Joyce and I were interviewed Gloria Robles for this article in Headline Prayer about our work with enacted prayer: 

For more on enacted prayer visit www.RichDrama.com/Workshops.

Here are more prayers we did on that trip:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/UBw-dGBVwmU

We're getting close to opening registration for the 2019  Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp. Don't miss the announcement!

Fifteen MasterWorks Festival students now have their first Off-Broadway credit!

Performing Off-Broadway in Theatre 315

Our play was The Jeweler’s Shop, written by a young man named Karol Wojtyla, who would eventually become Pope John Paul II. The profound insights into marriage that a celibate man brought to the world are mind-blowing. I watched as couples in our audiences poked each other when the truths of the play hit them. Many told our actors how specifically the play spoke into their relationships.

We were encouraged in our choice of the play, which--as the title suggests--revolves around a jeweler’s shop. Being Polish, the pope set that shop on Krakow’s market square. One of the orchestral faculty at the Festival connected with one of our theatre faculty and one of our students at the South Bend Airport as they were all arriving. The French horn instructor told them how she had just picked out wedding rings for her fiancé and herself at a jeweler’s shop on Krakow’s market square. You can see a readers’ theatre performance that tells the story here:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z1VA2QbAY4k

Because the play called for about half of the number of students we usually have in the theatre program, we cast two students for each of the main roles. We used the setup for a very unique exercise: All the students were on stage for each performance, and a number of times they had no idea whether they would perform the role for which they’d prepared or remain a part of the “wall of humanity” watching the drama unfold and leaping into smaller roles as required. The instant before the play was about to begin I would walk up to the two gentleman who had prepared to play the role of Adam, the narrator of the story, and I would hand one of them a note telling him who was playing all of the roles. He would give the others their assignments during the context of the play, so that they, too, wouldn’t know which part they’d play until the audience saw them cast in that role by Adam. Some of the students were terrified by this approach, but all of them overcame their fears and gave professional-level performances. Because they performed with different actors throughout the month they really had to listen to each other in each moment, and it brought a new level of awareness, concentration, flexibility and connection to their fellow actors.

The MasterWorks students were so talented! I wish I wouldn't have come alone. Next year I'll invite lots of people! --Rachel Prozeller New York City

The exercise paid off, and many, including Dr. Patrick Kavanaugh, the director of the Festival felt they gave the best performances yet for the theatre program. People came up to our actors with tears in their eyes, thanking them for their great work. Jan Fields, a counselor that works with couples, called the production a “jewel.” Elizabeth Pepper said that watching both performances gave her additional insight into the Pope’s words. She spoke to the cast the morning after their second performance in a suburb of Pittsburgh and told them how each cast was totally unique and totally professional in the level of their work.

In all we had a dozen performances: four in Winona Lake, where the main Festival takes place, two near Pittsburgh and six in and near New York City. It was remarkable for the students to get so many performance opportunities because in theatre one of the best teachers is the audience.

One of our students gave me permission to share a very special story: During the first week of the Festival she asked me if she could be the one to share after our performances and invite the audience to give to the Festival. After hearing her story I heartily agreed! She didn’t have any money to attend the program, but received a half-scholarship. Then, when it looked like she’d have to walk away from that scholarship, her university provided a scholarship for the other half! After our final performance she went on to share how we had done an enacted prayer for her friend. She had shared earlier in the Festival how this friend was in a coma. My wife Joyce, the Festival’s Director of Spiritual Care, led a week of devotions with our theatre students. After one of Joyce’s devotions the student said she was afraid that her friend would not survive the coma. We did an enacted prayer, something we do every year on the second Wednesday after an hour of comedy improv. Typically someone portrays the person giving the prayer request so that they can watch it with perspective, but we were having a difficult time finding a young woman to step into her role. One of the women I asked told me that she sensed that the Lord wanted the young woman to portray herself. We followed that impulse. I played a part of the Trinity, and we immediately circled the young woman and comforted her. Then we circled around a young man on the floor who portrayed the young woman’s friend. We “breathed” into him and lifted him to his feet. We led him over to the young woman, and he hugged her. Then we, as the Trinity, circled the two of them with a heavenly hug.


http://www.youtube.com/embed/ocHfrqImxCA

We’ve been pleased to watch our students get into well-respected acting programs like the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Biola University, Regent University, Belhaven University, Gordon College, Azusa Pacific University, University of Southern California, the American Shakespeare Center, Media Village in South Africa, Melbourne’s National Institute of Dramatic Arts, and the list keeps growing.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/gYzcu0FDjb0

http://www.youtube.com/embed/toZHHVm9QLA

This enacted prayer is for all that are suffering with illness right now.



The song, "The Lord that Heals", is posted with permission by the songwriter/performer and is available for download here.

This video is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

I'm excited about an upcoming workshop I'll be offering near Winona Lake, Indiana, home of the MasterWorks Festival, where I direct the theatre program. I'll be doing sessions on enacted prayer, The Physical Actor, and through Sociodrama we'll create a sketch which may be used at the Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa.

You can click the form below to download a pdf of the flyer/registration form with dates, times and more information.


You can also send people to RichDrama.com/ZionWorkshop.

Thanks so much for your prayers! Things have been going miraculously well
down here in Newcastle (2.5 hours north of Sydney).
I got a text requesting me to teach a couple of workshops in a Christian
school here. Though I only had about an hour's notice I felt the Holy
Spirit guiding, and both classes went quite well by the grace of God.
Last night's performance of The Revelation was well received, and someone
spoke to me about extending our trip a bit for some additional
performances. Follow http://RichDrama.com/Itinerary to see what develops.
A number of young adults went out after The Revelation, so the ministry
continued. It wasn't until then that it was confirmed that I'll lead a
workshop on sociodrama and enacted prayer tonight, so that should be fun!
In a few hours we'll lead devotions for the staff at Compassion's national
headquarters ( http://RichDrama.com/Compassion ), so pray that these
advocates for the world's poorest children will be encouraged by the
stories of Jonah and Gideon.

There was a knock at my door. I was up fairly late doing final edits to the film element of my students' performance tonight, for which we'll be bused into Toronto. I was fulfilling our theme for the week by being "deeper" in sleep than I usually am at that time, and I thought, I'm missing the bus! Instead, one of the faculty members wanted to share how profoundly the enacted prayer we prayed for her on the first night had been answered through the week! What an awesome way to start the day.

Last night was Elective Night, and one of the featured electives was the one for children of faculty. They did an enacted prayer (pictured here) for us. The prayer was that the children could help us adults taste and see and hear, touch, and smell that the Lord is good!