Every year the churches in Wokingham mark Good Friday by holding an event in the Town Centre. For the last two years, I have had the joy to be a part of implementing this, in the form of a community passion play. Through this I have learnt that community plays are hard work. Especially when they involve trying to bring together lots of different groups who aren’t used to working together. Getting commitment from people is a challenge in itself and then implementing the plan with people who all have their own idea’s is an even bigger challenge. Don’t get . . . . . .
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Last month I had the privilege of taking to the stage in the latest version of “The Virgin Monologues”. This idea for this inspired piece of community theatre was born a year ago by my talented colleague and friend Anna Adams: who directed and produced the project along with ‘Stage-Fright’s’ Artistic Director Michael Johnson. Inspired by a book of poems on the Virgin Mary by Nicola Slee, the project evolved. During this last year 3 performances have been held under the same title: all of which have been unique and different. The idea and concept: To engage women with aspects . . . . . .
In a current climate where funding for the arts is under question and work as a whole is scarce: particularly for people of my age, I can’t help feeling extremely blessed and privileged to be doing my job. As I reflect further I begin to realise that one of the keys for me to continue to find work is my ability to adapt. At the moment I feel like I spend my life running from project to meeting and from meeting to project. Talking, teaching, facilitating, leading, observing and commenting. I go from a workshop with a big group of . . . . . .
It’s a year this week that I started my job at Stage-Fright Theatre company. I packed up, left home and moved to a place I’d never heard of before with the dream of using drama to bring together communities, see young people grow in confidence and self worth and to be inspired and challenged. A year on and I’m a very different person to the Hayley that arrived in Wokingham September 2009. I’m a year older, a year ‘wiser’ and able to refer to myself as a professional theatre practitioner without cringing and not really believing it (I still can’t . . . . . .
A few months ago I reading a book and in the book there was comment that challenged and provoked me. It implied that teenagers can’t help but be moulded and shaped by the media, they are who they are essentially because of culture around them. They can’t escape from this. Now I’m not saying that there is no truth in this statement because to a certain extent I think there is. But it got me thinking how our youth theatre would respond to being told that they are so impressionable and unable to form their own opinions without being influenced . . . . . .
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how the Church engages in the arts, in particular drama. Drama in my humble opinion is an amazing and valuable resource but to often it is used in a way which is out dated and ineffective. Someone I know described it as the church being addicted to Mediocrity. It saddens me to agree but a lot of the time I’m inclined to agree with him. How often is drama reduced to a 2 minute sketch, performed by teenagers who don’t like drama but have been asked because it’s nice to involve young people . . . . . .
I’ve never voted in a general election and I know very very little about politics. With only a few days left till i decide who to vote for and well…. I’m still undecided! A couple of weeks ago I made the decision that I was going to read all the manifestos, this seemed like a great plan so I visited websites and downloaded those bundle of excitements. The excitement latest until i realised just how long they were… The conservatives win with a massive 140 odd pages… that plan has therefore failed and the files remain unopened! Next I decided . . . . . .
Over the last few months I have had the privilege to be involved in an arts project taking place at a local Homeless drop-in centre with the aim to use the arts to get those who attend to tell their stories. Reflecting on this time and looking forward I’ve realised a lot about the way I work and am also excited about the way God is using this project and all that he has done within it so far. I’m not the most organised person in the world, but I take great comfort in having a nicely printed out structure . . . . . .
After a very sleepless night…on 2nd April ‘Good Friday – a Community play’ took place in the centre of Wokingham! I’ve never felt so privileged or been so proud to be part of anything. Over the last 5 months hours and hours and hours of work, sweat and tears… actual tears… went into putting together this performance and in God’s faithfulness it was a success! Apart from the torrential rain and a few hiccups from the mic’s we couldn’t have asked for anything better. About 100 people aged from 8 to 70 turned up to act, sing or dance and . . . . . .