and we just keep rolling along in a fog of transcultural

confusion.

HOWEVER, those people who live in cities and countries that are more MONOCULTURAL

don’t have this special ability to process different communication

signals when we visit them. Therefore, when bringing the Good News of Jesus, we

need to be very careful to deliver our communication in a culturally suitable way.

When using drama cross culturally, we need to learn how to share our good

news and use the communication signals of the culture we are visiting. We don’t

want to risk the chance that the heart of our message will be misunderstood. If

we go overseas intending to share the gospel through drama, we don’t want our

audiences to enjoy our visit merely for the experience of a cultural exchange.

Who:

Kimberly Creasman of Church Resource Ministries is a theatre artist and

missionary who has lived in Asia for 15 years. Before 1997 she and her husband

Jim worked in Missions at Rolling Hills Covenant Church. For 12 years, part of

their role was in equipping those who went out for short and long term missions

service. She studied Intercultural Studies and Drama at Biola University, with a

Degree in Communications in 1984.

With her here over the holidays, we’d like to bring a half-day of exploration and

application of tools to create drama for missions.

What:

In this four-hour introductory course, begin to learn how to locate, understand

and employ suitable drama and communication methods for other cultures.

Participants will learn from each other what has been fruitful in their varied

experiences, hear of new forms of drama that involve audience participation, hear

of dramas that backfired, see video examples of drama used in outreach around

the world and explore theatre games which work in settings where the audience

and team does not have a translator! Those who want to follow up with research

and application to specific people groups will be given the opportunity to meet in

subsequent sessions in order to apply the principles taught in this course.

Note: come dressed comfortably and prepared to move