Assembly Dramas:They were so bad.... but.... you waited for them to break away from the monotony!

by RULES & REGULATIONS 58 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  

  You do remember the four day assemblies... sitting outdoors being fried in the sweltering heat,getting heat stroke in the middle of July in an outdoor baseball stadium.Sitting outdoors from 9:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was so much fun while you wore a suit,long sleeve shirt and a tie while your brain fried. Mom's who had children to take care of,lug strollers,feed all the kids,take them for bathroom breaks and try to not faint from the heat.

  The sound and audio was always breaking and barely audible from the wind,airplanes flying over and (if you attended the Cicero,Illinois circuit )you would smell horse manure from the horse stables next door.

  You know that you are a Jehovah's Witness.... when the only excitement waiting for the drama... where brothers and sisters dress up in ancient cloths,fake beards,fake rocks and fake soldier uniforms and wave their hands incessantly to pretend that they are acting out a drama.The excitement was unbearable!
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  freddo

  When I first attended as a kid the stadium we went to had distractions. It only had seating round two sides as the opposite side just had "bleachers" - concrete steps with no roof.

  I could sit high up in the main stand and look over at the railway station and shunting yards where the engines (switchers in the USA) would sort the wagons out. Also an airport was nearby so I could see a couple of planes an hour take off and land to relive the tedium.

  Sadly about three years in to a ten year stretch the stadium was turned into an all-seater and I could no longer see the railway and the planes flew too low to be visaible anymore.

  
  
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  Hairtrigger

  I've seen school plays that are superior in every way to the crap presented in the JW dramas. What used to freak me out was the way they spoke of the dramas after - as if they had just witnessed a Tony winning performance worthy of being cast on Broadway. That's the problem with JW land . Conditioned mentally to believe everything they do is the best.Like their public speaking. The crappy gestures and injunctions given out by a long outdated book that they use. That make for crappy speakers that they produce. Even the bible reading was pathetic. Especially the eldubs. I have never been more bored by anything I've seen or heard than the dramas , talks and bible reading at the JW performances.
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  Londo111

  Even before I woke up, I realized the writing was awful, the voice acting overdone, very poor characterization. There was no subtlety. Most of the emotion came by way of the music to tug at the heartstrings. The writers of these dramas clearly had no idea of how life functioned in the real world and portrayals of Bible times were very anachronistic.
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  kpop

  Please do not remind me. This year I will have to fake the flu or tuberculosis so I don't have to attend. The thought of having to go to satisfy my cult parents and cult friends makes me sick.
  
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  Wasanelder Once

  Dramas you ask?

  Who can forget sitting way up in Candlestick park covered in blankets, wool caps as darkness came on. We kids fought over the binoculars to see the exaggerated movements as the spies lifted their arms to point left then right while saying "it was this way, then that!". It was comical and we mocked them for weeks to our parents. They might ask, "where is the car?, we'd answer; "it was this way, then that!" while lifting our arms out in the air to the left and then right. my god we laughed so hard. The floodlights on center field at night were cool to a 9 year old me.
  
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  OUTLAW

  I've seen school plays that are superior in every way to the crap presented in the JW dramas.....Hairtrigger

  Bowls of Oatmeal could do a better job of acting..

  ...........
  

  ......."Build me an ark Noah!"............................"OK Jehovah!"
  

  
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  blondie

  When I first started seeing them in the late 60's, they weren't too bad, not so bare bones as today.

  Also, I knew so many of the people and was in charge of making costumes (my talent).

  People seemed more humble to have been chosen, no so much family members and suck up choices.

  As time went by they were embarrassing to take my studies to.

  There were as many as 4 in each convention....how many today?

  There would be one group used in various conventions too, not one per convention.

  I haven't looked at any videos of today....
  
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  Simon

  The one drama that was awesome was when the pitch was raised a few feet and during the part of the drama where an earthquake swallowed some unfaithful from the OT (I can't even remember), they slipped down the side of it and it gave the appearance that the earth was actually swallowing them.

  The stadium opposite burst into applause (and then the others too even though they probably didn't see anything from their angle but because they are JWs and when someone else claps you start clapping).

  That was how desperate we were for anything slightly entertaining.

  I remember the terraces that used to be in UK football stadiums before they became all-seater. You'd have blankets and deckchairs and set-up a little tent over the metal barriers with plastic sheeting for when it rained (because Assemblies were in July in places like Bolton or Sheffield so inevitably it rained). It was quite cozy and the echoey sound of the speakers droning on would send you to sleep clutching the Hellas bar chocolate-like bars they sold for 6 tickets, with a little picture of the devil on but likely more profitable so it was OK.
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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  Blondie

  Did I read right, that at one time you attended the Cicero,Illinois Hawthorne Racetrack assemblies?