Support Live Theater in Saipan

Real Christian Theater will be putting on a dinner show called The Mystery of the Kiss Kiss Diamond. It will be a one time performance on Sunday, March 9. The time will be announced later. The tickets are $15 for adults. The kids have been working really hard to make this play come together. Currently we are trying to raise funds for our school trip to Palau in May. We will be performing a lot of skits for the local schools in Palau in hopes of sharing our love for drama and for God. Please come out to support us!









I watched the play "In Transit" and the "Vagina Monologues" by the Voices of the Marianas last year and it was hilarious! I'm guessing that this play will be just as good! Check them out. Bloggers, Jeff and Brad, have parts in this play.
You won't want to miss this!

Real Beauty

Last Friday Real Christian Theater had its first road tour and performed at five local schools: Hopwood Middle School, San Antonio Elementary, Dan Dan Elementary, Kagman Elementary, and San Vicente Elementary School.





This year Real Christian Theater's theme was "Real Beauty". All of the skits focused on what we believe Real Beauty is: forgiveness, honesty, patience, kindness,tolerance, trust, etc. One of the challenges of performing at public schools is that you cannot use the word "God" in any of the material. So we had to use skits that indirectly talked about God. As a team we are striving to share our love and passion for God. Real Christian Theater is the only drama team on island that travels and performs from school to school.







I must say that I have a new found respect for road shows after doing this tour. So much work goes into the show. It is a huge production and you have to be ready for anything that may go wrong. Forgetting a line is easy because you can try and cover it up. But if your sound system and speakers are down its more stressful. Most of our shows were outdoors so we had a couple of problems with the audience not being able to hear us. But everything eventually worked out.






Our first show of the day was at Hopwood Middle School. The first show we were still working out the kinks especially with the sound system. We did our best. The crowd was really supportive and cheered us on. As the day progressed our shows kept getting better and better. I have to admit that its a great feeling when you say your lines and the kids respond with a hearty laugh! Thats the best feeling to be able to make someone laugh and be happy.





I think its really sad that some people equate real beauty with just physical appearance. Some may judge others and totally miss out on getting to know a really great person.I'm so tired of the body image battle. The media plays a role in defining what is beautiful and I have experienced the pressure to be a certain way. I say screw the makeup, straight hair, and dieting. I think that its sad that women have to change who they are in order to be perceived as beautiful. When it comes down to it, knowing your worth and being happy with who you are is the epitome of what beautiful is.



I'm so proud of the kids because they gave their heart and soul into this school road tour. They did such a great job and they continue to inspire me in so many ways. Mostly they encourage me to lighten up and laugh at myself every now and then. Mai did a wonderful job being the MC and directing the show. Kudos to Sean for organizing the school tour. One of the highlights of the tour was the Kagman kids asking for our autographs! We felt like rockstars.




At the end of the show we played the song by Christina Aguilera "Beautiful". It really tied the skits together and I'm hoping the kids took something learned home with them. Whats next for Real Christian Theater? We will be performing for some of the other local Churches and at Street Market. Stay tuned ...

Who's Line Is it Anyway?

Ever watch that comedy show Who's LIne Is It Anyway? Those comedians are brilliant making up the script out of scratch in front of a live audience. They're truly an inspiration to me. The Pressure is on. My first drama performance is this Wednesday night in Kagman. Its a monologue between three readers entitled "One Minute". Eeek, I've got a lot of lines to remember. Tonight we rehearsed the play and did okay. I forgot a couple of lines and just stood there. Grrr, I hate it when your mind goes blank and the worst thing is you have to keep a straight face. We still have to smooth out a couple of transitions but for the most part I think we've pretty much got it down. The true test is performing in front of an audience with your nerves creeping up on you.

Its not so bad when you mess up or forget your line because the audience won't know that you have messed it up. The key thing when you mess up is executing a great recovery from the mistake that was made. Thats the hard part because when you fidget or look to someone else its a dead give away.

Sean suggested I stand in front of a mirror and practice my lines. Peforming in front of a mirror has been really helpful for me even though I just keep cracking up at myself! But when I'm serious sometimes I forget my lines. So I watch my facial expressions and see if I give away clues that I have just messed up. Surely my hands tend to fidget and when I mess up I want to just hit my forehead and say "doh"! heh The kids have been so encouraging and have been giving me some really great advice about relaxing. I just need to remember to b r e a t h e. If i can swim with sharks I can surely say some lines in front of a large audience, right? Lets hope so.

Just what I needed. More Drama!

Real Christian Theater with the kids has been so fun! We have met three times already and finally got most of our scripts last night. The directors have casted me in seven short plays! Oye! I have alot of studying and memorizing to do on the plane to California. Alot of these plays make me laugh and I have no idea how I will be able to get into character. I think its all about letting go and being "in the moment". Something that I am learning to do in my life right now.

One of my favorite actors is Mr. Bean. His timing is impeccable. I just love how natural acting comes to him and he cracks me up so much! Here's a youtube clip of him at the dentist! lol I can't wait to be a dentist.

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Anyway, last night we went over our lines and I was really impressed with the kids. They're brilliant and very funny. We are going to have alot of fun performing for the kids at the public and private schools.

Another reason why I am happy is because I am leaving for San Francisco early Wednesday morning for the American Dental Association conference for a week! Did I mention that Lance Armstrong will be our guest speaker?! I am going to do my best to get him to sign my book. Looking forward to learning about the new cutting edge tools and information on Dental Hygiene. Also looking forward to the cool weather, my run across the Golden Gate Bridge, Shopping, Starbucks, and Wine tasting in Napa Valley! Peace out.

Real Christian Theater-Scene 1

My one year anniversary of living in Saipan is coming up next week! I have really maximized my time spent here in Saipan. Since I have decided to renew my contract for another year I have been trying to figure out what I could do differently with my time this upcoming year.



Perhaps my only regret from this past year is not spending as much time with the Youth as I could have. I have to be honest and say that I never really had an interest in working closely with the youth before. I love them but I usually gravitated working more with the adults. But things have changed over summer break. Funny how God works. The youth have won over my heart while teaching Youth Sabbath School. Needless to say, I am hooked on my kids and they bring me great joy whenever I am around them.



Real Christian Theater is starting their 8th season in Saipan and is under the direction of Sean Maycock. They are a group of talented and creative kids passionate about drama, real life, and a real God. What I love about this group is that we don't just do "churchy skits" but we focus on real life issues that the youth may experience these days like peer pressure, drugs, a broken family, disappointments, goals . . . All the kids had to audition for their parts. This year is new younger crew with the exception of one veteran, Xian Xian. This past weekend we spent together at a place called Matura on Navy Hill for our team building retreat for two days.





It was a chance for us to get to know each other better and for us to outline our goals as a team. Co-directors Mai and Vero led out in the devotionals. We played team buidling games togethe and performed skits in different groups. From the age of 9 to the age of thirty something, each team member brings a truly unique detail to the group. I feel that God will use them in a way that we never could imagine. We will be performing at the different schools in Saipan and at Street market. Our final trip will be to Palau in May 08 to perform at the schools over there. I will be helping out with props and set design as well as acting alittle bit. I am so excited about this upcoming year! Stay tuned for upcoming peformances =)