“Terror Texts” musical drama said to be an approach to understand Bible through dramatic performance which is mysterious and terrifying. The drama students of Christian-based Northwestern College in Iowa experimenting a new take on the Old Testament going back across the time. The metaphor is mixed with a bit of history of that time, however they altered their characters’ appearances like instead of wearing ancient attire, they dress in Goth. Theater professor Jeff Barker ( creator and director ) said the obscurity of the stories belies their value. “We believe we have discovered something that has been lying dormant for many, many centuries”.
William Dyrness, ( Professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California ) called “Terror Text” a creative variation of that idea. “This is obviously a very Protestant approach where you’re attempting to understand this story so that you can see the way the Bible applies to your life,” he said. “You carry it on in your life. You become part of the story.”
Even though the play is based on the stories word-for-word, the six stories from the Old Testament acted out in “Terror Texts” feature mysterious and horrible scene. I am not sure how much they are faithful to the text but the director and the students starring in the ‘Terror Texts’ musical believe the stories to be 100% true.
November 24th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I am a cast member of this project and I wanted to thank you for the attention you have given to our production. It is exciting to hear people talking about this endeavor and we hope this buzz includes conversation about the actual stories and themes of the play as well.
I just wanted to take a moment to respond to a comment you made concerning faithfulness of the text. It is true that the script itself is formed from stories directly taken from the King James text and that those working on the project believe in the validity and truth of these Scriptures. As we were working on the project we were conscious of the delicate line that lies in interpreting the Bible. Through research and talking with Bible and language scholars we carefully chose representations of the Scripture that we thought were accurate and plausible. Presenting these stories as drama is much like interpreting them while listening to a sermon or in your own private devotions—they are visualized (either on stage or in your head). Obviously, no one can know exactly how each event took place or what the subtext or tone each of these people used, but as actors we tried our best to find actions and reactions that were logical and honest. It was not our intention to distort or manipulate the Scriptures but to present them as they could have happened. That being said, this was clearly not a realistic production, using the narration of the text and presentational delivery style and add in gothic costumes—the question about faithfulness to the text is tricky to answer. I suppose the best I can do to answer, is to say that we are trying to tell the truth of the message. Mixing metaphor and theme with actual literal story elements (characters and dialogue) we conveyed the theme of the Scripture.
Staging Old Testament stories has been an extremely powerful experience for me—suddenly, these people in that ancient book have emotions and needs. All of a sudden, I can feel the terror and depravity of human existence. Every moment you are on stage you are making a thousand choices—where to look, where to move, whether to smile or cry, whether to run or fight. This is life and when we see it in front of us we may not completely understand, but we know that God is still there somewhere.
We are saying, these are stories that are part of the book we love, they are purposeful, they are powerful, and we need to see them. These are part of the history of God and the history of humanity—what do you make of them? A theme of our production is the repeated verse that says, “In those days, there was no King in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” That’s why these stories need to be told and told in a way that will be remembered.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Kelly thanks for your comment and providing insight about your project, I really appreciate the endeavor of yours and your team towards this project, that is the reason I featured this post. I hope you will take it as creativity rather than criticism if any. I would love to watch this project, let me know when you’re touring to India.
I would also like to see a project what Bible prophecy indicates that extreme weather (climate change) would be part of the end time scenario, because I think it can be an unique endeavor to spread message to aware people about global warming.
Wish you best of luck & great success to your project!