How unique Easter drama in churches is now attracting huge audiences

Who said an Easter concert in church must have someone carrying a cross? Who said re-enactments of The Passion of the Christ are the only way to spell “Easter”? Some churches are rewriting the rules of the performing arts presented to their faithful over Easter.

They are staging full-length plays, scripted and acted by professionals, a shift from before when the usual crop of worshippers did short skits of Jesus’ resurrection. One of those is the International Christian Centre (ICC) in Nairobi. It is 7 pm on the eve of Good Friday. At the ICC gate along Mombasa Road, security personnel inform anyone arriving in a car that the parking lot is already full.

About 2,000 people are already seated at the main auditorium of the church and it is full. Another hall adjacent to the auditorium called the overflow, has more people watching glued on a big screen. This space is also full. Thousands are here to watch the second day of the staging of a musical titled Legacy, whose main theme is reconciliation.

Eight shows are scheduled between Wednesday and Easter Sunday — and entry is free. By 7.20 pm, the audience is engrossed in the musical whose main character is Rahab alias Raybaby, a girl barely out of her teens who has a special singing talent but is faced with a dilemma over her future.

The senior pastor at the church, Bishop Gibson Anduvate, is also engrossed in the performance that has the audience laughing, squirming, reflecting, pitying, the works. It is reality condensed into two-and-a-quarter hours of acting, singing and dancing. The lighting is finesse personified.

The singing that comes from a choir somewhere upstairs, paired with instrument playing that comes from a group located somewhere behind the stage, is a balm to the eardrums. The décor leaves no doubt that someone spent long and hard hours to create a lasting impression. The dance choreography reads “hard work”.

The acting is spot-on, which means Faya Mama – the villain in the story – manages to get “haters” among the audience too while the heroes get all the love. Little wonder, then, that the play receives a standing ovation at the end. It feels like one is in a real theatre hall, watching a live performance.

It is an Easter play but it does not mention Jesus on the cross or anything directly associated with the death and resurrection of Christ. “This is not your typical production where you have a cross, you have someone playing Jesus, others playing soldiers and all that.

This is just a story that is told of just touching on issues that we face every day; issues to do with family conflict, issues to do with matters of life,” explains Wambua Nzaku, a pastor who oversees the creative team at ICC.

“There’s a traditional way of telling the story of Easter — which is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But for ICC, while we maintain that as the key message, the core message is that Jesus Christ is the ultimate saviour. However, we try to take the creative route of telling creative stories with the message of Jesus Christ in it,” says Destiney Njeri, a member of the ICC’s creative arts team.

“The Easter story is at the heart of what we’re doing, but we’re broadening the scope to ensure that people walk away with a message that resonates in their hearts, whether they’re believers or not,” she adds.

For the seventh year now, ICC has been staging musicals over Easter. Other churches organising Easter-related performances this year include the Church of Christ Kamulu, which held a music festival on Friday that encompassed choir performances, dances, solo verses, choral verses, bible trivia and drama.

Mavuno Church Lavington is planning a concert on April 4 that will mostly feature musical performances. Mavuno has over the years been staging various performances over Easter, not least the performance titled Emmausipation, written by celebrated actor Yafesi Musoke, staged over Easter last year. Theatre has gained popularity as a favourite pastime activity for Kenyans, some of whom look forward to performances at the Kenya National Theatre (KNT) to get their entertainment fix.

Theatre-goers

According to Kenya Cultural Centre box office data provided by Eunice Wambua, an assistant sales officer at the centre, 33,790 people attended plays staged at the KNT in 2023. This was, however, a drop from 41,418 in 2022. There were 328 shows at KNT in 2023 compared to 334 in 2022.

That means that the average attendance per show last year was 103 while in 2022, an average of 124 people attended every show. “The best days to stage performances are usually weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) since most people are available. Out of the entire weekend, Saturdays are the most optimal,” Ms Wambua told Lifestyle.

“Tickets for most shows fall within the price range of Sh1,000 to Sh2,500 per person, with a special rate of Sh1,800 for couples. However, most shows are set at Sh1,000 per person as the advance price and Sh1,200 as the gate price,” she added. During this Easter period, the Church plays have become an alternative weekend activity for families, including those who would not normally attend church.

Beyond Kenya, some churches in other countries also invest in Easter performances. A search on social media platforms shows David’s Christian Centre in Nigeria, the Miracle Life Family Church in Zambia, the Abundant Life Christian Church in Texas, and the Discover Church in Wisconsin, among others, are doing Easter shows.

The scriptwriter

Going by the attendance at the ICC musicals, it is clear that there is an appetite for well-presented performances. “The attendance is fantastic. This place[church] always gets full and they added another show this time. They started on Wednesday instead of Thursday. And, as you can see, they’ve already filled up the place. In subsequent days, I know it’s going to be a problem.

So, they have a good problem of too many people,” says John “JJ” Jumbi, who wrote the Legacy musical script. “The reason we do shows on different days is because of space,” says Destiney. “We’re trying to cater to everyone based on their availability and, you know, people to come with their children, their families.”

JJ, a writer and director for film and theatre, is not a member of ICC. But for the last three years, he has been scripting musicals on the church stages over Easter. “Any work that is done anywhere needs a professional. When somebody is sick, you’ll call a doctor to come and do it, right? So, I think there is a lot of room for artists to express their creativity and at the same time be professional in the space that they’re invited to be. So, yeah, I think it works best that way,” JJ tells Lifestyle.

However, the church’s senior pastor, Bishop Anduvate – who is the executive producer of the play – is involved in the conceptualisation stage to ensure the play has a Christian bend. Bishop Anduvate, known to be a supporter of creative arts, is the force behind the widely popular ICC musicals. “It starts with a brief from them.

They know what they want to talk about in terms of the themes they want to pass across and the message they want. So, we sit together and brainstorm. Finally, it’s my job to just put together the dialogue and the story. Being a church, you have to know what their message is, what their boundaries are. They have certain sensitivities around the messaging.

They have an audience that expects a certain kind of delivery. So, you just write with that in mind because I’ve written scripts for different spaces. So, you just have to be aware of what they need, what the audience is going to feed off,” says JJ.

Just like JJ, the scriptwriter, the actors, actresses and dancers who take part in the production are not necessarily worshippers of the church. The church organises auditions, open to anyone talented. “We put out an audition call, a public one. So, whether or not you’re a member of ICC, you’re free to apply and you’re free to audition,” says Destiney.

“It helps us, first of all, to collaborate with different creatives and also it’s an evangelism tool, especially towards the young people. They may not be here in the church but they want to express themselves through the arts.

So, they find their way into this space,” she adds. According to Praise Weru, a production assistant at the ICC creative arts team, 241 people showed up for the auditions for the Legacy musical performance. They were all jostling for a place among the eight major roles. This year's production has a cast of 68, up from 34 in 2023, who acted in a musical called The Prince of Hera.

Praise says she is impressed that so many performers expressed interest yet this was an unpaid gig. “We also didn’t advertise it in a paid way. We did it during Sunday services, our posters, Facebook, and Instagram. And then people still come.

That’s really, really beautiful,” she says. One of the people who heeded the audition call is Mike Luvai, a visual and performing artiste who is one of the lead characters in the musical. He plays Razmataz, Rahab’s talent manager. Mike is not a member of ICC, and this is the first time he is taking part in an ICC musical.

He tells Lifestyle that he was informed of auditions by a friend and he decided to give it a try. When he got an email that he had been picked, he was over the moon. “I felt very good,” he says. They have been attending rehearsals in the evenings since January. “The energy has been crazy, I’d say. A lot of good vibes, good people,” he says.

Woo non-believers

According to Pastor Nzaku, the inclusion of artistes like Mike is a deliberate strategy by the church. “We have a goal of reaching a million souls by 2030. So, through the Easter musicals, we can reach thousands of people, and these thousands of people include cast members and crew members.

Because we do an open call, and anyone can join; whether a believer or a non-believer. When they come, we get the opportunity to tell them the message of Jesus Christ. We get to plug them into a small group and hopefully, when they accept, we also disciple them,” he says.

“So, we work with different people from different spaces. We have guys coming from different churches, but we also have guys who have never been in a church before. So, the end game is for us to just evangelise,” he adds.

Praise adds that through such projects, they have managed to get new members into the church. Another main character in the Legacy musical is Cynthia Nzuki, who plays Prophetess Gladys, Rahab’s mother. Cynthia is an intellectual property lawyer who has been a member of ICC since 2021.

This is her first time taking part in a cast for a musical at the church. “It’s a labour of love,” she says of the musical. “Sacrifice has been given, but it’s a sacrifice that I’m happy to have done.” The church usually pumps a budget into the production, buying costumes and food for the cast and paying other professionals such as makeup artists.

In return, it asks those who attend shows to contribute any amount at the end of the show and buy food or merchandise with Legacy labelling.

“From the way that they avail the space and set aside a budget for us, it feels as though they are encouraging the creative talent within our church,” says Praise, adding that in future they would love to get a bigger place. "In our building right now, we can sit up to 2,000 people for a show.

Some people are watching through a screen. We’d love everyone to have a live experience, but that comes with a cost,” she adds. Easter amplifies the story of a torn veil as Jesus died on the cross, and going by the performances by ICC and other churches, the curtains are opening for a new and exciting way to draw believers to churches.

Pastor Nzaku says this musical play must ultimately “get to point people to the cross”. At the end of the musical, there is a short sermon and a call to prayer. After the Thursday performance, this role was done by Bishop Anduvate, the lead pastor.

“There are so many similarities between this story and the story of the Prodigal Son,” he told the gathering at the close of the Easter performance, urging them to turn over a new leaf.