Made For Story

I make the programs for CSDC's shows -- because Jenn hates doing it, and I'm all about supporting my sisters-in-Christ through self-sacrifice and godly servanthood, you know. That's why I was at the theater this morning, printing more for the closing performance this afternoon and strike party this evening.

It takes a while to print fifty color programs with three double-sided pages. So while I was waiting for the printer to catch up with my folding and stapling, I wandered into the stage area, beckoned by the ghost light . . . where I was greeted by the lovely vision in this photo.

It was beautiful. And I stood staring in the silence for a few minutes, breathless.  

There's just something about a stage, isn't there?

The air of the room felt palpable with moments from the past. I heard echoes of actors who have tread on those boards, creating characters . . . imaginary people more real than some people you know . . . new personalities who didn't exist before . . . crafting them from their own voices and faces and hands and feet. I saw ghosts of audience members in the seats, eyes wide open, ears alert, energized from the exchange of passion with the performers before them. I remembered stories . . . happy stories, sad stories, epic stories, pithy stories, funny stories, poignant stories, deafening stories, silent stories . . . story after story after story told on that stage.

Theater is story. Everything about it. A well-designed set tells a narrative; our set designer Alfy has one for every show. The lighting -- bright, soft, colored, fading up, fading out, shadows, spots, blackouts -- the lighting speaks with a dazzling voice. The dress, hat, and gloves worn by the actress entering at the top of scene 2 could be a novel in and of itself. The actors, as they perform, are not only telling a playwright's story but making their own stories . . . of who they are, why they are here, what they have to say, why they matter.

We are made for Story.

When I teach literary terms to my middle school students, I tell them that these are not concepts that humans made up. These are God's ideas. History follows the plot chart: conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution. Humanity is full of round characters and indirect characterization, protagonists and antagonists. Our hearts respond to alliteration and rhyme, symbolism and imagery. Jesus taught with parables (A farmer went out to sow his seed . . .). He used metaphors to illuminate himself to us (I am the vine, you are the branches).

We tell stories like we do because it's in our spiritual DNA. It's part of how we are made in the image of a Creator God. Narrative is creation, a new living thing pulled together from our experiences, insights, and intuitions. And theater is where Story moves and breathes in front of our eyes.

No wonder I was breathless. There is something sacred about this space. I'm walking on holy ground.