“Putting on a passion play is sort of like being in the kitchen with your wife and your mother,” Artistic Director Carl Gonzalez said during a rehearsal of the annual Passion Play at Union City’s Park Performing Arts Center (PPAC) last week. “You can’t fully please either one.”
To bring a biblical tale that is thousands of years old to a modern and increasingly more secular audience for the 98th year in a row is no small feat. The Passion Play tells the story of Jesus Christ’s trial, suffering, and eventual crucifixion.
Gonzalez, in his sixth year directing the play, walks a fine line between religion and art, he said. He and his performers must avoid alienating the more traditional members of their audience who’ve turned attending the Passion Play into a lifetime ritual, while at the same time making it relevant to those for whom religion has lost its immediate relevance.
“Theatre is a ministry, as is religion,” he said. “People these days don’t believe in bubkes, but privately, we all want to.”
Passion with a history
The play has seen many stylistic incarnations since its inception in 1915, according to PPAC Executive Director John Lewis. It began as a tableaux – when actors pose motionless on stage in a series of still scenes – with verses read straight from the bible in narration. In the ’30s and ’40s it was turned into a scripted drama, and in the ’80s music was added.
Now, Lewis explained, it is a full-blown musical, with a piece written by Gonzalez called “Oh Jerusalem” to be debuted during this year’s four March performances.
“There is nothing like this in the United States,” Lewis said. “The immense dedication and talent of everyone in it keeps me coming back here. It spurs me on.”
During World War I, in response to a plea for peace issued by Pope Benedict XV, Reverend Joseph N. Grieff of Union City’s Holy Family Church staged an American version of the German Passion Play. PPAC’s Park Theatre was built by the church in 1931 specifically to house the play, which by then had grown in popularity.
Though the theatre currently hosts a plethora of other events, the Passion Play is one of the highlights, Gonzalez said. It draws around 900 audience members with each performance, nearly shutting down the city with the massive influx of visitors.
“People these days don’t believe in bubkes, but privately, we all want to.” –Carl Gonzalez
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The passion behind the performers
The Passion Play and its audience are not the only parts of the event with a history. Actors hail from far and wide and local. Some are religious and some are not. Some are professional, and even Equity (in other words, paid for their time), while some actors’ theatrical careers do not extend beyond their annual performance.
One gentleman, Gary Shalhoub, has played the role of Nicodemus for 49 years.
“I’m just here to play Jesus,” David Murgittroyd, a professional equity actor from Whippany, N.J., explained. This year marks his fourth performing the coveted lead role. While the statement may seem flippant, his dedication to the role is not.
In fact, Murgittroyd recalled one performance two years prior that proved so compelling, he was asked to board a bus full of audience members and bless them on their journey home after the play.
However, the likeness ends there, as evidenced by his nine-year friendship with the gentleman who plays Judas. In the biblical tale, Judas is one of Jesus’ 12 apostles who betrays him; an act that leads to Jesus’ death.
Stephen Yesenosky (Judas) met Murgittroyd during, of all things, a high school performance of Godspell. In a truth-is-better-than-fiction example of typecasting, they performed the same characters over a decade ago as they will in March.
While some actors may run from the stigma of typecasting, Yesenosky doesn’t argue with it. He is excited by the challenge of the complexity of the role, which he is taking on at PPAC for the first time.
“Judas is a very torn character,” he said. “I can’t say that it doesn’t suit me. I enjoy the role very much.”
“I like giving Judas humanity,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve all experienced moments of betrayal when we’ve wanted to be better than we think we are. This is a concept we can all relate to, religious or not.”
Performance information
PPAC, located at 560 32nd St., will host performances of the Passion Play on March 24, 25, and 31 at 2 p.m., and one student and senior citizen performance on March 29 beginning at 10 a.m.
For more information, visit PPAC’s website at www.parkpac.org, or call the box office at (201) 865-6980, extension 10.
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