Putting together a theatre production takes work—a LOT of work. For starters, every theatre production starts with an idea, and ideas don’t just coming flying out of the sky (not for me). You have to actually sit down and think them through. You have to ask yourself questions, such as, "What do I want to say through this production? Do I want it to be a comedy or a tragedy? Is my intended audience children or adults or both? Music? No music? Live music?" Once you have what seems like a feasible idea, then you have to actually sit down and write the script, which means PRESSING pass procrastination, self-doubt, writer’s block, distractions, more distractions, lots of distractions, and even MORE distractions to plot the story and write believable dialogue. Then there’s editing the script and editing the script and EDITING the script some more. Once you FINALLY have a workable script in hand, that’s .when .the fun begins.
Next, you have to put together a production team. You’ll need an assistant director, stage manager, set designer, costume designer, lighting designer, audio designer, LOTS and LOTS of designers! And let’s not forget the cast. What’s a production without a cast, which means holding auditions. Once the play has been cast, there are weeks and weeks of rehearsals. That’s just some of what happens in front of the curtain.
Behind the curtain, all those designers are busy doing what designers do. They’re making costumes, building sets, making or buying props, planning the lighting design, etc. And did I mention the administrative part of putting together a theatre production? You have to set production dates, choose a venue, determine ticket prices, layout programs, and . . . You get the picture. Putting together a theatre production takes work . . . a LOT of work.
And over the years I’ve learned that there are two types of people. There are those who are “built” to do theatre and those who just aren’t. The ones built to do theatre find the theatre process exhilarating and come back again and again. They acknowledge that theatre life can be tiresome and even tedious, but they love it and can’t imagine their life without their next production on the horizon.
I’ve also come to understand that there are different things that motivate theatre people to do what they do. Some do it because theatre is a way for them to make people laugh or think or escape for a couple of hours. For these folk, it’s all about the audience; they do what they do for the impact it will have on the lives of others. Then there are those who love the thrill of standing in front of a live audience and doing their “thang.” These are the people who, as kids, were always shouting, “Hey, Mom, look at me!” For these people, life itself is just one big stage, so one way or another, they are going to find a way to “shine.” And there’s yet another group.
The people in this group have an eternal view when it comes to theatre. They see theatre as a way of advancing the Kingdom of God, and thus they take their role in theatre—whether it be on stage or behind the scenes—as seriously as a preacher takes preparing for a Sunday service because they know that what they do and how they do it could have eternal consequences. For them, yep, it’s just that serious. This is the category that I and most of the people that I work with fall into. Ministry is what motivates us to put in the long hours and to do the hard work that’s necessary to pull together a production time and time again because we know it matters—it really matters.
My pastor says, “You have to know your ‘why.’” You have to know why you do whatever it is you do. Lose sight of your why, and you’ll eventually stop doing whatever it is you’re doing, whether it’s working on your marriage, training your kids, serving in the church, etc. If you lose sight of your why, more than likely you’ll throw in the towel. At Launch our mission is to bring the Word of God to life on stage and to establish relationships that allow us to introduce others to Christ. That’s our why. That’s what keeps us doing what we do.