Imagine sitting in a theater watching a play that tells a story from a completely different faith tradition from your own. Theater brings people together and performing plays about other religions can give students in Catholic schools an opportunity to learn about diverse cultures.
Exploring different faiths can broaden perspectives while keeping Catholic identity strong. Many teachers and students at Xavier College Prep feel that exploring other traditions will help build empathy. It lets audiences see human experiences beyond their own lives.
“Sometimes when it’s not our own tradition, we have a hard time picturing other perspectives, so being able to see it on stage is useful in context,” junior theology teacher Gina Iker ‘97 said.
“I used to teach world religions and I would typically try to find videos and activities to try to have my students see different cultures and religions,” Iker explained. “My students started being exposed to religions and they saw the values of our religion compared to other religions. I don’t think that it is dangerous to see beauty in other religions.”
Theater member Isa Earl Castillo ‘28 acknowledges that learning about other faiths relates back to what is learned in theology class. Understanding other people of different religions can help students build respect for people of all backgrounds.
“A lot of Catholics are not educated on other religions and they are taught only to focus on theirs, but when we look at other religions we can see overlaps and have empathy toward those who maybe we don’t understand, but still respect,” Earl Castillo explained.
Earl Castillo also explained that being confident in one’s own faith makes it easier to appreciate other traditions from other faiths, and that respecting other religions plays a big role in everyday life.
“We were taught in theology that Catholics are supposed to have knowledge of their religion to have empathy toward others and I think theater is a great way to exhibit storytelling,” Earl Castillo stated. “I think exhibiting stories from other religions and displaying people’s world views on the stage would be a beautiful thing that could help empathy flourish for Catholics and anybody of faith.”
Finding things in common across different traditions can help strengthen one’s own faith. However, putting other traditions on stage requires care and respect. People should be mindful during production, because there is a risk of mocking or oversimplifying a religion even if it’s not intentional.
Seeing unfamiliar traditions on a Catholic stage may make the audience rethink their ideas of what they thought they knew and find new ways of thinking.
Fine arts teacher Sarah White ‘16 shared ideas on how theater helps connect people to the core Catholic value of human dignity, and how it’s able to show that all people share common feelings and experiences.
“I think it is a good way to help expand minds and help explain a different perspective and expand on world beliefs,” White said. “I think having shows that come from different religions helps to learn about them and their traditions. This helps us see other human beings as people and that’s a core value in the Catholic religion.”
White prompted that it is important to think about who is performing on stage. “Who gets to play I can’t tell you,” White said. “Can someone who doesn’t have that personal experience tell or portray that story correctly?”
Bringing plays about other religions to a Catholic school stage could have new learning opportunities. It can push students to explore new ideas while reflecting on their own beliefs.
