acting

Representing the Savior on Stage

June 3, 2023 By Tristi Pinkston 1 Comment

Photo from the 2019 Hill Cumorah Pageant.

The theater has been an important part of Latter-day Saint culture from the very beginning. One of the most prominent buildings erected in Nauvoo was the cultural hall, where the Saints would gather to enjoy concerts, plays, and other performing arts that celebrated the life of the Savior and taught other important gospel concepts. Visitors to Nauvoo can still attend events held in the cultural hall to this day, and it’s a marvelous experience.

As Latter-day Saint creators today, we frequently feel a pull to use our talents for the same objective—to honor the Savior and to convey our love for Him to others. I personally feel this is the most important use of our talents, and perhaps even why we were given them in the first place. As with all gifts, however, there are ways to use them appropriately, and this is especially true when it comes to depicting the Savior in our dramatic works.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to serve on the Church’s music and cultural arts committee. We had the task of reading over scripts and musical compositions submitted by Church members to determine whether they were appropriate to be performed within our meetings. This committee no longer exists, but I certainly did enjoy my time there.

As part of our process, we evaluated each piece for the following criteria, which you can use as well in examining your own work.

Is the Savior Depicted on Stage?

Great care should be taken in how we show the Savior in our theatrical productions. We should demonstrate reverence in every respect, including how the actor is costumed and who is chosen to play that role. As per the Church Handbook, the Savior may be portrayed by a man “of wholesome personal character” (Chapter 20: Activities 20.5.6). Additionally, the Primary may portray the Savior in Nativity scenes, but should not depict Heavenly Father or the Holy Ghost (See Chapter 12: Primary 12.5.5).

Is the Savior Quoted Correctly?

While other characters in our play may be fictional and we might use our imaginations to create dialogue for them, the actor portraying the Savior should only speak lines taken directly from the scriptures, without adding anything extra. It’s best to check the script carefully to make sure we have quoted the Savior’s words as accurately as possible. An excellent example is found in the Bible and Book of Mormon videos the Church has produced over the last several years. As I watch them, I feel as though the scriptures have come to life before my eyes, which helps me understand and appreciate them more. Attending a play that reverently features the words of the Savior can likewise be a testimony-building experience.

Is a Testimony of the Savior the Prevailing Message?

If you ever had the opportunity to see the Manti Pageant or the Hill Cumorah Pageant, you’ll remember how those productions made Christ the focus of the story. While they depicted the difficulties experienced by the early Saints (in the case of the Manti Pageant) and the wars between the Lamanites and Nephites (both the Manti Pageant and the Hill Cumorah Pageant), the message was brought back to the hope that Jesus Christ gives to all of us. Depictions of sin, war, and conflict should be kept in careful balance, and the audience should be left with feelings of hope, joy, and reverence.

Our Personal Preparation

I can think of no subject more daunting than writing about the Savior. Because the subject is so immense, no author could truly write something that adequately conveys everything that He is, but this does not mean we shouldn’t try. Again, we were given our talents so that we might share our testimonies with others, and our attempts don’t have to be perfect.

I suggest that as we embark on these projects, we prepare ourselves in the following ways:

Study the life of the Savior and His actual words as found in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.
Look up conference talks and other addresses that focus on the Savior and His mission.
Pray earnestly for inspiration so that we may be guided in what to say and how to present it.
Attend the temple when location and circumstances permit and seek guidance there.
Seek out positive examples of the type of art we wish to create and study them to determine why they are successful in conveying their themes.

The most important element in our preparation is our willingness to humble ourselves and allow the Spirit to teach us how to create. It’s far too easy to let our artistic egos take the upper hand, but when we’re seeking to write something that truly has the power to carry messages to the hearts of our viewers, we should step back and let the Spirit take the lead, for that is the true way people are touched.

Theater is just one medium through which we can teach others about the Savior, but it’s certainly powerful. It not only touches the audience, but the cast as well. When we choose such an uplifting topic and show it the reverence it deserves, the experience can change lives.

Tristi Pinkston

Tristi Pinkston is the mother of four, the wife of one, the author of one hundred and seventy-five, and the editor of oodles. She serves as the chairman of the board for the Bear Lake Arts Council and participates enthusiastically (if not with utmost skill) in their theatrical productions. She is currently the editor-in-chief for the resource library here on the LDSPMA website. You can learn more about her on her website.

Acting with Juice Boxes: Exploring Indian Breathing Techniques

January 20, 2021 By Brittany Passmore 2 Comments

I certainly don’t consider myself a professional actress by any means, but I cherish the memories I have from participating in school and community productions. Because we have so many talented and aspiring actors and actresses in our membership, I wanted to talk about a breathing technique I learned from my high school theatre teacher about rasa boxes.

Rasa Boxes

My director taught me and my peers this Indian breathing technique during one of our many play rehearsals. He explained to us that rasa was an Indian word that could be translated as “breath” but also “the juice of life.” We joked that the rasa box technique could also be called the “juice box” technique.

The technique can be illustrated with a three-by-three square. Each box represents a different state of emotion, such as sadness, pleasure, anger, and so on.

raudra anger, frustration, rage	bhayanaka fear, terror	karuna sadness
sringara pleasure, bliss	shantra beyond emotion	hasya mirth, laughter
bibhatsa disgust	vira gallantry, heroics, courage	adbuda wonder, awe

Shantra is in the centermost box because it is “beyond emotion,” or a neutral state that can lead to all other emotional states.

The main idea behind rasa boxes is that your breath can be used as a tool to embody these various emotional states. Once you “activate” or engage the breath properly, you can better feel and portray the actual emotion throughout your body.

The Exercise

My teacher led us through an exercise to try out the technique. We would always start with shantra, a calm and even breath. There, we would re-center ourselves before and after we attempted other emotional states.

We would pick one of the rasa boxes—like vira, for example, the breath of gallantry, heroics, and courage—and try to activate that breath. We measured the intensity of our breath (and thus the emotion) on a scale of one to ten, one being the weakest and ten being the strongest. Then we would work our way up and down the scale to explore the breath—not necessarily to get all the way to a 10 but to see how our breath influenced our body language. After playing with the breath at different intensities, we would go back to shantra, recenter, and choose another rasa box.

It wasn’t an easy exercise. I struggled at first to know how to portray an emotion like vira—after all, how do you breathe heroically? My director encouraged us to just keep focusing and projecting the emotion through our breath. He warned us to not overthink the exercise and let go of whatever held us back, and I found myself understanding the technique more as I tried other breaths.

A young woman sitting crosslegged with her hands in front of her diaphram, breathing.

Takeaway Lessons

I learned from this exercise that how I breathed could actually influence how I felt and how my body reacted. I wasn’t an expert at applying this technique in all my high school acting, but I think it helped me better portray the role of a simple countrywoman going into shock after experiencing a driveby shooting.

And although I don’t usually remember all of the Indian names for the different rasa boxes, I’ve become more aware of how my breath is related to my everyday actions. I’ve learned that focusing a little control on my breathing can truly influence my attitude and the results I see in my life.

Try out this breathing technique in your acting (or everyday) pursuits! Remember that the point is not to overthink the process and get each emotion perfect on every number of the scale. The point is to explore what your breath does to your emotions and body so you can be more aware of the power your breath has and discover new ways to portray various emotions.

***

Brittany Passmore graduated from BYU with a major in editing and publishing. She works as a freelance editor specializing in science-fiction and fantasy. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, Brittany loves to be a stay-at-home mom to her 18-month-old son and dabble in her musical hobbies of piano, flute, guitar, and singing. Oh, and of course, she loves practicing yoga.

Website: https://brittanympassmore.wixsite.com/passmoreedits

A photo of the author of the post, Brittany Passmore.

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