'Disabled people can do anything!': Drama troupe shares Bible stories, message of hope

Mennonite Central Committee
Monday, 23 July 2001

FRESNO, Calif. -- When God showed Samuel whom to anoint as king of Israel, the old prophet was surprised: God didn't choose the tallest or the oldest of Jesse's sons.

The 10 people who make up the Charis Community Players can identify with David, the unlikely king who is the subject of their most recent drama. Because these actors all have developmental disabilities, they may be overlooked when churches seek spiritual insight.

But like David, Charis members want to serve God whole-heartedly. And while their main goal is to make the Bible and Bible-based truths come alive for their audiences at churches and community events, they also have another message. As Janet Krause, 29, puts it: "Disabled people can do anything!"

Krause has been a member of Charis -- Greek for "grace" -- since the group began about a year and a half ago, when Jim Somerville, director of developmental disabilities ministries for West Coast Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), announced his idea for a drama troupe at Hathaway Apartments. This semi-independent living facility with MCC roots is home to 32 people with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and uncategorized mental retardation.

"Eight people said 'Me, me, me!' and they're all still there, plus two more," Somerville remembers. "It's a long-term commitment for them."

Troupe members range in age from lower 20s to lower 70s. They get together once a week to practice and brainstorm ideas for future presentations, including costumes and props. Somerville's role is to record, rather than generate ideas, and to compile the ideas into a script.

"Our group is very creative," Krause explains.

So far, in addition to the story of David in "God Looks at the Heart," they have created dramas about the Prodigal Son, the Christmas and Easter stories, and the precept "You reap what you sow."

For last year's Christmas presentation, Krause had the idea to frame the familiar Bible passages as a conversation between an angel and someone who had never heard of Jesus.

Mark Wiens, 34, still remembers the line he spoke as a shepherd: "I came all the way to see the baby Jesus."

Wanda Griffin, also 34, played the person learning about the baby born in Bethlehem.

"I really enjoy sharing the word of God, and in sharing the life in these stories," she says.

Griffin -- who like the others says she never suffers from stage fright -- more often serves as a narrator, her favorite role. She also enjoys talking to audience members after performances.

"One man came up to me after we did the Prodigal Son," she remembers. "He said, 'Now I've got to go home and read that story in the Bible.'"

Sometimes performances unfold in ways that even Somerville, with all his experience with the group, doesn't expect. After a performance of the Christmas play in front of Hathaway Apartments -- an opportunity for neighborhood people to interact with Hathaway residents -- he thought the show was over.

"But I said, 'Wait a minute!'" Krause recalls. "I wanted to tell people that having God in your heart is the perfect gift, the best Christmas present."

The impromptu altar call that followed "touched a lot of people's lives," she says. "What we do is like a mission. Even after they go home, people will remember the play."

The group has two upcoming performances at area churches, where they will lead the entire morning worship service. Somerville hope that more churches will express interest in inviting the Charis players. What they have to share, he says, has caused him to re-think his own theology.

"I have come to recognize that this group of people often understands more about the Christian faith than the rest of the population," he says. "They understand some very profound things: the extending of grace, lack of pretense and the immediacy of the faith."

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org