Faith and the arts go hand in hand
Theatre productions at Christian colleges are helping students articulate their faith
It was news no college ever wants to receive. A van full of Bethany College students, on their way back to Hepburn, Saskatchewan following a volleyball game, was involved in a serious car accident. Two students were critically injured.
At the same time, preparations were underway at the school for the fall theatre production. The play, C.S. Lewis’ “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” became a way for students to come together and find healing following the trauma of the accident.
The story focuses on the characters’ journey through various islands of temptation that mirror earthly struggles in Christian life.
“The play gave the students a voice,” says Bethany’s ministry arts director Susan J. Goerz. “The outcome was incredibly moving as the 36 students, who had helped in all areas to create the play, prayed and presented with one purpose so that all would see that the pursuit of God whilst resisting temptations and listening to His voice was important.”
The arts can often play a role in helping to articulate faith, agrees Marie Raynard, senior theatre instructor at Providence University College in Otterburne, Manitoba.
“For me, faith and art go hand in hand,” she says. “I believe that part of what it means to be made in the image of God is that human beings are creative creatures.”
This year, Providence University College staged “Sisters” by Canadian playwright Wendy Lill. The play is about a church-run residential school in Nova Scotia.
“From the first time I read the play, I felt compelled to tell the story,” says Raynard. “I think it is crucial for people of faith to confront the damage that has been done in God’s name in our country.”
Raynard says she is encouraged by the support from faculty and staff as well as the actors who worked through the difficult story and were committed to truth-telling.
“Theatre is the way I represent the Creator’s image in the world, and plays often ask questions that have spiritual implications,” Raynard says. “My faith informs my art, and, very frequently, my art teaches me new things about my faith.”
Jesus used oral story-telling—an art form—to teach His followers, Goerz points out.
“It’s how Jesus taught, it’s how the disciples spread the good news, talking and writing about their journey with Jesus and recounting His teaching,” Goerz says. “Actually, all art forms are expressions of someone’s faith... so Christians need to get into the game, as it were, with their art tools and start speaking in artistic tongues.”
Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, also offers an in-depth theatre-training program. This year, its productions included “The Illusion” by Tony Kushner and “Butterfingers Angel” by William Gibson.
Angela Anderson Konrad, chair of TWU’s SAMC Theatre, says Christianity and the arts, theatre in particular, have had an uneasy association over the years.
“A possible explanation for the conflict is that artists like to ask questions while Christians like to provide answers,” says Konrad, though she says that is an oversimplification of both perspectives.
Konrad says to see a story come to life and share in the joy and pain of a fellow human who is both fictional and real makes the experience of theatre rich and fulfilling.
“I cannot talk about theatre without talking about God and the beauty and fallen-ness of the created world,” says Konrad. “In each character lives the image of Christ, sometimes shining through and sometimes completely obscured. To help my students uncover this likeness—sometimes in the most unexpected places—is the greatest joy I experience in the classroom.”
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