VBS is over now. I hadn’t posted a VBS update in a while simply because we had reached that point in the project where we were in the thick of doing the heavy lifting–building sets, making costumes, creating and acquiring props, and rehearsing. Sometimes that can get kind of hairy, as we don’t often have time to test our concepts before we put them into production. Frequently I am asking people to do a lot of work on what I hope will work, and for some reason they trust me that it will make sense and actually work later. A lot of what I hope will work is based on the countless hours of behind-the-scenes special effects I have watched ever since I was a kid and the formal art training I received.
Every single VBS goes through this phase where it seems like the project is doomed to failure: the special effects aren’t working right, the props can’t be found, the script has a giant flaw, or the rehearsals aren’t going well. Part of the problem is that I write these scripts to be directed by Spielberg with special effects by Industrial Light & Magic, all funded by a James Cameron budget. Then reality sets in and we have to start making do with what we can afford on a small church VBS budget.
Some things didn’t work out as well as I hoped–the bamboo forest, for example, was better than having nothing, but wasn’t this awesome, thick, lush forest of brilliant green; it turns out bamboo begins to brown almost as soon as it is cut, and besides that, it smells like locker room feet as it dries.
But other things worked out brilliantly, like the special effect we built to make it appear that I threw a dagger into a piece of bamboo that held open a deadly trap. Or the breakaway table that shattered when struck by our antagonist’s prop sword. Or the papier-mache rocks that looked like real stone.
The real fact is none of this happens without a lot of work and a lot of manpower (and womanpower), and none of what we accomplish would be possible without the diligent labor of a number of people willing to give this stuff a try. Our volunteers have spent who knows how much time cutting bamboo, drilling 2x4s, painting cups, gluing foam, layering papier-mache, and who knows what else.
