Interview with Have No Fear Skit Author Melinda Whitten

A popular script on SkitGuys.com for the last few years has been Melinda Whitten's Have No Fear skit in which a woman has a conversation with Fear. We thought it would be fun to interview Melinda and learn more about her script and why she wrote the skit. You can also watch Melinda in action in of the Skitzy Chicks videos on SkitGuys.com.

So Melinda, what prompted you to write the script Have No Fear?

Melinda: I wrote Have No Fear for a sermon series our pastor was doing at the time. I am a part of a creative team in our church whose purpose is to help communicate the pastor's message through music, drama, video and other creative elements.

I loved the idea of giving "fear, Bob Fear" a face and personality and show how, through our freedom in Christ, Bob Fear has lost his influence over us.

Why do you think fear has such a strong hold on us?

Melinda: In Michael Crichton's book "State of Fear" he puts forth the premise that the state of fear is desired by nations as a way to manage "the behavior of it's citizens, to keep them orderly and reasonably docile...And of course we know that social control is best managed through fear.". He points out that after the "Cold War" ended in 1989 the use of words in the media like disaster, crisis, catastrophe, and dire increased noticeably. Why? Well the threat of a nuclear war ended with the fall of the Berlin wall. We needed a new crisis to motivate us.

Take that same premise, that fear can be a method of control, and apply it to our spiritual life. Who could use fear as a method to control and manipulate our behavior? The Deceiver, Satan. He'll will take our worries; finances, marriage, ambition, self worth, retirement, political climate, weight, health, perceived flaws, etc., and use them to separate us from God and biblical truths. Satan is a crafty, conniving little devil and we are his enablers because every moment we waste on worry and fear is time we have lost growing our relationship with God.

How do we break the chains of fear and embrace freedom in Christ? We spend more time with God. We give Him a chance to speak to us, address our concerns and calm our anxious thoughts by spending time in His word.

In John 16 Christ speaks to the disciples about the time when He will leave them, "I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices, but your grief will turn to joy.". I picture the disciples with this panicked look on their faces as they process this information and then Jesus notices their "deer in the headlights" expression and so He adds these words, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.".

Believers will experience the same troubles and trials as those who don't know Christ. And why wouldn't we? We lost the Garden of Eden when we chose sin over obedience. As believer's though we can experience peace through Christ because we have hope, we have a future and we have God's promises that He will take care of us.

We need to take heart! We need to turn off the news, and refuse to allow fear to rob us of time with our Father and His comforting words.

For those that will be performing your script Have No Fear, do you have any tips or advice for them?

Melinda: Just have fun with it. My idea in this script is to "turn the light on" and show that the monster in the closet is really a stuffed Teddy bear or maybe a mischievous older brother in a batman costume...whom I still have not fully forgiven but that's another script.

"Have no Fear" is a humorous exchange between Fear and a Christ follower that takes place in a park setting. In my church we used a park bench set center stage and left the rest to the imagination. The character "Bob Fear" wore a black shirt with big white letters spelling out fear. I sewed a square of black velcro onto the shirt and then cut out the word fear in white velcro. **The "a" in fear needs to appear just like the one in quotations so that "Fear" can be rearranged to spell "Free".

The woman in this script won't give into Bob Fear's antics, which are comic and over-the-top, and her lack of response has Bob Fear questioning his career choice. Seeing his frustration the woman explains that the market for fear is shrinking because through Christ people can be freed from fear. After a little job counseling and some rearranging of the letters on the front of his shirt the woman sends Bob out on his new mission. Excited about his career change Bob runs off to share his new slogan of "Be Free", which he screams out menacingly at unsuspecting joggers...some habits are hard to shake. We hear a scream offstage and then the woman says,
"Dial it back Bob, I'm so sorry mam...he's new at this".

I hope you "Have Fun" with this script and are able to share the message that we can "Be Free"...just watch out for those joggers.

Thanks Melinda for sharing your script with SkitGuys.com and the acting community!

Learn more about Melinda Whitten and see her other scripts on SkitGuys.com!