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By Steve Weatherbe
THE LIFE of Christ has been called a great murder
mystery. It is surely a great drama, and one that has been presented in
multimillion dollar Hollywood films and elaborate stage productions with
costly sets, gaudy costumes and casts of, well, hundreds.
Operating on a scale perhaps more befitting the humble
circumstances of its protagonist is dramatist John Wason – whose cast
is himself (though he plays many characters); whose set is the stage or
nave of any school or church that will have him; and whose costumes and
props are what he can pack into a capacious suitcase.
Operating under the name Word to Life Theatre Arts and
under the umbrella of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), Wason travels to
churches, senior citizens’ homes and Christian schools around
Vancouver Island – with occasional side trips to Washington or
California – presenting dramatizations of the gospels and New
Testament epistles, as well as giving acting workshops.
At a recent visit to Pacific Christian High School in
Victoria, Wason didThe Easter Report, recreating the crucifixion and resurrection through the
eyes of a TV documentary filmmaker and the eyewitnesses he interviews: a
servant of high priest Caiaphas, a thief and Pontius Pilate.
Wason says the life of Christ and the messages found in
scripture cry out for dramatization.
Too often, however, they are read in church in what he
calls a special “church” voice, seemingly designed to suppress
excitement – and, he maintains, “without context.”
By adding characters and using them to tell the
stories, Wason hopes to give his audience a sense of the impact
Jesus’ life had on his contemporaries.
“If we can tell the stories in a way that
isn’t preachy, then people will respond to that.”
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Wason says his minimalist approach, rooted in his early
training in mime, allows the audience to use their imaginations.
He has been with YWAM since 1992, which he describes as
“ a very decentralized organization with 16,000 staff worldwide, in
something like 149 countries.”
He is supported by regular donations from about two
dozen supporters he has picked up over the years; performance honorariums
cover his operating expenses.
Wason worked first with YWAM in Ontario, specializing
in mime – but moved with wife Shelley and three boys to New Zealand
in 2002, to work for a theatre company there.
He returned to Canada, this time to Victoria, in 2006,
to be near his aging parents.
Photos courtesy of Shelly Wason Photography.
May 2009
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