GROUP SCULPTURE MASTERPIECE
Exploring Bible Verses and Themes Using Tableaux

This drama activity asks participants to spontaneously create a group sculpture representing specific Biblical verses or themes assigned by a leader. It’s a great group-building exercise and an effective way to reinforce the focus of a retreat or gathering—or even a mission statement.

Instructions:

In Group Sculpture Masterpiece, give your group the title of a sculpture you want them to create, and ask them to think for a minute about what that title means for them. The title can be a word, a phrase, or even an entire verse from scripture.

• One participant begins by stepping into the playing area and freezing in a position they think represents the title. -

• One by one, the other members of the group can add to the sculpture, freezing in positions that convey their own idea of the title, or build on to the ideas of the participants who have gone before. The object is to create a single group sculpture masterpiece that illustrates the title.

• Instruct the participants to try to connect to the people who are already part of the sculpture, but caution them not to hide anyone else. If possible, when they join the sculpture, they should add a variety of levels and body positions to make the masterpiece more interesting. 

If your group is large enough, the exercise can be played in a circle and used as a team-building activity.

Once the participants understand how the activity works, it can also be used as a form of Bible study. Divide your group into teams of six to ten and give each team a scripture verse. Instruct the teams to discuss their verse, and then create their own frozen “sculpture” that expresses it in some way. After ten to twenty minutes, the groups reconvene to read their verses and demonstrate what they’ve created

MORE DRAMA ACTIVITIES FOR EXPLORING THE BIBLE:
BIBLICAL SLIDE SHOW - An activity for groups to present Bible stories in the form of frozen scenes or tableaux
BODY SCULPTURE - Partners in the roles of “sculptor” and “clay” express Biblical themes as human statues
PSALMS IN MOTION - A group activity interpreting psalms through improvised expressive movement

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Activities and techniques in the Friends of the Groom Theater Company Resource Center are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
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