ethnodramatology

It clicked when I was in the shower. It was my last year at Northwestern, and I was brainstorming monologue ideas for the Senior Show. That's the kind of thing I do in the shower. Suddenly, bigger ideas began to converge. Theatre. Cultures. Gospel. And it clicked! Ethnodramatology. Culturally contextualized theatre ministry. I promptly threw on a towel and called one of my theatre professors to tell him the good news. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Well, at least part of it.

Here's how it works. You go to a people group and learn their way of telling stories. Every culture has a story-telling method, and it usually involves action and music. That method is an artistic language. It makes sense to those people. It reaches their hearts. You study those culturally specific drama styles. Those styles then become a powerful tool for communicating with the people about Jesus.

I'm not the only one who has thought of this ministry strategy. At a theatre conference in LA, I met K!mberly Creasman, a Christian artist who ministers through theatre in Singapore (http://spicetolife.blogspot.com/). She connected me with Julisa Rowe, an artist who not only wrote a dissertation on Ethnodramatology, but now lives it out in Nairobi, Kenya (http://www.ethnodrama.com/). I am so very encouraged by the fact that I'm not alone in this passion, and that it actually works! Lives are being changed, the Gospel is being shared, and people are being infused with hope and purpose and truth.

My hope is that I can help catalyze ministry through theatre among the Karen - in Karen style. Most of my tentative job description with Partners at the moment focuses on nursing. And that's just fine. I am passionate about wellness of body too. But as I look forward to a time when I can invest more in theatre ministry, I am both excited and overwhelmed by the possibilities.

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of meeting Joan and Allan Eubank in Chiang Mai. I love them already.  They both simply radiate the presence of the Holy Spirit. They also have a very homey living room and a real acoustic piano! Joan was a rising star Broadway musical actress when she was in her 20's. Then she married Allan and they chose to follow the call of God all the way to an obscure people group in Thailand called the Talakone. The Talakone are a sub-group of the Karen. Yep. Over the course of their 4+ decades in Thailand, they have been involved in all sorts of Kingdom work... including Thai-style theatre ministry! They even have a well-established training ground in Chiang Mai called the Christian Communication Institute. Their plays have toured all over Thailand, and to several other countries as well.

I really love the prospect of being a part of a pioneer ministry, but it can't happen in a vacuum, and I definitely can't do it alone. And by God's grace, there exists this amazing couple who have been doing Ethnodramatology for decades among the Thai, and who also have a heart for the Karen people. What a massive shot in the arm for me! They loaded me up with DVDs and books about their work, and Joan has promised to attempt to navigate the internet so we can stay in touch more easily. I'm excited to learn more about what they've done and how I can apply some of those ideas soon. More than excited. I feel like I'm Joshua and I just met Moses.