HOME	STAGE PLAYS	SKITS	SCREENPLAYS	ESSAYS	NOVELS	CONTACT ME	LINKS
Director's Notes Mime Opera Song list "Song of Moses" by Petra (Petra Praise 2) "Song for Rich" by Michael W. Smith (Live the Life) "I Will Sing Praise" by Petra (Petra Praise) "This Means War" by Petra (This Means War) "Testify To Love" by Avalon (A Maze of Grace) "I Manipulate" by Steve Taylor (On the Fritz) "Heaven in the Real World" by Steven Curtis Chapman (Heaven in the Real World) "Speechless" by Steven Curtis Chapman (Speechless) "Ashton" by Michael W. Smith (I 2 Eye) "Forgiven" by David Meece (Odyssey) "Great Expectations" by Steven Curtis Chapman (Speechless) Angelic tribute: Song of Moses Each angel or angel enters to give to God who is sitting on His throne with Jesus sitting beside Him. You may add the Holy Spirit, but I didn't because of the difficulties with the increased choreography that it would require. Draw this out if you've got a few angels. Speed it up if you've got several. The angels can approach individually or in pairs. After bowing before the throne, God give each streamers or other decorative devices which the angels then decorate the church with. It's got to be simple because you've got to do it within one song. Lucifer is last. He gives the most heartfelt, stirring tribute and is given the most intricate piece to decorate. The decoration represents the creation of the universe. We gave Lucifer a wreath to display prominently. God's award: Song for Rich God rises and calls all the angels to himself. He calls Lucifer to kneel before him. God and Jesus place a crown of gold on him, honoring him over the other angels. We used a gold frilly twist tie which is easily destroyed and repaired for later use. Whatever you use, make sure God's crown is much more brilliant. We used a fake crown for God and Jesus that we got from a local costume shop. Satan thanks God profusely as the other angels happily applaud. This song is as short as I could find. Angelic praise: I Will Sing Praise Lucifer leads the praises to God. During the chorus, Lucifer guides the angels in dance. In between, Satan gives his own tribute in dance. As the song goes on, Satan starts to hesitate, beginning to desire the praises of the angels for himself. Towards the end, he is pleading with the angels to worship him instead. He is rejected. He goes off into the audience and pulls off his crown to more closely examine it. He looks back at God's crown to see that there's no comparison. Rebellion: This Means War Lucifer crushes his crown and throws it away. All of the angels are wearing masks. Lucifer rips off his mask to reveal a grotesquely painted face underneath. On this note, let me say that everybody's faces were painted differently. You can decide what you'd like to do. God's was pure white. Jesus' was white with a black cross. The humans had symbols of different temptations on them. You do what you think is best for you character. Anyway, Satan charges the throne and is violently hurled away. You've got a great opportunity for some serious stage fighting here. Satan roars angrily and appeals to the angels, which makes 2 (of our 6) tear off their masks and follow him. He orders them to fight. Each does combat with the other angels. You can also have them challenge God if you want. They fail. When Satan tells them to try again, they refuse. In fury Satan makes a final, desperate lunge. He grapples with God and Jesus and is violently hurled away again. In order to feel like he's accomplished something, he destroys the streamers and such that have been placed around the church. He flaunts it in God's face then leaves. Creation of Man: Testify to Love The angels are shocked but God calms them by raising his hands and moving to the front row of one side of the audience. Half of the angels follow him to Adam who is under a sheet. God lifts the sheet. Adams face is blank or semi-completed. God takes face paint and finishes Adams face then breaths on him. Adam falls into the angels' arms who catch him. Jesus provides the face paint for God. Adam awakens and initially stumbles like a newborn deer. He tries to bow to the angels, but they lead him to God. He bows. God lifts him up and they embrace. God goes to the other side and repeats the process with Eve. God leads the two together eventually and they and the angels joyously dance around the audience and finally around God in celebration. At the end, God has taken his seat and wathces the joyful praise of all. The fall of Man: I Manipulate On most of the songs, we followed the tune, but did not directly follow the words. On this song, we mimicked what the words said much of the time. Satan enters mockingly. This is God's great creation? Hah! In the first section, Satan tempts Adam with power. In the second, the brings fear to Eve. He twists Adam and Eve malevolently in a bizarre contortion of a dance. In the final section, "Yes, I know that parable. That's the story of the prodigal." Adam has second thoughts about all of this and brings a bible to Satan for clarification but Satan beats him down. As he's wandering off, Adam and Eve try to cling to him, but he violently beats them off. Mockingly bowing to God, he leaves laughing in his triumph. The solution to the separation: Heaven in the Real World At the beginning of the song, Adam and Eve are beaten and in mourning. The voice of Chuck Colson speaks "Where is the hope?" Several other dreary people enter from all over the audience from doors or from staged positions in the audience. They all fall before God moaning and wailing in sorrow. Satan reappears with his demons. They draw people one by one to them with lust, drugs, whatever you'd like. A chaotic frenzy ensues. He leaves shortly. God calls an angel to go get one young girl. The angel brings her before God, and God gives her a baby. She dances for joy with the baby as people gather around. Some pay tribute. Some scoff. Some may even try to do the baby harm, but are rebuffed by the angels. The young girl leaves at the end. Jesus' life: Speechless The girl reappears with a full grown Jesus. She calls people to him as he begins to preach. A person with a disfigured hand is brought to Him and he heals it. A demon possessed individual, which was a person that Satan gave a knife to in the previous song when we did it, is freed. Jesus brings a dead person back to life. This could be Lazarus, but we used a little girl. We were using the one that Jesus told everybody she was only sleeping. Everyone ends up dancing around Jesus who is laughing and enjoying their love and adoration, but then becomes somber as he realizes what is coming. The crowd kneels to him at the end. Crucifixion: Ashton When Jesus frees the demon possessed man in the previous song, we had a demon attached to the person, who was violently cast away. This demon leads Satan into the room, showing him Jesus. Satan tries to tempt Jesus, but Jesus flatly refuses him. Satan whispers in the ears of some of the worshipers who begin to point accusingly at Jesus who lowers his head. They lunge at Jesus stripping off his shirt. (Note: In the three times we performed this, I only convinced one of the Jesus' to bare his chest. I hope you have more luck, because it's more powerful if you can.) Two people hold Jesus' arms while a third whips him. This is easy to perform. Whip towards Jesus from behind. When the whip strikes the floor, Jesus wrenches in pain. If you have convinced Jesus to disrobe, you can squirt fake blood down his back. When the whipping is over, turn Jesus to reveal the blood. This is most effective if the guards successfully conceal what they were doing. We got a huge audible gasp. Make Jesus carry a cross to the place where he will be nailed. You can't go around the entire audience, because of the shortness of the song, but try to make him go through some. Lay him down and have each guard nail him down as some of the people cry out in mourning. The guards nailing him down paint red circles in Jesus hands and put more blood on them. Satan cheers in triumph as Jesus is raised on the cross. (Note: This is an extremely powerful piece, and if you use Ashton, try to time it effectively. It's a great song for this section. It begins eerily as Satan does his work. It's got a great drum section to use to begin to beat Jesus. It moves into a chaotic frenzy for whipping and preparing Jesus for crucifixion. It's got another powerful percussion section towards the end that repeats three times. If you can time the nails and Jesus' writhing agony to those beats, it will be incredible. Then, the end of the song goes back to an eeriness as Jesus is raised.) Resurrection: Forgiven For about a minute and a half, nothing happens. You've just got that scene of Jesus on the cross with people mourning in front of him as thunder echoes around the auditorium and the rain and music silently start to play. Satan and the demons have wandered off to give the focus to the cross as well. On the second line of the song, Jesus looks up to Heaven. Satan moves closer in excited anticipation. Jesus cries out, then lowers his head in death. (Note: When I say throughout this example that people shout or cry out, they're only miming and not making any noise. But here, you may want to break that for this single shout.) Satan cheers. One of the guards who nailed him down bows in front of him. God has been present for the entire play, but when Jesus lowers His head, God goes to a corner and looks away. Some people take Jesus off the cross and lay him down. The demons dance over him kicking him and beating his inert body, and Satan rejoices. As the song increases in intensity, Jesus begins to stir. Satan commands one of the demons to beat him further. As Jesus is rising, he hurls the demon aside. Satan commands the second to attack with the same result as Jesus is two thirds of the way up. Satan shouts in fury then attacks himself. Jesus overpowers him easily, beating him into submission as the song begins to hit its climax. Jesus goes to get God. They embrace. God returns to His throne. Reunion: Great Expectations Jesus personally goes and gets each person and brings them to God, if you've got too many people, bring two at a time. Everybody ecstatically rejoices when Jesus reveals He's alive and again when brought before God. After each person embraces God, they turn, bow to the audience and take a place in line. When the last person is brought before God, the angels bow, then Satan and the demons bow, then Jesus and God bow, then everyone clasps hands and bows together. The end Remember, this is only an example. Feel free to do something completely different or use this in part. Add on, take out, do whatever you like. Go to top Director's Notes

Mime Opera

Song list

"Song of Moses" by Petra (Petra Praise 2)
"Song for Rich" by Michael W. Smith (Live the Life)
"I Will Sing Praise" by Petra (Petra Praise)
"This Means War" by Petra (This Means War)
"Testify To Love" by Avalon (A Maze of Grace)
"I Manipulate" by Steve Taylor (On the Fritz)
"Heaven in the Real World" by Steven Curtis Chapman (Heaven in the Real World)
"Speechless" by Steven Curtis Chapman (Speechless)
"Ashton" by Michael W. Smith (I 2 Eye)
"Forgiven" by David Meece (Odyssey)
"Great Expectations" by Steven Curtis Chapman (Speechless)

Angelic tribute: Song of Moses
Each angel or angel enters to give to God who is sitting on His throne with Jesus sitting beside Him. You may add the Holy Spirit, but I didn't because of the difficulties with the increased choreography that it would require. Draw this out if you've got a few angels. Speed it up if you've got several. The angels can approach individually or in pairs. After bowing before the throne, God give each streamers or other decorative devices which the angels then decorate the church with. It's got to be simple because you've got to do it within one song. Lucifer is last. He gives the most heartfelt, stirring tribute and is given the most intricate piece to decorate. The decoration represents the creation of the universe. We gave Lucifer a wreath to display prominently.

God's award: Song for Rich
God rises and calls all the angels to himself. He calls Lucifer to kneel before him. God and Jesus place a crown of gold on him, honoring him over the other angels. We used a gold frilly twist tie which is easily destroyed and repaired for later use. Whatever you use, make sure God's crown is much more brilliant. We used a fake crown for God and Jesus that we got from a local costume shop. Satan thanks God profusely as the other angels happily applaud. This song is as short as I could find.
Angelic praise: I Will Sing Praise
Lucifer leads the praises to God. During the chorus, Lucifer guides the angels in dance. In between, Satan gives his own tribute in dance. As the song goes on, Satan starts to hesitate, beginning to desire the praises of the angels for himself. Towards the end, he is pleading with the angels to worship him instead. He is rejected. He goes off into the audience and pulls off his crown to more closely examine it. He looks back at God's crown to see that there's no comparison.

Rebellion: This Means War
Lucifer crushes his crown and throws it away. All of the angels are wearing masks. Lucifer rips off his mask to reveal a grotesquely painted face underneath. On this note, let me say that everybody's faces were painted differently. You can decide what you'd like to do. God's was pure white. Jesus' was white with a black cross. The humans had symbols of different temptations on them. You do what you think is best for you character. Anyway, Satan charges the throne and is violently hurled away. You've got a great opportunity for some serious stage fighting here. Satan roars angrily and appeals to the angels, which makes 2 (of our 6) tear off their masks and follow him. He orders them to fight. Each does combat with the other angels. You can also have them challenge God if you want. They fail. When Satan tells them to try again, they refuse. In fury Satan makes a final, desperate lunge. He grapples with God and Jesus and is violently hurled away again. In order to feel like he's accomplished something, he destroys the streamers and such that have been placed around the church. He flaunts it in God's face then leaves.

Creation of Man: Testify to Love
The angels are shocked but God calms them by raising his hands and moving to the front row of one side of the audience. Half of the angels follow him to Adam who is under a sheet. God lifts the sheet. Adams face is blank or semi-completed. God takes face paint and finishes Adams face then breaths on him. Adam falls into the angels' arms who catch him. Jesus provides the face paint for God. Adam awakens and initially stumbles like a newborn deer. He tries to bow to the angels, but they lead him to God. He bows. God lifts him up and they embrace. God goes to the other side and repeats the process with Eve. God leads the two together eventually and they and the angels joyously dance around the audience and finally around God in celebration. At the end, God has taken his seat and wathces the joyful praise of all.

The fall of Man: I Manipulate
On most of the songs, we followed the tune, but did not directly follow the words. On this song, we mimicked what the words said much of the time. Satan enters mockingly. This is God's great creation? Hah! In the first section, Satan tempts Adam with power. In the second, the brings fear to Eve. He twists Adam and Eve malevolently in a bizarre contortion of a dance. In the final section, "Yes, I know that parable. That's the story of the prodigal." Adam has second thoughts about all of this and brings a bible to Satan for clarification but Satan beats him down. As he's wandering off, Adam and Eve try to cling to him, but he violently beats them off. Mockingly bowing to God, he leaves laughing in his triumph.

The solution to the separation: Heaven in the Real World
At the beginning of the song, Adam and Eve are beaten and in mourning. The voice of Chuck Colson speaks "Where is the hope?" Several other dreary people enter from all over the audience from doors or from staged positions in the audience. They all fall before God moaning and wailing in sorrow. Satan reappears with his demons. They draw people one by one to them with lust, drugs, whatever you'd like. A chaotic frenzy ensues. He leaves shortly. God calls an angel to go get one young girl. The angel brings her before God, and God gives her a baby. She dances for joy with the baby as people gather around. Some pay tribute. Some scoff. Some may even try to do the baby harm, but are rebuffed by the angels. The young girl leaves at the end.

Jesus' life: Speechless
The girl reappears with a full grown Jesus. She calls people to him as he begins to preach. A person with a disfigured hand is brought to Him and he heals it. A demon possessed individual, which was a person that Satan gave a knife to in the previous song when we did it, is freed. Jesus brings a dead person back to life. This could be Lazarus, but we used a little girl. We were using the one that Jesus told everybody she was only sleeping. Everyone ends up dancing around Jesus who is laughing and enjoying their love and adoration, but then becomes somber as he realizes what is coming. The crowd kneels to him at the end.

Crucifixion: Ashton
When Jesus frees the demon possessed man in the previous song, we had a demon attached to the person, who was violently cast away. This demon leads Satan into the room, showing him Jesus. Satan tries to tempt Jesus, but Jesus flatly refuses him. Satan whispers in the ears of some of the worshipers who begin to point accusingly at Jesus who lowers his head. They lunge at Jesus stripping off his shirt. (Note: In the three times we performed this, I only convinced one of the Jesus' to bare his chest. I hope you have more luck, because it's more powerful if you can.) Two people hold Jesus' arms while a third whips him. This is easy to perform. Whip towards Jesus from behind. When the whip strikes the floor, Jesus wrenches in pain. If you have convinced Jesus to disrobe, you can squirt fake blood down his back. When the whipping is over, turn Jesus to reveal the blood. This is most effective if the guards successfully conceal what they were doing. We got a huge audible gasp. Make Jesus carry a cross to the place where he will be nailed. You can't go around the entire audience, because of the shortness of the song, but try to make him go through some. Lay him down and have each guard nail him down as some of the people cry out in mourning. The guards nailing him down paint red circles in Jesus hands and put more blood on them. Satan cheers in triumph as Jesus is raised on the cross. (Note: This is an extremely powerful piece, and if you use Ashton, try to time it effectively. It's a great song for this section. It begins eerily as Satan does his work. It's got a great drum section to use to begin to beat Jesus. It moves into a chaotic frenzy for whipping and preparing Jesus for crucifixion. It's got another powerful percussion section towards the end that repeats three times. If you can time the nails and Jesus' writhing agony to those beats, it will be incredible. Then, the end of the song goes back to an eeriness as Jesus is raised.)

Resurrection: Forgiven
For about a minute and a half, nothing happens. You've just got that scene of Jesus on the cross with people mourning in front of him as thunder echoes around the auditorium and the rain and music silently start to play. Satan and the demons have wandered off to give the focus to the cross as well. On the second line of the song, Jesus looks up to Heaven. Satan moves closer in excited anticipation. Jesus cries out, then lowers his head in death. (Note: When I say throughout this example that people shout or cry out, they're only miming and not making any noise. But here, you may want to break that for this single shout.) Satan cheers. One of the guards who nailed him down bows in front of him. God has been present for the entire play, but when Jesus lowers His head, God goes to a corner and looks away. Some people take Jesus off the cross and lay him down. The demons dance over him kicking him and beating his inert body, and Satan rejoices. As the song increases in intensity, Jesus begins to stir. Satan commands one of the demons to beat him further. As Jesus is rising, he hurls the demon aside. Satan commands the second to attack with the same result as Jesus is two thirds of the way up. Satan shouts in fury then attacks himself. Jesus overpowers him easily, beating him into submission as the song begins to hit its climax. Jesus goes to get God. They embrace. God returns to His throne.

Reunion: Great Expectations
Jesus personally goes and gets each person and brings them to God, if you've got too many people, bring two at a time. Everybody ecstatically rejoices when Jesus reveals He's alive and again when brought before God. After each person embraces God, they turn, bow to the audience and take a place in line. When the last person is brought before God, the angels bow, then Satan and the demons bow, then Jesus and God bow, then everyone clasps hands and bows together.

The end

Remember, this is only an example. Feel free to do something completely different or use this in part. Add on, take out, do whatever you like.

Go to top

Director's Notes