Fill the Stage

Daniel Dignan

Fill The Stage

“Character is Destiny”

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Drama and Theater Camps for Kids

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I recently attended my second production of Logos Theater at Washington, D.C.’s Museum of the Bible. The production, costuming, and staging of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe were well done. I especially enjoyed seeing the props change quickly between scenes and the actors move from room to room as the setting changed.

Logos Theater does more than provide first-class theater. They give elementary, middle, and high school students immersive opportunities to learn acting, filmmaking, drama, and theater production in summer camps, co-ops, and traveling drama seminars. Moreover, they offer college-level acting classes and credit.

Acting was never my forte, but in college, I enrolled in several public speaking courses, including an acting course, to get out of my comfort zone. I have never forgotten my acting professor telling the class that we had better get our heads examined if we thought we could make it as professional actors. I think he said it in love, and all of us got the point. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the experience and became braver in public.

Even if your kid doesn’t want to become a professional actor, I recommend the experience. Theater can help kids develop self-awareness and friendships and open their artistic horizons. It’s also a lot of fun—no business is like show business!

Another benefit to Logos Theater is that it introduces students to classic and best-selling books like Narnia and Pilgrim’s Progress.

On Second Readings

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I completed a second reading of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (LWW). Leland Ryken and Marjorie Lamp Mead’s A Reader’s Guide Through the Wardrobe: Exploring C.S. Lewis’s Classic Story enriched the second beyond my initial expectations. The guide explains the storyteller’s craft and the purpose and meaning of story types (genres) like fairy tales and romance literature. Moreover, Ryken is exceptionally well-versed in C. S. Lewis.

At the end of his guide, Ryken quotes Lewis regarding the importance of reading great books more than once. Lewis believed that one could do well without reading some of the greatest writers, but he did not think that a reader of great books should be satisfied with a single read. This is because great books, by definition, offer more than a first reading can provide. Books like Homer’s Odyssey require many readings.

This is also true of modern works, such as Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies, which can be read repeatedly for enjoyment and benefit. The great classics educator Mortimer Adler said as much in his book How to Read a Book: the best books cannot be fully mastered; they are over us and require more than a single reading to gain rich dividends of wisdom and insight.

The LWW is a classic, one that should be and is often read more than once. The ancient story type of the quest in pursuit of a noble goal, the journey, the coming of age story, the fight against evil, the nature of the good, the reality of a supernatural world, and ancient archetypes that picture these realities all make this classic a memorable and thought-provoking reread.

The most significant part of the LWW is its insight into human experience and the beautiful ways that it relates this to students, young and old.

A Reader’s Guide Through the Wardrobe

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Through the Wardrobe is an enlightening guide to C.S. Lewis’s classic fairy tale The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Literature expert Leland Ryken provides readers with a chapter-by-chapter account of the story. Elements such as characterization, plot, story world, and archetypes are explained in an engaging and accessible manner. Throughout each chapter, he includes discussion and reflection questions that aid personal reading and group teaching. After reading the guide, the reader will be a more informed reader of fiction and will be greatly helped in understanding the truth and beauty Lewis conveys.

Ryken studied Lewis’s life and work in detail. (His suggested reading list at the end of the book is extensive.) Ryken also taught literature to college students and wrote over 60 books. In this book, he guides the reader through the ancient story types that Lewis enjoyed, studied, and drew upon in The Chronicles of Narnia, including romance literature, fairy tales, and myth. All of this is presented in concise chapters that are accessible to high school students.

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I enjoyed every chapter. In particular, the chapters on the White Witch and Edmund’s temptation, Peter’s first battle and romance literature, fairy tales, and Aslan were profound and educational. The final part of the book explains the origins of the Narnia books, their reception, their Christian vision, and biographical information about Lewis.

The guide will help your student enjoy the best literature and gain a deeper understanding of the Bible and human experience.

Guides to The Odyssey

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Leland Ryken, one of the great literary minds of the 20th and 21st centuries, wrote a helpful short guide to The Odyssey. His great contribution is making the famous Greek narrative epic understandable and applicable to modern readers. The guide provides short summaries of the plot and profound commentaries of the important ideas in the epic. Ryken also provides helpful questions and thoughts for reflection, conversation, and study.

Ryken emphasizes the presence of the domestic code that governs the story of The Odyssey and helps one understand why the epic’s content is timeless and matters today. He points out Homer’s literary achievements, explains the essential parts of Odysseus’ adventures, trials, and tests during his journey home after the Trojan War, and underlines the significance of encounters and conversations that are difficult to pick up unless one carefully studies the book.

If you want a short guide to help your kid understand why The Odyssey matters and what lessons it teaches, I highly recommend the book.

Another enlightening and helpful resource is a talk Ryken gave a few years ago about Greek classics and The Odyssey in particular. In this talk he explains his approach to teaching the epic to college students, and what is true, good, and helpful about it.

The Odyssey

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No book has had a more significant impact on the Western world and literature outside of the Bible than Homer’s Odyssey. The great literary philosopher Leland Ryken noted that it (along with Homer’s prequel, The Iliad) was a kind of bible for the ancient Greeks. One of the five great Western epics, it has influenced generations of thinkers and leaders with its captivating story, message, and lessons.

This adventure story follows the travels of the Greek hero Odysseus as he endeavors to return home after the Trojan War. Twelve temptations require various virtues to overcome. The hero’s son and wife also play prominent roles: Telemachus in his search for his father, and Penelope in her struggle against the evil suitors at home.

Who can forget the hero’s adventures? His struggle against the deadly witch, outsmarting the cyclops, leadership at sea, the Siren’s Call, faithfulness to his family and home, and patient planning to right wrongs all factor into an epic of endurance. He faced grave danger, overt temptation, and subtle dangers that require careful reading.

If read carefully and with help, a teenager can benefit from witnessing the virtues displayed in the face of temptations. I recommend Emily Wilson’s poetic translation; it was a joy to read.

The Odyssey might be the best entry point if your son or daughter has never read Homer. The Iliad is fascinating but focuses on war and can be tiring. The Odyssey offers more variety, and the lessons are more apparent.

How To Be A Friend

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Cicero, the great Roman orator and statesman, wrote a short book on friendship that is helpful. By an older character talking to two younger men, he makes the case that friendship is critical to happiness, and that it is based chiefly on virtue. In fact, the greater one’s virtue, the greater one’s capacity for happy friendships.

There are gems in this book about how friendships flourish and die, the dangers of flattery, the importance of criticism, and how to be a true friend. It is the kind of book that one will want to read more than once.

A high school or middle school student can benefit from it.

The translator includes the Latin on the left-hand pages and the English translation on the right.

A Well-Ordered Life

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As a Christian, I enjoy hearing preachers explain Bible texts. The Bible contains 66 books that form a unified whole. Each book has a purpose and a unique message, but the Bible can and should be read as a single story.

Charles Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers and leaders in modern history. His sermons were read worldwide and are still widely read today. For decades, he preached to thousands in London every week.

I recommend that you read Spurgeon’s sermons to your kids. They are an excellent tool for helping young people understand the Bible’s message about God, man, Christ, and his future kingdom. While his language is a product of Victorian England, it can be understood with a little effort. A parent can help a kid make sense of more challenging words.

The following sermon is about living a well-ordered life, a life that leads to happiness. I have read it twice, and it is worth reading more than that. It is full of wisdom.

Becoming C.S. Lewis

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Although C.S. Lewis’s writings and adult life are well-known, his childhood, adolescence, and the influences that shaped him are less so. Harry Lee Poe’s Becoming C.S. Lewis, the first of a three-volume biography, reveals Lewis’s thinking and education as a boy and his transition to adulthood.

As a boy, C.S. Lewis became deeply interested in stories about journeys or quests–the pursuit of something valuable. Stories like the Odyssey, the Arthurian legends, and The Faerie Queen shaped his thinking and imagination and eventually helped him understand what he was searching for. His childhood was marked by his mother’s death, books, music, long walks, difficult school experiences, and W.T. Kirkpatrick’s tutelage in Surrey, England.

The book does an excellent job of tracing his thinking (through his correspondence), intellectual and spiritual development, and his likes and dislikes. The author, deeply versed in the great books, helps the reader understand the great stories of Western Civilization and why they mattered to him.

I recommend this book for high school students and parents alike. It enables readers to think about and experience what made Lewis one of the greatest minds of Western Civilization.

Inklings Fellowship Events

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The Inklings Fellowship is hosting two Narnia-related events in 2025. One will be in North Carolina in April and the other at Oxford University in July. The host is Harry Lee Poe, retired Union University professor and C.S. Lewis biographer.

At Oxford, C.S. Lewis became a renowned literature professor and established a lifelong friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien. For years, they and other writers met at the Eagle and Child across the street from the University to discuss their writings (including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and enjoy each other’s company.

The trip includes free time to explore Oxford and its surroundings. Oxford is a beautiful town known for its University, culture, bookstores, restaurants, and shops. It is worth a visit.