Increased Seekers Expected for Christmas, Make Plans for Them Now

This year more people than usual will be ready to remember the Truth in Christmas. Now is the time to get ready for increased numbers of people looking for more than consumer goods as the reason for the season. It takes care and planning well in advance to provide the rich and meaningful experience people will be looking for in Christmas '09.

We have the tools and the plan to lead people on the path to renewed insight and faith this year.

People will rally around our script for a great, intergenerational play. They will grow individually and as a community by working together and presenting the story to the larger community of family and friends.

Our “Word Show” workshop kicks off the experience by helping the group discover the joy of story telling. The workshop opens the inner workings of the script. It gets the group on their feet using new tricks to bring out the meaning of the story. By the end of the workshop your team will be ready to continue the fun through the process of preparing the story for the Christmas season.

Mark and Donna Turner personally apply their 40 years experience (apiece) in stage and film to guide the Word Show workshop weekend. But they do not just leave the team to fend for themselves after that. They remain available by phone to answer questions and coach the leadership through the whole process.

By the time the play has been presented the cast and crew will have grown personally and corporately in new appreciation of the advent message. The audience will be illuminated by the story and by the change in those who tell it.

A discount is offered of up to 45% on day, or day-and-evening Word Show sessions if booked by September 1.

Call 760-765-3884 now to learn how you can bring this wonderful experience to your community, or e-mail your inquiries to markanddonna@horizongate.org.

Play Capsulizes Age of Misinformation and Greed

Mark Turner wrote a play in 1990 which still addresses today's issues 20 years later.

In “The Lost Kids Spy Christmas” the old crook, Ananiah, has a nice gig going with a gang of kids to shoplift and some sly stooges to cash the merchandise. He is growing “the baby”, as they say, an ironic reference to his dearest thing in the advent season, his horde of cash, not the Christ Child. His conspiracy to obscure Christmas from the street kids is not that far off from today's realities.

He is staunch in defending his nest egg even when the pressure of police and double-crossing crooks bring him to the brink. It is his gang of street kids who get to his heart when they beg him to help save a real baby entrusted to them. When he joins the children in the rescue he recalls the choices he made as a kid.

Even though it is not “fair” and you could say it is too sappy to be “real”, he repents. He lets himself give away his fake baby of greed, admit who the real baby of Christmas is and escapes his just deserts. It's--not--fair!

These days the pressure is mounting and we tend to get that hording attitude which guards the little wealth we manage to keep. We think of revenge on the crooks that are getting away with millions. But here is a story about grace that extends even to the worst of us.

And that's why we are talking about Christmas in July. It is time to prepare to extend grace to an undeserving world in elaborate displays of love by producing this play in your communities. We have the script, music and sound effects along with our personal consultation ready to help you provide this act of love in your home town.

Call 760-765-3884, or e-mail markanddonna@horizongate.org to get started.

"Word Show" to Kick Off Productions

Our Word Show workshop is an excellent way to pull your group together and lay a strong foundation for your production of Mark Turner's play “The Lost Kids Spy Christmas”. Mark and Donna Turner come to your group and personally help dissect the play, learn what makes it a good story and show you how to tell it effectively.

Using the tools of playwrights, actors and directors, you identify key building blocks of the story. You discover what makes the characters tick. In longer workshops you play theater games to build story telling skills. Through Word Show everyone involved in your play gains the insight needed to do their best in the ensemble for the most meaningful presentation of the story.

The audience gains so much more when this kind of preparation backs up your performances.

The workshop can be limited to 2 hours, fill a day or take an evening and a day. It establishes exercises and disciplines which carry on through the rehearsal schedule and the Turners remain accessible for coaching by phone.

Word Show is a valuable way to approach any of the many script packages we offer. The “Lost Kids” script package comes complete with music and sound effects CD's.

To book a Word Show workshop contact markanddonn@horizongate.org , or call 760-765-3884