A mime of its own
There are many ways of worshipping God. At times, silence and actions speak louder than words.
By Natalie Gilmore | Royal Report
Bethel Junior Josh Ochoa senses his chest tightening, the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Just breath, he tells himself for the hundredth time. He takes another inhale, feeling his chest rise and swell up with air. The fullness of anxiety builds up inside him. Upon exhale, all that pent up tension escapes as the air drains from his body, leaving him feeling a bit more at ease. Ochoa hears the thunderous claps from the audience. The music begins to blare out of the speakers in Benson Hall. That’s his cue. It’s show time, Ochoa tells himself. He takes one last deep breath and pulls back the curtain. The blinding lights of the stage welcome Ochoa as he steps out. Overwhelmed with joy, Ochoa smiles. His hard work is finally going to pay off tonight.
“The Gospel Mime isn’t about a French guy getting stuck in a box,” said Ochoa. “It’s a different worship experience. For me, I am not the type of person who is engaged in worship and prayer per say, which are both incredible. To me, I’ve always loved exploring other channels of finding God and so the mime really spoke to me when I was at church camp. Since then I’ve been in about 23 mime productions.”
During his freshman year, Ochoa took a walk by Lake Valentine on a frigid Minnesota winter night when an idea popped into his head. Bring miming to Bethel.
Unsure about the idea, Ochoa began asking his friends, peers, and professors what they thought of it. Most people never heard of a gospel mime. Ochoa was now intrigued and determined to show the Bethel community what a gospel mime was all about. Ochoa began writing his first ever mime production in the spring of 2014 as freshmen.
“The writing process begins by me listening to music and envisioning the scene. I start thinking of actions and movements to depict the story of the Bible,” said Ochoa.
By the fall of 2014, Ochoa already had a cast ready to go and started rehearsing the life of Jesus. Excited, Ochoa still had a few obstacles ahead of him. Ochoa and his first cast faced backlash from the university at first.
“It was nobody’s fault. We just assumed that the Bethel’s ad ministry didn’t want this to happen at first. We overcame that, with the help of Campus Ministries. They offered funding for us our first year to get Benson Hall. Other people gave us donations out of the goodness of their hearts and for that we were really thankful for. We were able to figure out the logistics of the play and we made it happen,” said Ochoa.
“I love life. I am a very passionate person in a lot of areas of my life. I am always trying to find meaning and motivation to educate people that there are other ways of worshipping.”— Josh Ochoa, director and writer
Ochoa began writing his second mime with his sister, Becky, a month after the first one ended. Ochoa felt compelled to do a follow up production since the first one was such a success.
“I love life. I am a very passionate person in a lot of areas of my life. I am always trying to find meaning and motivation to educate people that there are other ways of worshipping,” said Ochoa.
This year, Ochoa’s Gospel Mime made its debut on May 7 at Benson Hall. People filed in excited to see a production about the journey Christ made on earth. This mime production is a little different from the last. There is a character named Humanity. Humanity represents everyone that ever has been and will be. In the first production, Humanity was created by God and was a part of the whole story. This year’s Humanity is watching from the side-lines as the story of Jesus unfolds. She has a mentor who comes along side of her and explains to her what the Gospel is. Both characters participate in parotic aspects of freeze frames while trying to answer the question, ‘why do bad things happen to good people?’
“It is so rewarding to see Christians and non-believers in awe of the story of the Gospel. I think that sometimes reading the story over and over it becomes stale and boring,” said Ochoa. “We know what it says but I think actually seeing it people are able to be moved. Our theme this year is letting God speak so we don’t have too. God sent his only son to be killed in the most brutal way possible and yet we forget that. I think that is what the mime does, it awakens people to the realization this was a true story. Music speaks to hearts in a certain way that simple words cannot either. I think when you combine actions with music, God opens up hearts.”
This year’s Gospel Mime has been an easier transition for Josh and his new cast. They had left over funds from last year to supply for this production. Ochoa even donated his prize money, that he won from this year’s Lip Sync battle, towards the production.
“God has taught me that there is no one way of worshipping him,” — Haliee Ewest, junior
Ochoa has built quite the community with his cast members. Together their hard work has allowed them to draw closer to God and each other. They too, have grown and developed from the mime.
“God has taught me that there is no one way of worshipping him,” said cast member, Haliee Ewest. “He actually answers prayers. It may not be what you want, but it will be better than you dreamed. That’s why I think we love and serve God because he is a God of the impossible rather than the possible.”
This year’s mime turnout was smaller than the first one. However, the cast is very pleased with the work they did. They believe that they were able to plant seeds and allowed people to worship in a new way. It is a bittersweet ending for cast members and Ochoa because this is the last year that the Mime will be held at Bethel. Ochoa will be graduating in the fall of 2016 with a degree in relational communication.
“Josh did a really good job at making this production everyone’s mime. Even though he wrote it, he gave us the ability to edit and change it. He is very kind and humble. He deserves the credit for it because of the excellent job of he did,” said cast member, Kelley McKimens.
As the year comes to an end, Ochoa is looking forward to serving God in new ways this summer by returning as a camp counselor at Trout Lake Camps. He is very excited to have a break from writing and directing. However, he will never forget all the things he has learned from miming.
“This production was life changing and I am so sad to see it come to an end. Miming has taught me that beauty can be communicated in all facets. God is not limited to words, he is not limited to relationships, and he is not limited to music,” said Ochoa. “You are letting your actions speak louder than words. Miming is such a testament to that. It is my prayer that people can find something like this and experience [the] power of being silence with God.”
Review Quotes:
“Josh did an amazing job at choreographing this production. I was really impressed with how passionate he and his cast mates where up on stage,” said Bethel junior, Joey Young.
“This has been a new experience for me. I am so use to worshiping God by singing and praying that I never new you could do it while miming. I thought this production was really creative and it was an eye opening experience for me,” expressed Bethel junior, Luke Walters.
“I really enjoy seeing how the music corresponded with the actions that the actors where preforming. I though it sent a powerful message to the audience about everything that Christ had to endure here on earth,” said Bethel junior, Eric Johnson.
“The mime was moving, it inaudibly spoke the gospel through actions and movements alone it helped me see God in a new light, so much more human than I have ever seen him before,” said Bethel junior, Mya Kubik.
