This past spring, I had the honor of participating in the Passion Play at Andrews University. The Passion Play is a ministry that dramatizes the story of Jesus' time on Earth. Different scenes from His life are staged across campus, and groups of 200+ people rotate through each scene. I was a scene director which entailed a lot of work: directing rehearsals, collecting props, and scene setup and teardown to start. The weekend of the Passion Play was the most intense of my collegiate career because of that and many other reasons. I was terribly short on sleep, and the curveballs thrown by preparation for the Passion Play had me very high strung and stressed. However, one moment during the play set me back in my place.
I was the director for the Garden of Gethsemane scene where Jesus begged for the cup of suffering to be taken away. I had been a few hundred feet behind the scene for most of the day switching out microphones for each rotation of actors that moved through the scene. However, after a while I decided to go watch the scene for myself. We had never run the scene in full costume and sound until the actual performance so I was curious to see how it was going.
After switching out the mics for the incoming group, I followed a little ways behind the actors and slipped behind the audience. Roughly two hundred people stood in front of the scene. One thing we hadn't taken into consideration was just how deep the crowd would go (The photo above doesn't do justice...). The crowd stood at least five people deep. Kids sat under the rope at the front. Others sat on their parents shoulders. All ears and eyes were trained on what they could hear and see of the scene.
If you know the story of the Gospel, you are aware of the many times that Jesus talks with His Father in the garden. In our scene, we had a rock that Jesus would kneel at each time He prayed. Each actor that portrayed Jesus was instructed to bow as he cried out at the rock then look up, as if searching for the Father. Besides that, each actor was given some liberty to portray Jesus as they might see Him.
I kept glancing at the crowd to see how they were reacting as I watched the scene unfold. As Jesus dropped to His knees, cried out, "Father!" and looked to heaven, I turned to see a little girl on her parent's shoulders in the middle of the crowd. Upon seeing Jesus bowing and raising his head at the rock, she folded her hands and looked to heaven just as the actor was doing. Time froze for me. I thought She's looking at a bird or something. I looked up. There wasn't a bird. She was looking to heaven because she saw Jesus looking to heaven. Each time Jesus returned to the rock, she would mimic His movements, His mannerisms.
Not often do you get a case of What is Jesus doing? instead of What would Jesus do? This girl took the chance to imitate Jesus and rolled with it. As I do from time to time, I stood and smiled. Just smiled. My work in the Passion Play was worth it, but my work really didn't matter at that point, just that one of our younger audience members got it, understood it. I'm not one to say if she actually understood everything that was going on, but if you don't know what's going on, the next best thing is to do as He does, right? ... there's a sermon somewhere in that...
If anyone were to ask me what the Passion Play is, I wouldn't tell them it's a theatrical performance. I would tell them first that it's a ministry - a ministry that uses the medium of theatre. No moment for me, personally, exemplifies that than this few minutes of the 2016 Passion Play. This goes for many other dramatizations that are staged throughout the country. I know we have sister plays such as SonRise at SAU, and while interpretations may vary, our purpose is the same, and I can't say just how honored I was to participate in telling the greatest story known to man.
After switching out the mics for the incoming group, I followed a little ways behind the actors and slipped behind the audience. Roughly two hundred people stood in front of the scene. One thing we hadn't taken into consideration was just how deep the crowd would go (The photo above doesn't do justice...). The crowd stood at least five people deep. Kids sat under the rope at the front. Others sat on their parents shoulders. All ears and eyes were trained on what they could hear and see of the scene.
If you know the story of the Gospel, you are aware of the many times that Jesus talks with His Father in the garden. In our scene, we had a rock that Jesus would kneel at each time He prayed. Each actor that portrayed Jesus was instructed to bow as he cried out at the rock then look up, as if searching for the Father. Besides that, each actor was given some liberty to portray Jesus as they might see Him.
I kept glancing at the crowd to see how they were reacting as I watched the scene unfold. As Jesus dropped to His knees, cried out, "Father!" and looked to heaven, I turned to see a little girl on her parent's shoulders in the middle of the crowd. Upon seeing Jesus bowing and raising his head at the rock, she folded her hands and looked to heaven just as the actor was doing. Time froze for me. I thought She's looking at a bird or something. I looked up. There wasn't a bird. She was looking to heaven because she saw Jesus looking to heaven. Each time Jesus returned to the rock, she would mimic His movements, His mannerisms.
Not often do you get a case of What is Jesus doing? instead of What would Jesus do? This girl took the chance to imitate Jesus and rolled with it. As I do from time to time, I stood and smiled. Just smiled. My work in the Passion Play was worth it, but my work really didn't matter at that point, just that one of our younger audience members got it, understood it. I'm not one to say if she actually understood everything that was going on, but if you don't know what's going on, the next best thing is to do as He does, right? ... there's a sermon somewhere in that...
If anyone were to ask me what the Passion Play is, I wouldn't tell them it's a theatrical performance. I would tell them first that it's a ministry - a ministry that uses the medium of theatre. No moment for me, personally, exemplifies that than this few minutes of the 2016 Passion Play. This goes for many other dramatizations that are staged throughout the country. I know we have sister plays such as SonRise at SAU, and while interpretations may vary, our purpose is the same, and I can't say just how honored I was to participate in telling the greatest story known to man.
Of course I took a picture.
Best Wishes!
~Richie