Taryn Strauss

Director of Religious Education

REflections

May 2009

At the moment, I am tired. For the past couple of months, I have been directing a play for a theatre company I helped found before taking a job with this congregation. In the midst of this, I have adopted my first puppy, and bought my first home. As I write this, it is quite early in the morning. The play is up, and will complete its run this weekend. After a lifetime of proudly abstaining from coffee as an addictive stimulant, I find myself, suddenly, unable to live without it. Many moments I have asked myself, why I am doing all of this, especially all at the same time? The answer is that while it doesn’t seem spiritually prudent to live this way, I feel most alive when I am creating collaborative art.

At its core, play directing is merely glorified storytelling, or rather guiding the story into contemporary relevance that will connect with a variety of folks and hold diverse meanings for them. This is also true of my work in religious education. While I appreciate the parallels, I also enjoy the contrast of the two vocations, many of them visual. The warm morning light of the sanctuary on Sundays feels completely different from the pre-established blackout moments of a theatre, or the mysteriously glorious stage lights.

In theatre, I often choose plays that challenge, or deliver some harsh awakening for the patrons. I like to create a sense of unease in the theatre, and to disrupt the preconceptions of audience as passive and removed. I also believe a play production, like church, can be a call to action. In congregational life I welcome the challenge, and the invitation to change, but I also cherish the way we nurture and care for each other. I love when Sunday morning feels like an authentic, collective expression of who we are. Each of these two worlds informs the work I do in the other. The chaos and creativity of the stage provides me with the inspiration to develop an authentic worship experience. Both of these crafts feed my spirit, and for me they are both full of magic, artistic expression, and the fire of community.