Playback Stories for the New Year - Exploring with a Zoom Meeting

For the first time in a LONG time I led a workshop with theatre. This was for my creative artist colleagues/missionaries in Novo.org. Six joined the meeting and it was a big win with the group. 

NOTE 

Here are the changes to the plan below: 

1. We started with 5 min of people joining the call and chatting. Then an encouragement to be playful and childlike, even silly. We are experimenting with zoom. And it will stretch all of us out of our comfort zone. 
2. Prayer of blessing for that. Wrapped up with another blessing. 
3. We only used the first 2 warm ups. 
4. 90 min wasn't enough for 6 of us to get through a story. Four were told and played back. 
5. Since we didn't get through one story from everyone by the end of 90 minutes, 5 stayed on the call to continue talking and letting the rest tell their story and "Playing back" by what we imagined could happen with Playback. 
6. 4 Elements worked really well, and the 3 part story worked with some prompts first of what those 3 parts might be, and how to know it will be over. 

Prep: What you can to bring to the call 

1. Paper and something to write & draw or paint with

2. Musical instrument (can be percussion!) Optional.

3. Hand puppet or a stuffed-something with a face! (this will help us enact things and still stay near the camera/screen)

4. Two to four colored cloths / scarves whose colors have emotional meaning to you.

5. Those who may want to get up an MOVE (as in dance-ish), make sure you can set up your computer in a place so that you can be seen if you get up and back from the screen!

THE PLAN

Warm up.

5 min

Feelings. Make it Bigger. Leader calls out a feeling and a person in the group to show that feeling on their face. 

Then invites 3 more people one by one to make it bigger. 

Take a moment to debrief. “What did you see by that?”

The person who was last gets to choose a feeling and call out the people in the next round. 

5 min

Who’s with me on this?

Everyone scoot back 1 ft farther away from your screen. 

One by one, individuals offer some fact about ourselves regarding how life is has been going this past month.

Anyone who is the same, leans forward toward their screen to join them. 

Take a moment to debrief.

 

"Word for the Year," Sound, Action.  (we didn't take time for this)

One by one, individuals offer say their name with a sound/action expressing a feeling about what the new year holds.  Everyone in the circle repeats it, trying to copy exactly how it was said and done.

Instructions: 

• Everyone has a part to play in this form of applied theatre. The parts are: Teller, Conductor, Actors, Musician, Audience. All of the “playback” of stories shared is done without preparation; improvised, after a moment of pause.
• Choose to tell a Story from these prompts:  (read them aloud 2 times, then again before we started)

1. God was really doing something last year when…

2. One of the happiest moments I’d like to freeze in my mind from last year was...

3. Something that is coming up this year.... This is how I feel about it....

• Introduce 2 forms of Playback: Four Elements, and 3 Part Story.
• We’ll do as many as we have time for, but at least one story per person. 
• We take turns randomly sharing our stories. All attune fully to the person while they are telling. 
• 60 seconds of silence to be inspired. A sound effect can be made by a designated musician.
• Then Kimberly will say: “For _____, let’s watch!” Whoever wants to go first jumps right on in to start recreating the story in one of the following ways. At the end, we ask the "teller" what that experience was like for them. Affirm.

If the story is non-linear: 4 elements

Represent on screen the essence of the story using CLOTH, WORDS, MUSIC a PICTURE (when done in person, the 4^th element is MOVEMENT)

If there is a story line to what is shared: 3 Part Story 

3 actors take turns acting out the sequence of the story. Doesn’t have to be literal.

Try it out!         

We took some times to clarify, ask questions.

45 min

Debrief/Clarify/Highlights/Wrap                     

10 min = 90 min

Using Drama in Ministry to Families & Children

                                                      

Full Day Workshop Teacher Training (planned for 60 People. Was 11 children. SU team and 11 participants from other churches) Friday 10 May, 2019 8AM-4PM
	DESIRED OUTCOMES (according to planning meeting with leaders): Teaching Skills. What is the focus/goals of our time we have when we are with children. Discipline. Giving ideas for teachers to be better teachers. Planting Scripture in their hearts so that it will produce a harvest. Mobilize children to share with parents.
Part 1 Worship
INTRO
8:45 30 min	Jamison translates. Kimberly shares some of her testimony. Being a performer and the tension between Performing, and worshipping. Encouraging the children to not worry too much about how they look and having it perfect. Keep their hearts focused on God and that the reason they are up in front is to help others worship and experience God’s presence (not just to look and sound good). Take a minute of silence to ask God what of the words in worship or Scripture he wants us to hold on to for the day. Let group share after the silence if they want to. and why she believes drama is important. We are made in God’s image. His IMAGE is not just the typical “holy” things like love, joy, generosity, kindness, patience…This is what we usually think of as “Mature Christians.” BUT… It is ALSO parts of his IMAGE that we didn’t even have to be taught. What is that? As children, we didn’t have to be taught how to be creative… AND how to enjoy FUN.                Drama helps us be better people in all of our relationships. Because we are more in touch with our feelings. Can communicate better. More observant. Better listeners.
WHO IS HERE?
9:15-10:30	1.        On this spectrum, where are you? a.     Where do you live? Let’s make a map. Establish Landmark everyone knows. Now it’s time to go to church. Where is your church? People move there. 10 min b.     Line up in order of how long you have been a Christian. 5 min c.        d.     Preferences in worship styles and how you approach time with God: 5 min Hands up  < --------------------------  > Head down Organ        < --------------------------  > Guitar Hands  < -------------------------- > Head < --------------------------  > Heart 2.        Youth shows us the Hall of Heros we did last night, to see a little preview of something we are doing in the afternoon.
10:30-12 (with a break in the middle)	TEACHING What’s Most Important in our Influence with Children Over everything is that each student come to know and love Jesus* and desire to follow him, please him and grow spiritually. *Sign Language for these words. n a safe, attractive & age-appropriate space. We want to see them growing through prayer,* Bible reading,* being mentored by a caring leader.* being part of a church family. Under our care, our goal is to give kids the tools they need to begin feeding themselves spiritually—to own their spiritual growth. We want our children to have an opportunity to have these 5 things: ·       Strong Relationships with other Christians. They WILL NOT grow in Christ in a vacuum. They need to know you care about them and listen to them and are not just there to teach them the Bible. SU Blinded Child has bible needs person to show them the way. One by one, SU team comes around her. Takes blindfold off. Explains the Bible. Comes around the “child” in a supportive community. ·        Engaging Teaching o   Creative. Dynamic & attractive to children and incorporating many different forms of communication. o   Fun. A place the child wants to come to.   o   Applies to their lives. Easily understood & applied in practical ways in the child’s everyday life. The children are prompted to think of what they might do to grow closer in their friendship with God. 3 sets of Youth are invited on stage (“We’ve invited 3 artists, sculptors to bring their clay and create a statue that represents these 3.”) ·       Authentic Worship. It is a way to show our love to and respect for God, not merely singing fun songs. Youth do the “Jesus Lives in Me” song, first singing normally, then second, singing acting like Robots. ·       Real Service. Regularly having projects the children can do that help and bless others. (we did not have a drama for this, asked for examples (one was given about a group going in the neighborhood and cleaning up trash). We admitted we are weak in this area) ·       Confidence in telling the Good News. The children are equipped and comfortable to tell others about a life of Faith in the one true God. ·       Memorized Scripture ·       Songs ·       Discussion topics and activities for time with God at home and ideas to talk about with Family and friends. These all give the children confidence to easily talk about life with Jesus. As an example: YOUTH:Recite 1 John 2:15 with sign language (which they learned the night before) After going through these 5, Ask the group: Which one of these 5 are you strongest in? Groups gather together separately where they are strongest, and share ideas. Each space has: ·      white poster with the heading one of the 5 elements ·      colored pens for writing or drawing their experiences. ·      Prompts on the poster: “Our best experience.” “My most important advice.” “How God has taught me/worked in us. (In me or the children in our Sunday School)” 20 min The groups comes back together and share their best ideas. Individuals can ask specific questions. Review the 5 points in order by each individual group saying aloud the one they were discussing. 20 min We will close with Children’s Team and Elizabeth giving a prayer of blessing. But we keep our eyes open. We pray that we can become strong in all 5 areas and see that all the children in our community having a chance to know God, grow in him and share salvation and life through Jesus with their families. ·       Strong Relationships with Mature Christians ·       Engaging Lessons that are Creative, Fun and Applies to their lives ·       Authentic Worship ·       Opportunities for serving God in church and in the community ·       Comfortable and confident in telling others about Jesus and life in him. STATUE is built of each one of these – Youth
2h 12-1:30	LUNCH & REST    (Youth leave)
	Bible Backrub (Kimberly & Elizabeth) Fish Tank – Learn to walk around the whole room and not bump into each other. Freeze “low,” “medium,” “high.” This helps participant get comfortable using their bodies in more ways than just standing up or sitting down. Emotional Sculptures (in groups of 3 they spent some time deciding, and then creating a statue showing an emotion. One at a time they went on the stage and the rest of the group guessed. SU Team does PAIRS of how people were feeling about coming today or what they are learning. Do the participants have mixed feelings about anything?
	BiblioDrama – Through Sociometry, let the group decide which Bible story means a lot to them. Ask large group for some ideas (“What is a Bible story that has meant a lot to you lately). Four were given: Psalm 23, Esther, Samaritan woman, Prodigal Son. We agreed that Psalm 23 is difficult to make a drama from. The person who suggested each story, told the story in their own words. People in the group went to sit by the story they most identifies with, and let the smallest group (Esther) join one of the other two (to find out which one was the most popular for the whole group). The Prodigal Son was chosen. METHOD of ENACTING A TEXT Read passage aloud. Invite someone from audience to a microphone to keep track of the passage. Who are the characters in this story? Get to know the characters. Dig deeper about all that is going on in the story. Slows the story down to see the bigger picture. The facilitator acts as if he/she is unknowledgeable to draw the information out of the group. uses Some devices of Sociodrama (below) Tell the story in your own words, and then “put it on it’s feet.” Enact the story (We did not enact the story, we merely made a picture from the story -Tableaux). Ask the characters questions. De-role Ask the Lord who you are most like and who he would like you to identify with. What does he want to teach me from engaging in the story this way? Debrief in a circle or in groups of 3 what has happened. Leader can INTERVIEW some of the participants as SELF.  “How I feel about what I learned....” Prayer of thanksgiving for what God has shown us today.
	Sequence Ball reviewing “The MOST IMPORTANT THINGS”
3:40 20m	Part 5. Q&A, DEBRIEF & Feedback form end at 4PM 1.     What did you like and how will you use it in your churches? 2.     What did we learn today? (full group) We didn’t start with difficult things, we started with simple things. Ask the Lord for inspiration about what is a simple thing you can do first, to ease into it in a way your group can be comfortable, and keep reminding them about how we are made in the image of the creator who wants us to play and laugh and enjoy life. To be reminded of The Most Important Thing. Museum of Heroes. The City Map with people. Creating levels and not just people standing up next to each other side by side. Enjoy God. We have different ways we experience God best: with our Hand, Head & Hearts, Bibliodrama, 5 things we influence children about. The “Fish Tank,” Line up age you became a believer and other ways to use that method to get to know the group what else do we have in common? 3.     Q&A with Kimberly. Best question: “What if people in the church are upset with us because we are adding things to the drama that are not a part of Scripture?” A: Make sure that you go over what IS in Scripture (I only had them summarize the story because they are pastors/ministry leaders and I know they are familiar with the text). But the ones you are teaching don’t know their Bibles as well. So, read the text or have a lesson the week before over the text, so that people know what is there. God gave us our imagination to use it! We are not saying that these parts are true. Imagining more of the scene and who the characters are helps us make the stories more real to us. The people of the Bible are people with thoughts and feelings just like us. I have heard it called “The white space of the Bible” the printed text in our Bibles is black, but there is more on the page that is white also. There are parts of history that are not included, so we are using our God given creativity to imagine what it might have been like. The group circles, a gift to the participants (globe balls to use in memorization “Sequence Game”), and close in Prayer of thanksgiving (they do the praying in Vietnamese). 4:00