Staging The Mark Drama continues to provoke interest, with more than 300 people watching a recent performance.
Performed in universities, colleges and churches, The Mark Drama turns Mark’s biographical account of Jesus into a 90-minute, theatre-in-the-round stage production where the audience is fully immersed in the action.
"I was so encouraged by the number of people who came over two days to hear who Jesus was," says Chichi Soboya, who co-directed the event with fellow Moore College student David Adams. "I was particularly encouraged by all the people who came from Facebook ads, but also people that just came from walk-up invites.”
Ms Soboya first acted in The Mark Drama while she was in Dubai, and then came to Canberra and trained as a director of the show while working with AFES.
"We had a girl who came from a casual conversation, a mother and her teenage son who saw it on Facebook and two Chinese visitors – with no Christian background – who followed the translation on a phone," she says. "There were non-Christian friends and family who came to support the cast members and many, many conversations about the gospel afterwards. Please continue to pray for us as we proclaim the gospel through The Mark Drama."
Cast member Jess, who played the role of a Pharisee, says it was a great opportunity to invite non-Christian friends from her previous workplace.
"They found it really helpful to see the book of Mark from start to end, and even took a book of Mark home, which was exciting," Jess says. "They shared that they actually felt mad at me because they saw how much Jesus had to suffer for us. They got to understand more of why Jesus had to die for us through [The Mark Drama]."
It seems the impact is lingering after the event, with another first-time actor reading the Gospel of Mark with a resident in an Anglicare aged care home. "Her hearing isn't great and I can't quite do a Bible study with a 90-year-old the way I could with a 20-year-old," the actor says. "But I've been reading Mark in a slower, more dramatic way for her to take it in.
“I keep getting flashbacks to when we did The Mark Drama and it’s helping me read it with more liveliness and realness. I am trusting that as God used the words of Mark in the drama that he will use his words again for her."
Pray
- that this unique way of sharing God's word will grow in popularity and that more people will be able to attend a performance;
- for directors, cast members and supporters to stage new events in many places;
- that Christians will use these opportunities to invite people from all areas of their lives, so that more may come to hear the gospel;
- for those who hear that they will be brought to faith, or for Christians that their faith may be deepened.
Feature photo: Chichi (co-director) and Jess (castmember) of Mark Drama
