Christian Youth Drama - Christian Youth Skits
Young people seem to enjoy the whole idea of drama. A bit of acting, or creative
mime or movement can communicate a message with power, but it is also one of
those things that can easily go badly wrong or create a loss of control. We have
often spent fun evenings with the video camera experimenting with youth drama
and just role playing Bible characters and scenes, or creating our own Christian
youth skits. Some with more success than others, but the use of the video has
been fruitful - they really enjoy watching themselves afterwards!
For a preview of a children's nativity drama that I wrote click here.
For some fun and consolation at the approach of the festive season click here!
Buying Youth Dramas
It is possible to download free Christian youth dramas, and these vary in quality.
My own personal view on this is that often there is not the time to prepare or learn
long dialogue, unless you are going to present a production. Also, continually
going over lines, or perfecting the performance can 'kill' the message - it depends
on what your final aim is. Do you want them to learn through the participation or
do you want them to present a performance (learning discipline etc through
repetition) that communicates to an audience? Always be sure of your aim, and
that will suggest a suitable method.
Write your own Christian youth drama!
You may not be very confident, but you will have more ideas than you realise.
Firstly: Perhaps you have an event that you would like to prepare something for -
maybe your event suggests a suitable Christian story (Christmas, Easter etc), or
you have a theme you need to work with (selfishness, envy, sorrow,loneliness).
There will be a suitable Bible story to fit most themes you have to work with, and
you can always give it an up-to-date 'twist' for your Christian youth drama.
Secondly: Find a suitable 'genre' to use - a style you can present your drama in,
for example - many television programmes suggest styles that can be used: game
shows, news reports, documentary, daily dramas, talk show, competitions, quiz
shows etc, or there may be a suitable film or characters that could be adapted.
The style of these shows can be adapted and modified for your content.
Thirdly: Think about your characters. Youth drama with amateurs works well if
the characters are larger than life - punk rocker, old granny whose slightly deaf,
motorbiker, superior teenager, hippy, gangster etc. You may have more mature
and committed members in your group who want something more challenging, so
you could use less obvious characters.
Fourthly: Consider what you want to communicate. Do you need lots of
dialogue? Could you manage by working from broad themes and 'ad-libbing' the
rest? Could a narrator carry the bulk of a long message?
Fifthly: Be open to your young people coming up with ideas. One of the funniest
youth drama videos I watched was when our youth group used a mixture of Star
Wars meets Lord of the Rings, and the main character was called 'Afrodo' - you
can guess what his hairstyle was like! This was more an exercise in fun and
working together than communicating a great message, but their ideas were great.
We did use a bag of wigs and hair pieces to help things along a bit.
Sixthly: To maintain control while you are developing your Christian youth drama
do consider how each member is going to be involved throughout the evening.
Loss of control will happen if you have numbers of people sat around getting bored,
or working without a clear focus. Try breaking your drama down into bite-size
pieces, and if possible get small groups to work on developing each section.
Ensure you regularly visit each group to make sure they are on target and working
well together.
Christian Youth Drama - Christian Youth Skits
Christian Youth Drama
Building relationships with God and young people
Youth is the
best time to
be rich, and
the best
time to be
poor.
--Euripides
