With a Grain of Salt

Drama Ministry meeting was great! We had group praise reports, corporate prayer, a fun mirror improv warm-up, and a good talk about constructive criticism.

First, we God for allowing us to minister throughout the Christmas holidays. Jesse Adams suggested that we begin to learn timeless AND seasonal pieces. Consequently, several members had Christmas pieces locked and loaded. In addition to ministering outside of the Church, we helped Dr. Paul Osteen get the Christmas message across. Additionally one of the actors, Nkonye, achieved a childhood dream and met Mrs. Dodie (our church mom) because Mrs. Dodie wanted to meet her!

After prayer, we moved on to warm-ups. Jesse led us in "Mirror" and Improvisation. Mirror supports collaboration and team work. Each person has a partner and must stand facing one another to simulate what happens when looking in a mirror. The longer the game continues, the more each actor is able to predict and match their partner's movement. We did improvisation in 2 groups. The first group played the part of a work group where the boss dictated the business type but we were all sick; each actor chose his/her ailment. We ended up working in a cuban cigar sweatshop. The second group was a on a panel at a conference who all had to go to leave for some reason and had to convince the doctor that they needed to leave.

Next, we moved on to the main lesson, Constructive Critism: How to Take it and How to Give it. Jesse chose two unsuspecting thesbians to leave the room and work on a monologue. Unbeknownst to them, we were instructed to not say anything during the first attempt and to "over-criticize" during the second attempt. Jesse highligted several points afterward:

1. Let the director (and everyone else) do their job; you do your job.

2. Give 3 compliments before your critique.

3. Find the truth in the criticism and DON'T say the first thing that comes to mind.

4. Remember that the director sees the picture so look to that person for guidance.

Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

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-- Jeniro is on the go, follow her on twitter @Orinej