Candlelight Carols 2023: The Light Shines
Every year in early December, the MMA field produces a Christmas extravaganza called Candlelight Carols. In addition to the beautiful singing and playing by our music department, we also have a Christmas market, cookies, hot cocoa, twinkle lights, food trucks, and carol singers. Moments of artistic witness to our great God abound across campus.
Additionally, each Candlelight Carols production has a drama to accompany the concert. This year’s drama was directed by Professor Bethany Paulsen, a new member of the communications faculty. Since the theme for the year was ‘The Light Shines’, Prof. B wanted to “give a nod to classic theater with the shadow puppetry elements”. Her concept used shadow puppets performed live while a second team of actors narrated the story of the Light coming into the world.
This medium of theater presents both unique challenges and opportunities. Speaking of the technical aspects of the performance, Prof. B noted, “It is a demanding type of performance. Every movement and angle have to be precise when projecting shadows. We had to create our own vocabulary to block out the shadow performance pieces, and it took a lot of trial and error.”
At the same time, when speaking of the Light, the contrasts of light and darkness used in shadow puppetry present “a dynamic way to draw visual analogies that accompany the Scriptural text”, Prof. B explains. A fitting analogy indeed, for it is the greater light behind the actors that shows their contours, limitations, and beauty, just as our own are exposed through the Light of the World.
“The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5
PS: Candlelight Carols 2024 is already in the works! Please mark your calendars for December 6-7, 2024 and join us at the Moody Bible Institute Chicago campus for this special celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!
