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Mime Opera - Notes for the Director Requirements Cast: As many or as few as you like. Costume:Up to you. Technical:You'll need a sound system to play the music. Lighting effects are purely optional and will vary from piece to piece. Set:Anything. Us any props, any size stage, even move through the audience. Special Legal Note:Due to the fact that you will be using music from selected artists, unless you create and perform all of the music yourselves, you may not sell tickets to this performance. I have personally contacted several artists, groups, and production companies in my research in what is and is not allowed. Essentially, what I've discovered is that you can use any music you want provided nobody makes any money off of the deal. Everybody I spoke with was cool with taking a free will offering, but you may want to verify the legality of that just to make sure. Of course, it's a moot point if you don't plan on taking a free will offering anyway. Notes:The mime opera I included here is just one example of many I've directed or been involved with. Please use it as an example to feed your own creative juices. You may, of course, use it directly, but for various reasons I've included minimal stage directions. One of the main reasons is that I have no idea what the size of your cast or stage will be. The reason I've included this in the skit section, even though if done effectively it has more of the qualities of a full length production, is because of the ease of adding unskilled performers and the simplicity of the practice time. This is literally something you can throw anybody into and get a tremendous result. The really, really, really cool thing about doing a mime opera is that it allows for the maximum performance out of minimal performers. What I mean is there's no speaking and very little practice time required. If you've got people who would like to be involved, but they're afraid to speak on stage, or they don't have time enough to make a serious commitment, this will be perfect for them. As long as you have enough people who are willing to give you one, I repeat only ONE day, that's it, no more, just one day, you can put piece on for any group. You meet on a Saturday to practice, you perform on Sunday. Seriously, it's that easy. I even traveled to another church once and asked the pastor to gather enough people from his congregation to put it on. We met on Saturday, practiced, and performed on Sunday. It was great. To the performers at Adel United Methodist Church in Iowa, you guys were awesome. If you do create a brand new piece using your own songs, or us my suggested piece but change a couple of the songs, let me make this suggestion. Don't pick the song according to what you want to play. Of course, you're going to choose songs you love or you wouldn't be selecting this genre. What I mean is make sure you pick a song that fits the actions and the mood of the particular moment of the performance. For example: I love the Newsboys song "Wherever We Go" and the DC Talk song "Jesus Freak", but if the moment is a soft, tender one where, let's say, a loved one has just died and the performers are in mourning, or a child is embracing his mother after a nightmare, they would not be appropriate selections. If the moment was concerning a missionary joyfully or aggressively seeking the lost, the pieces might work. As far as choreographing goes, keep it as simple as you need. Make it as complex as your cast can handle. Remember, you may be using non-drama people who have volunteered to help for one day's worth of practice. That and you may only have one day's worth of practice. (You can always practice more, but you don't have to.) If you've got a prima ballerina, go nuts. But generally, you're not going to have access to such talent. The trick is that you've got to choreograph a dance or a mini play for every song. You've got to do it in your head without a cast to work with, and then put all of the pieces in place once you practice with a full cast. It's gets easier once you've done it once, but it's not impossible the first time. Use my example on the mime- opera page to help. You simply have to create appropriate movements at the appropriate times. The simplest little movement can have the most powerful effect, so don't feel you have to get too complicated if you can't handle it. An additional note as far as choreographing goes, the director has to choreograph the pieces looooooooooong before a cast is chosen or volunteers are called for. You will obviously come up with a minimum number of performers in order to make it work, but you will probably not have an exact number of volunteers to make it perfect. Create roles that can be shared or duplicated if need be, such as sinners being tempted or angels worshipping God. Some roles can be performed by the same person in order to lower your minimum requirements. For example: someone who maybe plays a cop arresting a murderer in scene 3 can be the lonely beggar in scene 6 if both parts will not be in additional scenes that overlap. With all of that being said, encourage all of your performers to go nuts. What I mean is that one person might be simply looking at a knife given to him to represent temptation. That performer should feel free to rejoice in the experience, letting the audience feel his passionate embrace of this object that may represent hatred. Another performer (or the same performer at another time) might be dancing around Jesus who's set him/her free. Let the dancing be joyful and exstatic. If it's tepid or lukewarm, the entire effect and all of the power of the piece is wasted. My thoughts:A mime opera can be a very powerful piece, but in one sense it is very contrversial for the simple fact that you're using music. I have had people walk out on a performance because we used artists like Steven Curtis Chapman and Petra. Some people still hold to prejudices like an electic guitar is not an istrument approved by God. I can't help that. If you feel it will be a problem with the audience you are shooting for, but still wish to perform this type of piece, it would be wise to select appropriate music. These are a lot of fun for the performers, but a lot of work for the director. You've got to select the music and choreograph the performances long before you think about who will definitely be in it. Someone you might have counted on playing a certain part will be out of town on the day of the performance or maybe simply surprises you and doesn't volunteer. Don't design your plays around specific people if you can help it, unless of course you've got someone reading this over your shoulder right now and screaming that they really, really want to be in this. I want to reiterate that the mime opera I've included is only an example. It's not the only one I've created or been involved with in some way. I did a solo mime opera to David Meece's "My Father's Chair" for Father's day. I created another one that told the trials of two teens. I was involved with another that someone else created which told Jesus' story from the beginning of His ministry to the crucifixion. I pulled several of the elements from "Heaven in the Real World" from that piece. And you should feel free to pull whatever you want out of what you read in mine, but don't feel limited to it by any means. I've intentionally left a lot out of what we did to encourage you to do make it your own and add your own touches even if you do decide to use my example. Enjoy this one. It will powerfully affect those involved as well as the audience. I am the pen. Mime Opera Go here to see an example of one that I performed on three different occassions.

Mime Opera - Notes for the Director

Requirements

Cast: As many or as few as you like.

Costume:Up to you.

Technical:You'll need a sound system to play the music. Lighting effects are purely optional and will vary from piece to piece.

Set:Anything. Us any props, any size stage, even move through the audience.

Special Legal Note:Due to the fact that you will be using music from selected artists, unless you create and perform all of the music yourselves, you may not sell tickets to this performance. I have personally contacted several artists, groups, and production companies in my research in what is and is not allowed. Essentially, what I've discovered is that you can use any music you want provided nobody makes any money off of the deal. Everybody I spoke with was cool with taking a free will offering, but you may want to verify the legality of that just to make sure. Of course, it's a moot point if you don't plan on taking a free will offering anyway.

Notes:The mime opera I included here is just one example of many I've directed or been involved with. Please use it as an example to feed your own creative juices. You may, of course, use it directly, but for various reasons I've included minimal stage directions. One of the main reasons is that I have no idea what the size of your cast or stage will be. The reason I've included this in the skit section, even though if done effectively it has more of the qualities of a full length production, is because of the ease of adding unskilled performers and the simplicity of the practice time. This is literally something you can throw anybody into and get a tremendous result.

The really, really, really cool thing about doing a mime opera is that it allows for the maximum performance out of minimal performers. What I mean is there's no speaking and very little practice time required. If you've got people who would like to be involved, but they're afraid to speak on stage, or they don't have time enough to make a serious commitment, this will be perfect for them. As long as you have enough people who are willing to give you one, I repeat only ONE day, that's it, no more, just one day, you can put piece on for any group. You meet on a Saturday to practice, you perform on Sunday. Seriously, it's that easy. I even traveled to another church once and asked the pastor to gather enough people from his congregation to put it on. We met on Saturday, practiced, and performed on Sunday. It was great. To the performers at Adel United Methodist Church in Iowa, you guys were awesome.

If you do create a brand new piece using your own songs, or us my suggested piece but change a couple of the songs, let me make this suggestion. Don't pick the song according to what you want to play. Of course, you're going to choose songs you love or you wouldn't be selecting this genre. What I mean is make sure you pick a song that fits the actions and the mood of the particular moment of the performance. For example: I love the Newsboys song "Wherever We Go" and the DC Talk song "Jesus Freak", but if the moment is a soft, tender one where, let's say, a loved one has just died and the performers are in mourning, or a child is embracing his mother after a nightmare, they would not be appropriate selections. If the moment was concerning a missionary joyfully or aggressively seeking the lost, the pieces might work.

As far as choreographing goes, keep it as simple as you need. Make it as complex as your cast can handle. Remember, you may be using non-drama people who have volunteered to help for one day's worth of practice. That and you may only have one day's worth of practice. (You can always practice more, but you don't have to.) If you've got a prima ballerina, go nuts. But generally, you're not going to have access to such talent. The trick is that you've got to choreograph a dance or a mini play for every song. You've got to do it in your head without a cast to work with, and then put all of the pieces in place once you practice with a full cast. It's gets easier once you've done it once, but it's not impossible the first time. Use my example on the mime- opera page to help. You simply have to create appropriate movements at the appropriate times. The simplest little movement can have the most powerful effect, so don't feel you have to get too complicated if you can't handle it.

An additional note as far as choreographing goes, the director has to choreograph the pieces looooooooooong before a cast is chosen or volunteers are called for. You will obviously come up with a minimum number of performers in order to make it work, but you will probably not have an exact number of volunteers to make it perfect. Create roles that can be shared or duplicated if need be, such as sinners being tempted or angels worshipping God. Some roles can be performed by the same person in order to lower your minimum requirements. For example: someone who maybe plays a cop arresting a murderer in scene 3 can be the lonely beggar in scene 6 if both parts will not be in additional scenes that overlap.

With all of that being said, encourage all of your performers to go nuts. What I mean is that one person might be simply looking at a knife given to him to represent temptation. That performer should feel free to rejoice in the experience, letting the audience feel his passionate embrace of this object that may represent hatred. Another performer (or the same performer at another time) might be dancing around Jesus who's set him/her free. Let the dancing be joyful and exstatic. If it's tepid or lukewarm, the entire effect and all of the power of the piece is wasted.

My thoughts:A mime opera can be a very powerful piece, but in one sense it is very contrversial for the simple fact that you're using music. I have had people walk out on a performance because we used artists like Steven Curtis Chapman and Petra. Some people still hold to prejudices like an electic guitar is not an istrument approved by God. I can't help that. If you feel it will be a problem with the audience you are shooting for, but still wish to perform this type of piece, it would be wise to select appropriate music.

These are a lot of fun for the performers, but a lot of work for the director. You've got to select the music and choreograph the performances long before you think about who will definitely be in it. Someone you might have counted on playing a certain part will be out of town on the day of the performance or maybe simply surprises you and doesn't volunteer. Don't design your plays around specific people if you can help it, unless of course you've got someone reading this over your shoulder right now and screaming that they really, really want to be in this.

I want to reiterate that the mime opera I've included is only an example. It's not the only one I've created or been involved with in some way. I did a solo mime opera to David Meece's "My Father's Chair" for Father's day. I created another one that told the trials of two teens. I was involved with another that someone else created which told Jesus' story from the beginning of His ministry to the crucifixion. I pulled several of the elements from "Heaven in the Real World" from that piece. And you should feel free to pull whatever you want out of what you read in mine, but don't feel limited to it by any means. I've intentionally left a lot out of what we did to encourage you to do make it your own and add your own touches even if you do decide to use my example.

Enjoy this one. It will powerfully affect those involved as well as the audience.

I am the pen.

Mime Opera
Go here to see an example of one that I performed on three different occassions.