Ancient Israelite Dramas and Sioux Center Sudan
taken from the Old Testament
Ancient Israelite dramas by Jeff Barker, Northwestern playwright and Iowa Professor of the Year, explore the possibility that the Old Testament might be a book of plays.
Barker is collaborating with Dr. Tom Boogaart, professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Mich., to restore some of these ancient Israelite dramas, drawn from the King James Version, to the stage.
Boogaart saw Barker’s initial attempts at the 2003 Christians in Theatre Arts (CITA) national conference and said: “I was not prepared for the impact it made on me. It’s not enough to read texts and simply imagine. We need to perform them. And this is not true just for me; it’s true for everyone in the church.”
Sioux Center Sudan
by Jeff Barker
“Sioux Center Sudan,” by Jeff Barker, Northwestern playwright and Iowa Professor of the Year, tells the story of Arlene Schuiteman, who was an Iowa school teacher turned missionary nurse to Africa in the 1950s. One of the first people Schuiteman met at the outpost of Nasir was a young man with tuberculosis. He taught her the Nuer language while she nursed him back to health and shared Christ’s love.
Schuiteman’s ministry touched many members of the young man’s tribe before she was thrown out of the country in 1963, just as the civil war began. Schuiteman never returned to her Sudanese home, instead retiring in Iowa in the late 1980s. In God’s mysterious ways, though, he brought Sudan to her through a reunion that spanned miles and years.
Northwestern’s Drama Ministries Ensemble has performed across the United States, including off-Broadway in New York and at the Crystal Cathedral. Northwestern College’s nationally recognized theatre program offers programs in theatre, speech and Christian theatre ministries.Contact
