Unique Performance Challenges Teens

On an unseasonably warm and humid Sunday morning, a busload of high school teens from a Waukesha church traveled into Milwaukee to share the story of Jesus’ persecution and death.

With a handful of props, basic black turtlenecks and pants and stark make-up and without speaking, they share the well-known story with intensity, energy and eloquence that would rival any theater group.

Over the past 17 years, high school youth from in Waukesha have traveled to hundreds of churches and a few colleges throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa, sharing a mimed version of the story of Jesus’ last moments with thousands of people.

This Lent season, they stayed closer to home, visiting 10 different locations or churches in Milwaukee, West Allis, Random Lake, Greendale, Oconomowoc, West Bend and Greenfield.

Over the six weeks of Lent, they will have performed the Passion story 15 times, Wednesdays and Sundays, including three shows at home on Good Friday.

Taking a show on the road isn’t easy.

For this performance, there are 33 of the 49 youth, ninth to twelfth graders, assisted by 10 to 15 adult volunteers who act as chaperones, hair and make-up artists, stage, sound or light crew and, very necessary, food servers organizing muffins, fruit, juice and milk. Several of the mimers, as they call themselves, just came off a 30-hour fast to highlight world hunger.

The mime group has a trailer to carry their own sound and light equipment, not knowing what they can expect from their hosts. It’s nothing fancy but a spotlight and sound board to play the music and narration.

On Sunday, it was a short bus ride and supplies were hurriedly unpacked. Using a make-shift space, the preparations began.  Chairs were moved and set-up with mirrors for putting on make-up. Tables with make-up and hair supplies were readied.

Slipping their “blacks” on over Abercrombie & Fitch tanks or taking off typical teen clothes, like an “I (heart) Poms” tee one wore, the teens quieted down and become more serious.

Thanks to an unexpected-but-welcome pancake breakfast from the host church, the program began to run late but experienced Director Cathy Marschall runs a tight show.

“I need everybody’s hair and make-up ready by 9:30.” Marschall’s voice is crystal-clear as it carries through the chaos of the room.

Marschall has been involved, in some capacity or another, with the mime group for about 12 years, and the last four or so as director.

This year has been challenging, with a large group of inexperienced freshman joining and new parent volunteers. Sunday’s shows were additionally challenging because of absences, requiring some last-minute cast changes.

Marschall went over a few logistics with the group and gives them stage direction adjusted for this church.

Another critical reminder: no talking – “never, ever,” she said.  Or as another cast member said:  “You’re mimes, people. Mimes don’t talk!”

The girls pull back their hair into buns and boys are asked to have short bangs so that nothing detracts from the stark mime makeup.

The makeup is traditional mime makeup: black and white, showing the dark and light of humanity, apropos of the story they are portraying. Jesus’ makeup, however, is all white in the beginning, with a single tear added after the Last Supper.

On this humid Sunday, the mime group performed two shows at Ascension Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, during church services, one a Hmong language service.

It’s hard to know what the audience will make of this unique portrayal of a well-known story. Aren’t mimes better-known for comedy skits?  Pews filled with families and congregants, who came to watch the 25-minute show as part of their Sunday morning church service.

The only humor of the situation came early, when Marschall introduced the mime and lightly touched on the challenge of working with teenagers who are not supposed to talk.

As the lights dimmed and the music and narration began, audience members twisted to watch back of the church, like wedding guests waiting for the bride. The serious narration and music signaled that this was no joyous occasion and people shifted in their seats.

The mime performance begins gently, with the Last Supper and Jesus sharing his last meal with his disciples. The performance grows in intensity in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is betrayed by Judas with a kiss, followed by the powerful scenes of Jesus’ trial, death sentence and torture, ending with his death on the cross.

By the end, the audience clearly understands that this isn’t a children’s church skit.

The scenes of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s anguish over denying Jesus moved many in the audience to tears. The final spotlight of a blood-red cross underscores the ending of the Passion story.

After the music faded, there is usually a long pause as the audience considers the appropriate response to the tragedy. Finally, they applaud. One telling difference between the mime’s performance and a show in a theater: there is no curtain call and no star performers are called to the front to bow.

When asked, parent volunteers and others involved say that it’s hard to know who’s more impacted by the mime – the people in the audience or the mimes themselves.

Afterward, high-schooler Kelcie Chyla shared a story from her faith journey, something the youth work on developing for their confirmation. When she began confirmation, she said, she thought of it as just something she did on Thursday nights.

“Church wasn’t really my thing. Then I got involved in mime and saw the story in a new way. Since then, I’ve seen how it’s changed other people's lives,” she said. “We get to share God’s message and touch other people’s lives.”

Youth Minister Elisabeth Pynn Himmelman is proud of what she sees in the youth as they work on the mime ministry.

“It makes a very strong impact on the people who are seeing it and the youth who are performing it,” Pynn Himmelman said.

One of her favorite performances this year was when the mime group performed at a Spanish-speaking congregation.

“Language wasn’t a barrier,” Pynn Himmelman said. “With the mime, it doesn’t matter what language you speak, you can still hear the message.”

Among the youth, the mime group builds sense of community, with each other and with the wider church.

“The youth want to be at church and to be involved,” Pynn Himmelman said.

After the last performance, Marschall had encouraging words for the youth, praising them for the flexibility in dealing with the cast changes and the lack of time to do a proper run-though.

She also recommends a haircut for some of the boys before Good Friday, when many Ascension mime alumni return to church to watch and critique the performance.

The group will perform at 1, 5 and 7 p.m., Friday, April 22, at Ascension Lutheran Church, 1415 Dopp St.