A New Drama Season: REAL Gets in Touch with it's Feminine Side

The Girls of REAL: This season's REAL Christian Theater acting troupe (minus our one male actor, Peterson. He had another commitment at the time this photo was taken).

Last weekend, from Friday, August 31 through Sabbath, September 1, we had our annual REAL Christian Theater retreat.

This is the start of the team's 8th season and in many ways it felt like a very different team. Our team is almost entirely new this season. Virtually all of the old veterans who'd been with the team for years are gone now. In fact, with the exception of co-director "CK Girl" and myself, no one in this year's troupe has been with the team longer than two years. Our team is also one of the smallest we've had in recent years. There are only eight actors right now (we've actually got almost as many staff as we do performers--four directors, a light and sounds person--who is a kid though, a set & props person, and a team manager). But perhaps what makes this team particularly unique is that this year REAL is made up almost entirely of girls.

There are exactly three males on the team--Peterson, a recent high school grad who was a member of our team three years ago, "T", an 8th grader, who is our sound and lights tech, and me. Everyone else--actors, directors, staff--are women and girls. While it would be nice to have a more "balanced" group, I'm really excited about all the people on our team this season, and I also think that our all-girl makeup will present some unique opportunities to address issues and topics that the girls in our audiences can relate to and that the boys in our audience can learn from. I've got some very sharp and capable women in my co-directors Mai, Veronyka, and "CK Girl" and I'm excited to see what ideas they'll come up with.

The retreat was a success. Our theme was "Ready our Hearts to Carry Your Love" and our theme song was the Caedmon's Call tune "Carry Your Love." We had a great 24 hours of teambuilding and team bonding led by Mai and spiritual orientation led by Veronyka. "CK Girl" took some beautiful publicity photos and team manager Carol Paez and Babs cooked us some delicious meals. Sabbath afternoon the girls performed, many of them for the first time, presenting some short skits that they had created. I have to say I was very impressed by the talent of these actors, especially those that were so new to the stage. The performances were funny, believable, compelling and if they were any indication, we've got an amazing season ahead.

This coming Monday we'll have our first regular rehearsal and REAL Christian Theater's 8th season will officially be under way!

The Token Males in REAL: Peterson & "T"


One of our activties during the retreat: One team member closes her eyes, another team member strikes a pose, and the first team member must then "sculpt" a third member into the same pose based soley on "feel."

We had a particular vivid sunset on Friday night. I managed to catch the last bit of the blaze of glory in this photo.




Video of the team gathering for our first activity of the retreat, as our theme song plays in the background. It's gonna be a great season!