It's been a few weeks since I've blogged but know that things are chugging along as well as they can. Two editions of Spotlight Theatre's PASSION newsletter have gone out to about 600 contacts. The lists keep growing and I am getting emails regarding the play. Yay!
On the list of not-so-fun but necessary things to do if producing, I have accomplished not only the two aforementioned newsletters, but have secured a music director, sent press releases, tracked down a couple more costumes and copied music. Mundane tasks abound but I'm all in.
By far, the most interested and challenging feat came from a friend of mine who read the script and called to offer his opinion - which I asked for, btw. His first question was why I wanted to write this and who was I writing it for? Who did I want my audience to be?
I may have said this before but bear with me: the idea to write a passion play came from listening to a rote reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday. Docile recitations of "crucify him, crucify him" triggered a creative shock in me and pictures started to click in my head. I knew how to make it relevant to people again - they needed to see it. And.. . it would be accessible not only to the large audience of Christians in St. Louis but to a theatre community.
His next point was that he'd gotten lost in the language. He was raised going to church, but although he stopped going decades ago, he could still remember and recite most of the scripture passages once he was a few words in. He found that to be comfortable in a way where he could stop thinking and just move ahead by rote memorization which, he argued, is not a way to make theatre. Theatre is supposed to challenge and make us think, and keep us intrigued. Why had I used those "oh-so-familiar" scriptures instead of creating something myself?
Again, my apologies if you've heard this, but there are several reasons I wanted to use the Bible and not create any text:
1. The Bible is accepted as the Word of God.
2. In Passion plays I've read and see, dialogue created for scenes tends to be deragatory, inflammatory and anti-Semitic. I didn't want to go in that direction.
3. Using the Bible, no one could tell me "that's not true." It is also free of doctrine that defines each religious denomination so it's actually less of a constriction.
There is supplemental text in PASSION but it comes from sacred music and Jewish prayers, not from the world of my imagination. What I came to realize (here's the interesting/challenging part I talked about 3 paragraphs ago) is that using those oh-so-familiar scriptures is EXACTLY what I want to do and that my task is to make them NEW again. When you have bodies creating pictures that accompany the rote text, it cannot be rote anymore because, unlike language, bodies are never rote, can never be in the exact same position twice. There will always be something new. My friend got lost in the language becuase that's all he could see. He couldn't see the pictures that will take PASSION from the realm of the comfortable and familiar, to the realm of the exciting and unexpected.
Of course, that doesn't mean I'm changing the end of the story - it will end the way it has for centuries: Jesus dies, then comes back. But my plan is, anyone one who sees PASSION will never again be able to just listen to the words without seeing the pictures we created playing in their head. So what he thought was a criticism for me was really an affirmation that I did the exact right thing!
Up next: auditions!!
On the list of not-so-fun but necessary things to do if producing, I have accomplished not only the two aforementioned newsletters, but have secured a music director, sent press releases, tracked down a couple more costumes and copied music. Mundane tasks abound but I'm all in.
By far, the most interested and challenging feat came from a friend of mine who read the script and called to offer his opinion - which I asked for, btw. His first question was why I wanted to write this and who was I writing it for? Who did I want my audience to be?
I may have said this before but bear with me: the idea to write a passion play came from listening to a rote reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday. Docile recitations of "crucify him, crucify him" triggered a creative shock in me and pictures started to click in my head. I knew how to make it relevant to people again - they needed to see it. And.. . it would be accessible not only to the large audience of Christians in St. Louis but to a theatre community.
His next point was that he'd gotten lost in the language. He was raised going to church, but although he stopped going decades ago, he could still remember and recite most of the scripture passages once he was a few words in. He found that to be comfortable in a way where he could stop thinking and just move ahead by rote memorization which, he argued, is not a way to make theatre. Theatre is supposed to challenge and make us think, and keep us intrigued. Why had I used those "oh-so-familiar" scriptures instead of creating something myself?
Again, my apologies if you've heard this, but there are several reasons I wanted to use the Bible and not create any text:
1. The Bible is accepted as the Word of God.
2. In Passion plays I've read and see, dialogue created for scenes tends to be deragatory, inflammatory and anti-Semitic. I didn't want to go in that direction.
3. Using the Bible, no one could tell me "that's not true." It is also free of doctrine that defines each religious denomination so it's actually less of a constriction.
There is supplemental text in PASSION but it comes from sacred music and Jewish prayers, not from the world of my imagination. What I came to realize (here's the interesting/challenging part I talked about 3 paragraphs ago) is that using those oh-so-familiar scriptures is EXACTLY what I want to do and that my task is to make them NEW again. When you have bodies creating pictures that accompany the rote text, it cannot be rote anymore because, unlike language, bodies are never rote, can never be in the exact same position twice. There will always be something new. My friend got lost in the language becuase that's all he could see. He couldn't see the pictures that will take PASSION from the realm of the comfortable and familiar, to the realm of the exciting and unexpected.
Of course, that doesn't mean I'm changing the end of the story - it will end the way it has for centuries: Jesus dies, then comes back. But my plan is, anyone one who sees PASSION will never again be able to just listen to the words without seeing the pictures we created playing in their head. So what he thought was a criticism for me was really an affirmation that I did the exact right thing!
Up next: auditions!!
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