Your $$$

This post seems even more appropriate as the government prepares to vote on whether to continue funding the arts in this country.

Now, I may have omitted a couple things as they apply, or do not apply to Passion. Things like royalties, which do NOT need to be paid because this adaptation is original and the writers of the Bible are looooong gone.

What your money does:

$25 pays one day's salary to a tech operator (sound, lights etc.) That's about $8/hour.

$100 pays for 2 nights of donkey rental. (yes, I need the donkey. He came into Jerusalem on a donkey!)

$200 pays for costumes. (I am borrowing most of them.)

$300 pays one non-union actor for the run of the show. (That includes all their rehearsal time and 12 performances. This amount should be MUUUUUUUCH higher, but it's the going rate in St. Louis. Probably works out to about $1.50 an hour. Puh-thetic.) There are at least 10 of these actors in the show.

$500 pays the marketing person. They are responsible for getting out press materials to radio, TV, newspapers, etc. They also direct market target audiences with flyers, emails and phone calls. This is a ton of work and when all is said and done, they might make $3/hour.

$1400 pays the salary of a union actor for three weeks of rehearsal and 12 performances. Quite a difference from the other actors listed before. Union actors make about $11 an hour - yes, it is sooo glamourous!

$2300 would pay for the printing of the programs. This amount also includes the design fee.

$3000 pays for the music director. That's a goocher for sure but a good one can make or break the show. They get about $30 an hour and between $75 and $100 per performance.

Here's some other things where price can widely vary:
Playwright's fee (yep, that's me. Over 200 hours of work already. Payment so far? Goose egg.)
Director's fee
Venue rental (don't get me started!)
Man hours for marketing, publicity, set/light/costume design, load-in, strike, getting and returning borrowed things.
Multitude of other tasks which seem so small they almost don't seem worthy of writing down but are nonetheless, essential.


You can often find people who will volunteer and that's fantastic. But Passion is conceived for professional actors and designers. You pay everyone else to do things - clean your house, fix the clog, put on a roof, tune your piano, do your nails, make your coffee. Artists deserve to get paid also and SHOULD get paid more than a pittance. That's another blog site entirely.

So that's a glimpse of what is needed for Passion.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill."  Matthew 5:17
The above was from the gospel this past weekend and it has been sitting in my mind. To me, this makes it abundantly clear that Jesus was not brought on this earth to start a new religion (Christianity), but to revise the old laws and make them 'modern.' In fact, nowhere in the four gospels can you find the word Christians or christianity. Not until letters written by Paul, does this word come about. This is something I have been trying to get across to those who do not share my faith (in an organized religion sort of way.) Jesus was NOT about ushering in a new religion or forsaking the Jewish people cuz his Father said so. This is the way I have tried to go about this adaptation as well.

Now Matthew is the most Jewish of the bibles. His book gives lots of insight to Jewish customs and ceremony. In fact, most of the gospels, with their telling of the story, seem to assume that many people would be of the Jewish faith and have an understanding of celebrations and laws, so much so that as a believer 2000+ years later, I can get a little lost. Little things that get left out or remain unexplained to me in my christain worshipping because they are inherently Jewish. Take the liturgy of the Eucharist: in my mass, the priest says, "On the day he was given up to death, a death he freely accepted, He took bread and gave thanks."  Whaaaaaa?  It isn't bread. It isn't supposed to be bread. Unleavened bread is really like a cracker and I'm pretty sure it's not called bread. So why do the Christians call it bread instead of what it was  - matzah? And why aren't we told what he said when he gave thanks? Pretty sure it's a Jewish prayer over the matzah, so, of course, my church leaves that out.

As the Catholic Church gets ready to embark on a whole plethora of changes, I really hope that it will return to Jesus's teachings, and not what bishops and popes have deigned "the truth." Recently, even the word Yahweh has been replaced in songs because apparently, using that Jewish word for God is offensive? To whom - Jews? Try singing that old fave, "Yahweh, I know you are near..." Nope. Now it's "O Lord." Whatev.

OK. I'm rambling a bit. The essence of what I'm trying to say is that Passion is adapted from Bible with historical information to back it up. Specifically, Jewish prayers and customs that Jesus would have taken part in. Let's face it: Jesus was a Jewish man with a Jewish mother and Jewish friends. That's why the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin got all up in his grill. If he wasn't Jewish, they wouldn't have given two hoots about what he was saying. He would have been considered a gentile or Roman quack. But the very fact that he was Jewish was what was alarming to them. I wonder those in the Jewish faith even think about Jesus as one of their own. Hmmmmmmm.

Although the quote from above comes from early in Jesus' ministry, I think I may have to move that into the Last Supper scene. According to John, Jesus was a chatterbox at the Last Supper, reminding the disciples about everything that he'd taught them in the last three years, so I don't know why this couldn't qualify.

Can I get an Alleluia?

Yes, I know, it's usually an "Amen" but I don't need one of those. And more accurately, I need a Hallelujah. An uptempo, glorious Hallelujah that is in 4 parts. A Glee Hallelujah would be fantastic!

Let's face it, you can't celebrate that He Is Risen with some crappy dirge-like piece of music. And  I don't want to bogart Handel's Messiah's Hallelujah chorus. So, I'm on the hunt! Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks to those who continue to ask about Passion. It really gives me a lift and these days, I am so grateful for that.

My friend Bill, who has the most wonderful insights, emailed me today about the relationship between art and commerce  - oh what a complicated thing that is! Money, in all things, is simply a way to trade things. And in the words of Dolly Levy, "Money, pardon the expression, money is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow." So here's to the money that will arrive to make the vision of Passion a reality! And here's to the people who will send money for the creation of art!

If you wanna know what money means to art, tune in later this week for a list of what exactly your money can do.