Todd S Farley

Theater in Debate Between Lucian of Samosata and Tertullian Todd S Farley

Theatre in Debate: Tertullian and Lucian in dialogue uses the words of Early Chruch Father Tertullian (quoted from "The Shows") and Greek satyrist Lucian ("On Dance" or "Pantomime") to argue about the theatre arts in the Church. Imagine these two ancient characters meeting in Purgatory over a cup of coffee where they debate the use of the arts in the Church and World. Tertullian damns everything theatrical, while Lucian uses his wit to challenge Tertullian by drawing on tradition and scripture with twists and turns that reflects how theatre arts can also be viewed as from God... or was that gods? The dialogue can be performed as readers theatre by three performers. There is no classic resolution to the diaologue, but it demonstrats two varied view points on the use of the arts and draws from historical and scriptural resources with full endnotes and bibliographical references. Its was used by Mimeistry International as a way to understand the points of views and the arguements sometimes faced by artists who perform in the religious world. The dialogue draws and quotes directly from the writings of Tertullian, Lucian, Christian scripture, Greek writers, and other Early Church Fathers. Often with only transitional dialogue to connect the thoughts.