Please contact the Mark Drama staff three months before when you want to perform. This is to try and ensure a director is available and you have enough time to organise everything!
A. Producer and Director
There are two important roles which need to be filled from the outset. The producer must be from your CU and is responsible for organisation, publicity and for leading the team of actors. The Mark Drama will supply a trained director, they liaise with the producer and are responsible for casting; they also direct the rehearsals. The producer may or may not be a member of the acting team; the director will be invited in from outside.
Hear Andrew Page talk about the Mark Drama at UCCF Forum!
B. There is no script
There is no script for the Mark Drama. During the rehearsals (see note F below) the director and the team work with open Bibles and learn the drama through directed improvisation. In the six weeks leading up to the performance, the team will learn the order of events in Mark’s Gospel from The Mark Experiment.
C. The Information Session
At least 2 months before the performances there should be an Information Session. This is so that people can decide if they want to join the acting team: we cannot expect anyone to volunteer to join the team until they have experienced an Information Session. A part of this evening consists of some of those present improvising and rehearsing a couple of incidents from the Gospel. In this way they can see how the rehearsals will work.
Those who then decide to join the team must have the following qualities:
- enthusiasm for drama (whether or not they have experience)
- a voice which is loud enough for the room in which the performance(s) will take place
- a willingness to learn the order of the events in Mark’s Gospel by heart. (Everyone will need a copy of The Mark Experiment in order to do this.
D. Finding a team
After this Information Session everyone has a few days to decide if they want to join the team. The drama can go ahead, provided there are 8 men and 7 women on the team and that one of the men is suitable, willing and able to play the part of Jesus. (The director needs to be involved in this decision.)
A timetable is worked out, so that the whole team knows which section of Mark is being learnt when. Every two weeks or so there is a team meeting for all who can make it so that the team members can test each other, get to know each other, and pray for the whole project.
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E. Between the Information Session and the first rehearsal
During these 6 weeks of learning the actor playing Jesus has more to do. Apart from learning the order of the events he needs to learn the Jesus words in the Gospel. But there is no script to learn.
The director works with the Jesus actor (this can be done by e-mail) and provides him with notes to help.
During most of the 6 weeks of learning the other team members do not know which roles they will be playing. The director will make his final decision after talking to the producer and to the actor playing Jesus – and after praying a lot! The final casting will be announced a couple of weeks before the first rehearsal (2 Pharisees, 4 disciples – and 8 actors each playing a number of different roles).
F. Rehearsals and performances
Here is the usual schedule for a CU Mark Drama production:
- First Rehearsal: Friday (7.30pm till 10.15pm)
- Second Rehearsal: Saturday (9am till 9pm)
- Dress Rehearsal: Sunday (2pm till 4pm)
- First Performance: Monday 7.30pm
- Second Performance: Tuesday 7.30pm
The performances usually last about 90 minutes, without an interval..
Summary
Here are the basic steps towards putting on a Mark Drama production:
- We’ll help you find a trained Mark Drama director near you. Just send us an email.
- Arrange a date for an Information Session, at least 6 weeks before your hoped-for performance dates. (Important: please do not look for volunteers to join your team before the Information Session.)
- If, after the Information Session, you have a team of 15 actors (8 men, 7 women), then the team can start learning, and your CU’s production of the Mark Drama will take place in 6-8 weeks’ time.
- Book the necessary rooms for the rehearsals and the performances, remembering that the Mark Drama is theatre-in-the-round.