• Home
• 
• Services & Ministries
• 
• Christian Ministries

Frequent Questions - Touring Drama Teams

Answer: Click here

Answer: Click here

Answer: Click here

Answer: Click here

The tentative tour locations for Summer Tour 2008 are:

Lifeline Players: Southeast (N and S Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama)
The Master's Puppets 1: West Central (Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin)
The Master's Puppets 2: Midwest

There is no established honorarium required to host a Cedarville University Touring Team. However, many churches do take a "love offering" to help cover the traveling expenses of the team, but we would never want the issue of money to keep a team from the possibility of ministering in an area where they are wanted. The amount of any gift is totally up to the individual church.

The Master's Puppets: The expenses of the Bible school team are greater (they bring all of the supplies, including crayons, scissors, glue, etc.) We are currently suggesting an honorarium around $700 for the team to bring their ministry for the week.

The Lifeline Players: During the summer we do offer a shorter a shorter variation on our "Family Program."

The Master's Puppets: All of the puppet material in this set of programs is pre-recorded onto minidisk, therefore, it is not possible to shorten the standard 45 min. program which we offer to churches.

The length of the Bible school program (3 hours each day) can be shortened to accommodate churches by eliminating some live material and other portions of the program. It should be noted, however, that cuts beyond 2 1/2 hours could involve cutting craft time and other major portions of the program.

It takes both the Master's Puppets and the Lifeline Players approximately 45 minutes to setup for a program.

The Lifeline Players: A clear stage is really all that this team needs. The team can assist in clearing any platform furniture that might need to be moved.

The Master's Puppets: The puppet teams will need approximately 10X10X10 stage / performance area for their ministry. The team can assist in clearing the platform of any furniture that might need to be moved.

Both teams travel with a high quality, complete sound system. The system is designed to provide the appropriate level of sound support in almost any venue the teams might find themselves in. They will need a grounded outlet for supplying power to their system.

If your auditorium seats more than 800 people, we may need to consult your church's sound technician and patch into your house system.

During the summer, the puppet teams do travel with children's music that they perform live in the Bible school program. However, neither a puppet team, nor the Lifeline Players are prepared to lead a congregation in singing during a service. The Music teams are specifically designed to fill these requests throughout the year.

We write and produce all of our children's ministry/puppet programming on campus. The sketches we use for the Lifeline Players are either written on campus or purchased from drama resource companies.

We receive many questions about scripts in different languages. Both One Way Street and Puppet Productions have puppet scripts available in Spanish for purchase.

The Master's Puppets - Currently we are not marketing our puppet scripts. You could email us with your name to be placed on a list of those interested in purchasing material should we make those available in the future.

The Lifeline Players - Some of the scripts we write ourselves, others we purchase from publishing companies.

We purchase our puppets from Puppet Productions in Desoto, TX.

We make all of our own stages. Plans for our current PVC stage design can be obtained through our department. Some puppet supply companies sell stages, as well.

Here is a list of some puppet suppliers:

• Puppet Productions
  P.O. Box 1066
  DeSoto, TX 75123-1066
  (800) 854-2151
  
• One Way Street, Inc.
  P.O. Box 5077
  Engelwood, CO 80155-5077
  (303) 790-1188
  
• The Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers
  107 Moore Allen Street
  Dudley, NC 28333
  (919) 394-1580

There are many good resource books on the market, but some of the better ones are:

Puppet Ministry Made Easy by Dale and Liz VonSeggen, One Way Street, 2006. (Provides some good insights into beginning and maintaining an effective puppet ministry.)

Perky Puppets with a Purpose by Mary Rose Pearson, Gospel Publishing House, 1992.

Here are some companies who market drama materials:

• Baker Book House - (800) 877-2665
  
• Crosspoint Script Service - (877)627-6468
  
• Drama Ministry Script Service - (866) 859-7622
  
• Group Books - (800) 447-1070
  
• Intervarsity Press - (800) 843-9487
  
• LifeWay Christian Resources - (800) 233-1123
  
• Lillenas Publishing Company - (800) 877-0700
  
• Meriwether Publishing - (800) 937-5297
  
• Willowcreek Association - (847) 765-0700
  
• Zondervan - (800) 876-7335

There are many good resource books on the market, but some of the better ones are:

Producing and Directing Drama for the Church by Robert M. Rucker, Lillenas, 1993.

Drama Team Handbook by Alison Siewert, InterVarsity Press, 2003.

Playwriting: A Study in Choices and Challenges by Paul McCusker, Lillenas, 1995.

What to Do with the Second Shepherd on the Left: Staging the Seasonal Musical by Deborah Craig-Claar, Lillenas, 1992.

Developing the Church Drama Ministry by Paul M. Miller, Lillenas, 1994.

Teens in Drama Ministry by Tim D. Miller, Lillenas, 1994.

Yes, it is true that Drama team members are paid to serve and represent Cedarville University.
The total 2007-2008 salary (before taxes) is $13,684 per person.

Auditions for all music and puppet teams are the first week of Fall Semester. Audition/interview sheets will be available in the Christian Ministries Division in the Ministry Center.

Auditions for the Lifeline Players are Spring Semester.

Look in a Christian Ministries brochure for audition dates or contact us.

The Master's Puppets - Personal interview
The Lifeline Players - Drama audition (no preparation required) and a personal interview with callbacks.

Teams rehearse approximately six hours a week. They travel 10 weekends during the school year and have a 10-week summer commitment.

Search Cedarville