NW Valley Times

Five students from Grand Canyon University's College of Arts and Media traveled to Japan this summer to teach theatre to schoolchildren. When senior theatre major Jessica Mangels received a call from a friend in Japan about the opportunity, she quickly assembled a team and secured approval from Dr. Craig Detweiler, the college's dean, and Bill Symington, the assistant dean.

“I told her, ‘Let me see if anyone at GCU is available and would like to do this.’ I sent it to Dr. Craig Detweiler (College of Arts and Media dean) and Bill Symington (the college's assistant dean). They approved the idea, and we were on our way,” said Mangels.

The students spent three weeks in Japan visiting various schools and teaching theatre workshops. Their first stop was Urawa Lutheran School, where they conducted a drama camp that included improv games, songs with motions, and short skits.

“It was really hard to explain improv games in English,” said senior theatre major Reese Tate. “Instead, we would show it by playing the game first in front of them, and just seeing that, they caught on."

“The most beautiful thing about the trip was that no matter the language barrier, we were all able to speak just using our bodies and emotions. Theatre connected us.”

From early morning until midnight, they taught multiple acting exercises and short skits that included the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection to approximately 90 schoolchildren per session.

“We wanted to have a time of worship with kids, and it was really awesome how we got to see God work,” said Tate.

At the end of their week at Urawa Lutheran School, the children performed what they had learned for their families at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

“It was beautiful because there are two churches that meet in the same building,” said junior theatre major Thomas Heggem. “They never do stuff together; they don’t coordinate at all. But after both services, a lot of parents and congregation members stuck around, and we were able to perform for all of them."

“After they performed, we got to perform (GCU theatre professor) Michael Kary’s 'Bible in 40' and were able to teach God’s Word to people who haven’t heard of Christ or were just discovering Him.”

In their second week in Japan, the GCU students explored traditional Japanese Kabuki theatre among other cultural sites before moving on to another school.

Their final week was spent at The Blessing Room daycare in Fukushima. They taught young children various skits and worship songs as well as games such as duck-duck-goose.

“They loved learning all the American-kid things,” said Mangels.

The children performed these songs for their parents whenever they came for pick-up. According to Heggem, they performed one song approximately 15 times by day's end.

“It was evident we impacted the kids because every time a parent came, the kids didn’t want to do the song because they knew they were leaving,” said Tate. “They would start crying so we had to start performing the song for them; they would do it little by little.”

The GCU students aimed not only to teach theatre but also spread God's love within the community in Japan.

"We wanted to communicate God’s love," said Heggem. "We found that communicating through the kids was most effective because they are most receptive."

"We all came into this thinking it would just be fun excursion touristy stuff," added Heggem. "But God had a whole different plan."

GCU staff writer Izabela Fogarasi can be reached at [email protected]

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