From Evangeline Booth to TikTok: Drama in the Army

The Salvation Army has always had a flair for the dramatic. Drama, in its various forms, has been a part of our ministry since the beginning.

But why? What did the Founders and Salvationists since then understand about the power of this art form that has kept it alive in the Army for more than 150 years? How did we get from Evangeline Booth’s pop-up street performances to modern-day musicals and TikToks?

For this episode, we sit down with Wendy Woodland, a Salvationist from Corner Brook, N.L., who is also a professional actor, singer, and more. She shares her thoughts on the Army's dramatic history and how we can keep it alive today.

And we chat with Dara Murphy, Elizabeth Shepherd, and Colonel Glen Shepherd from Montreal Citadel. This trio recently spearheaded a contemporary reimagining of a classic Gowans and Larsson musical, Man Mark II, for the citadel's 140th anniversary. They share how it all came together and why drama ministry is having a lasting impact on the congregation.

Transcript

Kristin Ostensen

This is the Salvationist podcast. I’m Kristin Ostensen. In The Salvation Army, you could say that we have just a bit of a flair for the dramatic. I mean, William Booth did once say: “If I thought I could win one more soul to the Lord by walking on my head and playing the tambourine with my toes, I’d learn how!” (Now there’s an image you’ll never get out of your head!) 

But why drama? What did the Founders and Salvationists since then understand about the power of this art form that has kept it alive in the Army for more than 150 years? How did we get from Evangeline Booth’s pop-up street performances to modern-day musicals and TikToks?

On this episode, we’re looking at drama in the Army, past and present, including a recent reimagining of a classic Gowans and Larsson musical produced by Montreal Citadel. But first, we’re going to sit down with Wendy Woodland. Wendy is a Salvationist from Corner Brook, Newfoundland, and she has an arts resume about a mile long: actor, singer, director, producer, conductor. You name it, she’s probably done it—musicals, one-woman shows, television. And she got her start in drama growing up in The Salvation Army.

Wendy Woodland

I can think about my background in theatre really kind of starting with some things at the Army, at the corps where I grew up in St. John’s. As a teenager, St. John's Citadel songsters used to, on a regular basis, produce a Christmas cantata and then also an Easter cantata at some point. And you know, they were mostly sung with narration, and, you know, some portrayal of characters. But then we also moved into doing Chains of Gold in the mid-80s, right? So I was, you know, I was a young teenager then, and participated in the chorus. But then we moved into, you know, we did Take-Over Bid. Blood of the Lamb was done. You know, all the Gowans and Larsson musicals. And they were effective. They were effective for the people involved, but they were also effective for the audience—you know, bringing the stories to life and having, I guess, the truths of the gospel brought to you in a different way. It just kind of changes your head space, you know. It's a little different to read something or be given the spoken word, but to watch an interpretation of something, it has a completely different effect.

Kristin Ostensen

How so?

Wendy Woodland

Whether it's a, you know, a Salvationist production, a Christian production, you know, just Summer Stock Theatre, or it's a monologue for any kind of production—people are listening and they can relate. And so, you have such an emotional connection when you're doing this—you know, it can be visceral when you're doing something theatrical. And, you know, just think about even how you would respond watching a movie or even a moving commercial. For crying out loud, there are so many of these short TV commercials these days that the directors and the producers just go, bam! And they get you right in your emotional sweet spot, because they know it's going to tug at your heartstrings, or it's going to make you rethink the way you are living your life, or the way you are making a decision, whether or not you're, you know, being kind or helping others. And when you then overlay that into, you know, into the Christian context, your opportunity for sharing and encouraging—it just multiplies exponentially. So as a performer, particularly when I'm doing things for the church, for the corps, for the division, for a special event—there's always that added layer of, you know, having the opportunity to share without lecturing or preaching at somebody, you know. So we're providing the opportunity to share some very important truths.

Kristin Ostensen

Mm. And is there a role or a drama experience in the Army that stands out to you as being particularly memorable for you?

Wendy Woodland

Well, it's very interesting. I've had a lot of different experiences doing things with the Army—sometimes things that I've created myself, and I've been asked to be a special guest at a congress or an officers’ luncheon, or, you know, some kind of a celebration. Actually, thinking of one that really affected me or meant a lot to me, and it was very recent actually. We had an officer here in Newfoundland receive the Founders’ pin and the Founders’ Award. And she was over, she was 100.

Kristin Ostensen

Right.

Wendy Woodland

And at the celebration dinner for her, the DC had asked me to write a monologue portraying her.

Kristin Ostensen

Oh wow!

Wendy Woodland

So she's sitting right there in the audience, and I had to do some research on her life, and come out dressed as an elderly officer—you know, try to style my hair, my glasses and everything else. So I'm looking like this lady, and she's sitting right there, you know. And Major Vardy was a real firecracker of a lady with a very interesting life. So, to read it, to create a monologue, to learn, and then to portray her, with her sitting right there—I was honoured. And it was lovely, you know? It was a lovely experience. And I'm not speaking about my portrayal—I'm just saying, the entire feeling about that evening. And for people who, you know, knew a little bit about her, but didn't know her whole story, they were—again—they were seeing it, they were hearing “her”—and there's my air quotes that you can't see. They were hearing her tell her story, you know. So I know that was more effective for that evening than if her biography had just been written on the back of the program. 

Kristin Ostensen

That's very true, yeah.

Wendy Woodland

Right? And it goes back to that whole idea of “show, don't tell,” because we, as humans, we love to be told stories. You know, the oral tradition of so many things that we do in our life, so many things that we know from a scientific or an anthropological point of view—you know, items and information carried down through generations. So we just love to hear, we love to see and we remember, and therefore we remember. It's imprinted on our brains differently, you know. So that was a wonderful experience for me, to have her there. And I worked a song into the performance as well. 

Kristin Ostensen

That's so cool!

Wendy Woodland

Yeah, it was really cool. And she said to me afterwards, you know, she gave me a big hug, and she loved it, and she said, “Oh my, oh my, oh my! I didn't know I could sing like that.” [laughs]

[Music: All Your Anxiety]

Kristin Ostensen

That was Wendy Woodland, performing the hymn, All Your Anxiety, as Major Annette Vardy.

As you mentioned, of course, this desire for story is kind of just baked into who we are as humans. And within The Salvation Army, drama has been around since the early days, at least as far back as General Evangeline Booth. Can you talk a little bit about why you think that was an effective ministry at the time, and then maybe talk about how drama in the Army has evolved since those days?

Wendy Woodland

Well, I think it was effective at the time because it was so different. Yeah, it was one thing to, you know, to be preaching in the streets, to be on the soapbox, to be filling church halls. But to bring in playing a character—you know, when she would dress in rags and go into areas of the city where people didn't know her, you know, or then dress in rags and come into meetings and be portraying the people who were down and out. It provided an opportunity to connect with people and/or show people how the other part of society was living. So it was a real visual and interpretive opportunity for her to say, “Look!” Again, it's not just, “I'm telling you this is the way people are living. I'm standing in front of you and in rags, and I'm telling you stories about my life,” or “I am sharing with you”—she's telling a story about an opportunity, or, you know, a homeless, young unwed mother that she interacted with, and she is sharing that story from the pulpit, storytelling, drawing people in. And from her—she was very dramatic and full of lots of flair. Anyway, I've done a fair bit of reading about her life, and have on a couple of occasions written some things where I've played her. So she's always been a very interesting character to me, because she was so passionate and dramatic, and passionate about sharing the gospel, and using this as a tool, because it was something different that others weren't doing, other churches weren't doing. And maybe, you know, because of that tradition and because of the effectiveness of that, the Army maintained and developed its drama ministry. And we go into, you know, the musicals by Gowans and Larsson. I mean, there was a dozen of those, and people loved them. Again, as I was saying at the beginning—you know, to be involved and/or to watch—to see the stories of either biblical characters or the stories of redemption or the stories of, you know, history coming to life. It's just so much richness. And then, of course, you know Redhead, and we you know [ ], you know Len Ballantine, and you know Frank Reynolds, and most recently, some of the stuff that has been coming out of the U.S. and out of the creative arts department in the UK, there's some wonderful—the Booth Company, for crying out loud, in the U.S.—there's been so much that has been developed and is being used as tools for ministry. And it's ongoing because performers within the Army see it as a tool. But also, congregants and non-Salvationists have the opportunity to hear things in a different way. It's just so effective, and with the way the world is now, theatrically speaking, there is so much happening on many different levels, from big productions to, you know, small TikTok videos to small, you know, 30-second ads—as I was saying, you know, these days, even a commercial for a company that's selling furniture has turned into a little mini drama of 60 seconds, you know? So, there's just, the sky is literally the limit with what you can do creatively. And I think because of that, it does have a place in the Army. The Army has, even from its early days, taken a lot of the well-known songs, as we all know—you know, the hits of the day—and rewritten the lyrics so that there was something familiar. But there was a rewrite that happened so that, you know, the story of the gospel and redemption could be there. Why not use theatre, too?

[Music: He Has Chosen Me]

Kristin Ostensen

When Montreal Citadel celebrated its 140th anniversary last fall, it was the perfect opportunity for the congregation to stage a musical. They decided to do a fresh take on Man Mark II, a classic Gowans and Larsson production, adapting it to suit both a modern 2024 audience, as well their unique local congregation. Meet the trio behind the musical, which they renamed Humanity 2.0.

Dara Murphy

Hi, I'm Dara Murphy.

Elizabeth Shepherd

Hi, I'm Elizabeth Shepherd.

Glen Shepherd

Hi, I'm Glen Shepherd.

Kristin Ostensen

Dara is a professional author and playwright, who has seen her work performed at the Montreal Fringe Festival, among other places. Elizabeth is an award-winning jazz musician, with eight critically acclaimed albums to her name. And Colonel Glen Shepherd is an officer with decades of ministry experience, currently serving as director organizational development. If you’re wondering, yes, Elizabeth and Glen are father-daughter.

Humanity 2.0 centres around a Bible study group that is transformed by the power of the gospel passage they are studying. They are visited by the Apostle Paul who reminds them to keep the cross of Christ in the centre of all that they do. While the musical was originally written in English, Humanity 2.0 is presented in French, English and Spanish, reflecting the uniqueness of Montreal Citadel.

Elizabeth Shepherd

Within our congregation—so, for those who don't know, the services occur in, with simultaneous translation into Spanish and French. I would say a third, maybe half, maybe more, of our congregation—I don't know, what would you say the proportion of Hispanophones would be?

Glen Shepherd

I’d say it's 50% Spanish speaking, 25% French speaking, and maybe 25% English speaking—around there.

Elizabeth Shepherd

Yeah. So to do a musical exclusively in English would be it would cut off a lot of people. 

Kristin Ostensen

Huh, that's really interesting context. And so, the script in Spanish was already existing, or was that a translation?

Glen Shepherd

We had received that actually from John Larsson, General John Larsson, who's a friend of mine. And he'd sent it because when he was served in Chile, when the musical first came out in the late 80s, they did it there, and he sent us from his personal files all the Spanish words and music—the whole thing. So we had that.

Kristin Ostensen

Oh, that's so cool. So what made you choose that particular musical? The Man Mark II to adapt to Humanity 2.0?

Glen Shepherd

I worked over my years with a number of Gowans and Larsson musicals. This was different than the others. It was not cast in the style of The Salvation Army. It was more modern, and it posed a question. It sort of raised an issue, a dramatic issue, that was appropriate to our church. I mean, how do you stay focused on Jesus rather than trusting in your own structures and mechanics and skills and competencies? So it was a good question for an anniversary weekend.

Dara Murphy

Yeah, I thought it was a really interesting story. I liked the story and the message it had, but yeah, we just needed to update it a bit and change a few of the terminology. And also, we had a smaller cast, so we had to make it a bit smaller and a bit shorter in that way as well.

Glen Shepherd

I think Dara understates her contribution to pulling this off. 

Elizabeth Shepherd

I was going to say! [laughs]

Glen Shepherd

Because I think even conceptually, it was called Man Mark II, which actually goes back to the image of the Lincoln Continental, Mark 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Dara was the person who pointed out to an older person like me, that some of these images and language and terms just didn't connect, and sort of pushed us to remain very faithful to the musical and its plot line, but to cast it in a 21st-century setting. And she did a tremendous amount of work of, I'd say, revising the original script. It’s very faithful to what John Gowans wrote, but it is 40 years later, and it was a huge contribution. Dara also did all the choreography and the staging.

Kristin Ostensen

Language wasn’t the only consideration when it came to adapting Man Mark II into Humanity 2.0. The trio also considered the background and abilities of the people who signed up to take part, as well as the time they had to put it all together.

Elizabeth Shepherd

Yeah, and Dara, you paid specific attention to, I think, to the people who had signed up to be part of this. Now, it's worth mentioning that we put this together in eight rehearsals—I think eight weeks. You know, people would stay after the service on Sunday for two hours. And so we sort of knew—like, you know, you can only go so far in eight weeks. We didn't know who we’d have, and we just sort of saw after the first two rehearsals who our cast was. And so, you know, Dara wrote in parts for children, for example, because there were a bunch of kids. And our cast comprised people from, basically, from age five to 80, which is pretty special, to have something that can, you know, include that swath. And you were also particularly attentive to the sort of ethnic diversity, and some of the terminologies that we have come to realize can evoke, you know, colonialism, or just these things that we're really reckoning with. And so I feel like, again, Dara, you don't big up yourself a lot, but that was a real task and very delicate thing to undertake, and which you did, like, turn on a dime, and kind of churned it out, which is quite amazing.

Glen Shepherd

It's interesting. I was just looking at the program here. We had in our cast 15 people of African origin, 16 of basically English origin or from British stock, and 15 people who were Latino, Latin American. So, that's a reflection of what our congregation is. It was sort of the melting pot. And some of the songs we did in English and in Spanish, a couple of songs were sung in French.

Dara Murphy

It felt strange to ask people to act like in a second language. So we'd have like, one character would speak a line in French, and then the next character would answer in English, you know, just like it was totally normal. And so at least everyone would understand at least a third. And then we tried to block it so that it was very visual, so that even if you didn't quite get the gist, you would kind of see what it meant.

Glen Shepherd

And we tried to do sort of “linking” lines. For example, the Apostle Paul, who was an Hispanophone, came back and made a telling speech in Spanish, the next person in would sort of resume that speech in one sentence, just so that the English speakers who didn't understand Spanish could pick up. And we worked hard to do that so that there's always threads to make sure nobody got lost. 

Elizabeth Shepherd

And this is a phenomenon that you have in Montreal where people carry on conversations, one person speaking English, the other responding in French, you know. So it's not, it sounds a little crazy, but it actually is very much reflective of how a conversation could very well go in the city.

Kristin Ostensen

That's so cool. I love how you adapted it to your local context. I think there's such a good learning there for others who might be interested in doing the same, whatever their context might be. And, just thinking musically, Elizabeth, do you want to talk a bit about your role and how you approached that? 

Elizabeth Shepherd

Yeah, so, you know, we put an open call to anyone—you didn't have to know how to act, you didn't have to know how to sing. And, you know, we had eight rehearsals to get all this together. So, the question was: what do we keep of these, you know, sometimes elaborate songs, and how do we teach them to people if they don't read music? So, I did a, I recorded everything, and we just sang unison. So, for non-musical people, we did away with any kind of harmony, and just everyone's going to sing the melody. And that was one big thing—just sort of like, let's simplify here. And then, yeah, recording the tracks for them, sent them out, and I recorded in Spanish, to the best of my abilities, too. And that took some time going through like, no, this is actually how you pronounce it. I think we spent a decent amount of time in rehearsals, just trying to fit in the Spanish words, because I would just say them how I saw them, as opposed to how they actually should sound. Yeah, so it was really a matter of sort of figuring out: what is the essence here? And the essence to any song is very much the melody, you know. And then in terms of making sure that we didn't have too much for people to learn—we had a couple of tools that we used. So, one was to assign solos to some of the stronger singers, so that the cast doesn't have to always be singing and learning these melodies. And so, you know, something like, If Crosses Come, I think, was split into two solos. The same with They Need Christ—I think there were two or three soloists. And so that's one way to sort of alleviate the burden of having to learn, I think it was seven or eight songs, yeah. And then also in terms of memorizing, there's no, we couldn't have books. That's just such an immediate like, you know, barrier between the audience and the performers. And so we set up a projector on the back wall of the church so that people could just look up as if they're looking out and singing out, but really, they're just looking, read the lyrics over everyone's head. So a really great little device, which I noticed they kept at the last, they did another dramatic piece last Sunday, and I was like, Oh, they're using that, that little tool again. So that may stay.

[Music: We Must Love One Another]

Kristin Ostensen

Humanity 2.0 was a wonderful addition to the citadel’s anniversary celebrations, enjoyed by the congregation in person and online. But this was not just a one-off performance. The musical’s impact continues to be felt, especially among those who helped bring it to life.

Dara Murphy

I thought it was really neat to see the actors, like how much they got out of it. And a lot of people that hadn't acted before, and especially the kids, and even some of the people that were retired hadn't acted before, and they were just so excited by that feeling of first time acting. It’s such a cool feeling. So, I thought that was really neat. 

Glen Shepherd

And the people who were in it, I think, benefited immensely from it. The congregation loved it, but the folks in the production were really touched by the musical and its message, and they asked on a couple of occasions, Are we going to do another?

Elizabeth Shepherd

Yeah, when you talk about team-building exercises, right—to build this sense of community—and I can't think of a better team-building exercise—which is not the reason we set out to do it. But I think one of the biggest long-lasting effects is that you remember this, and you feel this tremendous bond with the people you've done it with. I feel so close to everyone. And I feel like, you know, our congregation is not huge, but it is big enough that you can sort of fall into these habits of always talking with the same people. And I'm kind of an introvert by nature, and so this was a great chance to just meet some of the people in our congregation who I hadn't had a chance to get to know, and you're getting to know them in this very different way. When people are performing and sort of giving—it's a really truthful part of yourself you're bringing—you know, a vulnerable part when you're sort of performing and singing. And so there's something lovely to that, too, that you get to see another part of people and get to know this very immediate part of them.

Dara Murphy

And I loved how everyone sort of stepped up, you know, to do different parts of it, you know. Like, you guys were always bringing snacks to keep us fed on Sunday, so that was super important. And then we had people making PowerPoints with the dance moves involved. And then we had people retyping the script because they want it in a certain format. And we had people, you know, doing it, meeting in small groups to go over the lines together. It was really neat, just how everyone, just to see the excitement around it. 

Elizabeth Shepherd

Yeah, everyone brought, like, 110% like, you know, fully. People stayed late. And, you know, you're already there from 10 staying till 2, 2:30—it was a big commitment and everyone was just so on board.

Kristin Ostensen

That's fantastic. I love that you've talked about some of these kind of maybe benefits that you don't even think about when you're staging a production like this—you know, bringing the community together, everybody really contributing. And I wonder if there's some other things that come to mind for you from this experience. What do you think are the main benefits of doing a drama? And what place do you think drama has in the Army today?

Dara Murphy

There's something funny about how drama—like, when it sort of is a place for people who are shy, can take on a role and have responsibilities and step out of themselves, and a way for people to get to know each other. Like, I got to know people that are kind of quiet, and to see their talents and their skills, and that was really an exciting thing. So I think, yeah, I think the main part about it is the community that it builds and how it allows you to get to know each other in a better way.

Elizabeth Shepherd

Yeah. I mean, Dara and I have actually talked, I feel like just in the echoes of the last note being sung, we were like, Should we do this again? Absolutely. And we actually talked about, you know, writing something even, now that we sort of know who we're dealing with, and that there's a sort of sense of excitement and tremendous potential. You know, there's a great wealth of musicals in our Salvation Army, you know, lineage between the Gowans and Larssons and the Redheads. You know, there are quite a number of musicals. But I feel like there's also—like, we're both creatives. And so there's—you know, if you can sort of start from scratch, you can write something for your particular congregation that's really rooted in the time that we're in. So I don't want to say, without putting a date on it, like, this is, you know, going happen. But there's definitely the desire to do it again and to be involved, maybe from A to Z—you know, like the actual creation of the musical, too.

Kristin Ostensen

Not every drama ministry has to take the form of a traditional play or musical, of course. So much of the storytelling we encounter in everyday life these days comes in the form of short videos, mini-plays and monologues that can make us smile—and also make us think. If the Booths were alive today, would they be on TikTok? I’d say … probably! They certainly weren’t afraid of creating a little drama. So, if after listening to this episode, you’re feeling inspired and would like to explore drama in your own church or ministry, Wendy has some helpful advice.

Wendy Woodland

I would start at something small, something in part of a meeting, something that would be maybe a dramatic interpretation of Scripture, or it could be a small monologue in a Christmas production, but done very well. Now this is one of the things that, one of the messages, I would guess, I would like to talk about—not that everybody has to be, you know, on the level of a professional actor. But my grandmother used to say: A job worth doing is worth doing well. And you know, I kind of feel sometimes we take, drama ministry can be taken very lightly or not done properly, and therefore, instead of becoming effective, you have people watching and going, when's it going to be over? Because it's more painful than being effective, which is not doing anything for the person who's working to try and portray this character or use this ministry tool, and it's also then not having the effect that it needs to in the audience or the congregation, you know? So, I do think that it needs to be taken seriously and we do our best for the highest, right? So that should absolutely carry over into drama ministry as well.

Kristin Ostensen

No, that is a really good point—not to, like, be intimidated as a newbie, but also having that kind of reach, that intentionality towards excellence. I definitely appreciate that, yeah

Wendy Woodland

Absolutely.

Kristin Ostensen

And do you have any other words of wisdom that you could share as both a long-time performer and also a Salvationist?

Wendy Woodland

If you have a passion for creative arts, there is so much opportunity to be used, and not to be afraid of trying something at your corps. It can be an opportunity to link with the community. I know we're doing that with some band programs, and we're doing that with some choir programs. And in, you know, other places, there's some dance programs that are going on. It can start on a small scale, but it can open you up to the community at large. It can open you up to it being—any kind of a production can be done by your corps, but the community can be brought in. And it doesn't need to be tied to—we always think, Oh, it's the anniversary, or it's congress, or it's Christmas or it's Easter, we should do something. But we can step outside that. We can step outside that, to have an opportunity for others to either participate or view. So don't be afraid. You just need a seed and something can grow.

Kristin Ostensen

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Salvationist podcast. For more episodes, visit Salvationist.ca/podcast.