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Church Youth Write, Direct, Perform Own Drama

By December 30, 2010No Comments
NAPERVILLE, Ill.—Emmanuel Baptist Church of Warrenville was the site of “A Christmas Opportunity” this month, a nearly one-hour production written, directed, and performed by the church youth. The drama portrayed a Christian family who became too wrapped up in the worldly aspects of the holiday and in their own perceived needs. A local pastor and the family’s friends helped them discover a wonderful opportunity that Christmas can bring—witnessing to others. Philip Williams, who wrote and directed the play, got the idea for the plot from his brother, Eric, along with obtaining helpful additional elements Eric had written down. This fall Philip got together practically the entire youth group, formed the cast, and began what ended up with 26 rehearsals. Response to the performance, which had to be postponed once due to weather conditions, was encouraging. One viewer said, “I liked how I could relate with some of the situations in the play.” Another said, “It was very nice and such a blessing. I think it’s the best play our church’s youth has ever performed.” (Emmanuel performs a play each Christmas, mostly involving the youth.) Still another noted, “That [play] was excellently written.” Despite the positive response, directing the play produced challanges. Besides getting the cast together for so many rehearsals, Philip felt the challenge of exerting some necessary discipline and organization over the other teens, and he sometimes found it hard to get people to carry out the many jobs, such as collecting costumes and bringing in props. But when Philip was asked if he would do it again, his response was, “Definitely!” When it came to repeating this year’s performance or writing another script, he understandably hesitated to give an aye over the directing part!