Mime In The Contemporary Church

Mime and clowning have returned to the church in the twentieth century, providing an important means for presenting the good news in a form which is not verbal. The eye may comprehend what the ear fails to hear. This article describes various ways in which mime is being used in public ministry.

Beginning in the 1970s the church began to awaken to the worship and ministry potential of the arts. At first, these awakenings happened in isolated circles, but as the arts grew in popularity they began to cross over the barriers of denominations and sects. The motivation for accepting drama into the church was based on acceptance of the arts as 1. Christian entertainment 2. Evangelism 3. Worship 4. Ministry and Prophecy Contemporary Mime Artists French mime Marcel Marceau introduced America to the art of mime in 1955 with appearances on Broadway and major television programs, such as the Ed Sullivan Show, the Red Skelton show, and Johnny Carson; in 1992 he appeared with Arsenio Hall. Marceau is considered the father of theatrical mime in the twentieth century; he made the art form a popular expression. Many performers followed his lead and benefited from his popularity. The style of mime that Marceau executed is French lyric mime or classical mime. Lyric mime is beautiful to watch; its highly stylized gestures focus on the emotions and clarity of story. Marceau's stories in the early years of his creativity were Chaplin-like, many times told by his character Bip. The charming stories and the beautiful style in which they were presented helped the church accept mime as a moral art form. It came to view mime as a viable form of entertainment. As a result of Marceau's popularity, Americans developed a form of street mime that was based on illusion and body isolation control. In the process street mime lost the depth of emotion evoked by Marceau. It focused on the technical execution of illusions such as walls, walks, and robots. Shields and Yarnel were an American couple who hosted a short-lived television program which showcased American mime. Their execution of robot motions made them famous and increased the popularity of illusionary mime. They were followed by many impersonators, but the American public grew tired of illusions and body isolations that carried no meaning. Mime began to lose popularity, but not before the church began to see possibilities for evangelism. Mime had been made acceptable by Marceau, and street mime was seen as a vehicle for Christian entertainment and street evangelism. In the 1970s, Youth With A Mission (YWAM), now a worldwide ministry, created a mime-drama called Toymaker and Son, an allegory of Creation, the Fall, and redemption through Christ. The actors did not speak; instead, they performed gestures to a musical track with words. The gestures were copied easily, enabling YWAM to create many troupes which perform Toymaker and Son to this day. YWAM also created other dramas for ministry after the popular reception of this original production. In the 1980s, a group called Impact Productions recast this original work using more recent music. Another mime artist of repute is J. Geoffrey Stevelson, an American who now resides in England. His style is English mime, which uses basic illusion and more natural gestures than French mime to tell stories. He performs in silence, using music and poetry. He has had a major effect on mime in England and has written two books on the subject. He has done a great deal of work with Tear Fund, a Christian charity, as well as ministering in countries where the organization works. He uses mime to crossover cultural barriers. Therefore many of his mimes are not overt "ministry" as much as moral and cultural expressions with Christian principles. Randall Bane is an American who has encouraged the development of the movement arts. Bane trained in acting in New York, then later applied his knowledge to the creation of a clown character named Obie Good. In 1983 he began overseeing dancing at the Feast of Tabernacles in Israel. He has travelled the world using a mixture of movement arts (acting, clown, basic mime, gesture, and dance) and now encourages people to enter the ministry of movement.