Passion, Politics and Religion at Play in ISU's "Passion Play"

There is a lot of passion in Sarah Ruhl's "Passion Play" on stage at ISU's Center for the Performing Arts. Not just The Passion of the Christ, which you might expect, but passion among actors, directors, crew, politicians, visitors, rivals, all surrounding how a village and its villagers -- in rural England under Elizabeth I, Oberammergau during Hitler's reign, and Spearfish, SD in the late 20th century -- put on a show about the last week in the life of Jesus Christ. There are lovers, friends, cousins, brothers, sisters, all struggling to find a way put on a play.

I love Ruhl's writing, and "Passion Play" is some of her best, at times poetic in the slightly warped way she does so well, at times funny or sad or moving or provocative, but always as elusive as it is intriguing. As Ruhl examines how people's lives relate to religion in terms of wanting guidance from above, trying hard not to waver, twisting piety for political or social gain, or wielding mighty weapons in the name of faith, she looks at the connection between religion and politics, as well as between religion and theater. There is, in fact, a lot about theater and the people who create it in this play. Ruhl is not above pointing out the foibles of theater people anymore than clergymen or kings.

These are big issues, and Ruhl gives each era and its characters a full act to tell their chapter of the story. At Illinois State, under the direction of Brandon Ray, the play is quite long. There's no getting around that. On opening night, it ran at about 4 hours and 15 minutes, right up there in "Gone With the Wind," "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "Angels in America" territory. There were definitely times when the pace lapsed a little, when it seemed there were a few too many set pieces to move or costume changes or entrances or exits to wait for, but mostly, the time was well spent on the depth of Ruhl's vision, with some terrific character work from ISU's undergraduate actors and some absolutely beautiful stage pictures courtesy of scenic designer John C. Stark and lighting designer Julie Mack.

The script asks for stage magic, and in this "Passion Play," it absolutely gets it.

It also asks a lot of its actors, who play different people, albeit people who are cast in the same roles in each of the three Passion Plays within Ruhl's "Passion Play." Matt Bausone is especially good as three men slated to play Pontius Pilate. His first character is a physically twisted little fish-gutter who hates his cousin, the one who plays Jesus, the second is a confident Nazi soldier in love with the man playing Jesus, and the third is a man who goes off to Vietnam and comes back severely damaged by the experience, leaving his brother, who plays Jesus, safe at home. Bausone makes each Pontius different, but all three compelling, especially #3, making for a lovely, stirring final image to the play.

Jeff Kurysz is all three of the Jesus actors, one pious and distant, one timid and unsure, and the last a bit arrogant and selfish. I liked him best as the second one, the dutiful son and sweet lover who wants to do the right thing, but makes the absolute wrong choice in the chilling conclusion to Act II. His pompous actor in Act III has his moments, as well.

I also enjoyed Ashlyn Hughes' trio of crazy girls; they're called Village Idiot #1, Village Idiot #2 and Violet, but they function something like Shakespearean fools, and costume designer Tyler Wilson has even given her a clown-like motley outfit in Act III. Hughes is very effective as the little voice -- always the outsider -- who pops up out of nowhere at inconvenient times.

Clayton Joyner and Caitlin Boho are the two Marys in the piece (the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene) and they're both effective, especially in the Elizabethan section of the play, where they are given the most to do.

Others of note in the cast include Owais Ahmed as a cheery visiting Englishman writing a book about theater in the German section; Carlos Kmet doing a Leonardo turn as an Italian man who can make people fly in 1575; and David Fisch, whose Queen Elizabeth costume has to be seen to be believed and whose Ronald Reagan is a little too reminiscent of the real one for my taste.

Sarah Ruhl's "Passion Play" is not the Passion Play, but three small, human, flawed Passion Plays of its own. Yes, it asks a lot of its audience, and yes, I hope the cast and crew can find their way to trimming 20 minutes or so off its running time, but it's worth the wait and well worth your attention.

PASSION PLAY
By Sarah Ruhl

Illinois State University
Center for the Performing Arts

Director: Brandon Ray
Scenic Designer: John C. Stark
Costume Designer: Tyler Wilson
Hair and Makeup Designer: Wendy Wallace
Lighting Designer: Julie Mack
Composer and Sound Designer: Jason Tucholke
Dramaturges: Ianthe Dempsey, Janelle Melgaard, Sarah Salazar
Dialect and Voice Coach: Lori Adams
Fight Director: Tony Pellegrino
Stage Manager: Hanna Supanich-Winter

Cast: Matt Bausone, Jeff Kurysz, Clayton Joyner, Caitlin Boho, Owais Ahmed, Ashlyn Hughes, Keith Jackewicz, Frank Huber, Brody Murray, Carlos Kmet, David Fisch, Kyle McClevey, Nick Villareal-Lindmark, Deirdre McNulty, Kayla Stroner, Hisako Sugeta.

Remaining Performances: February 22, 23 and 24 at 7 pm; February 19 at 4 pm and February 25 at 4 pm.

Running time: 4:15 with two 10-minute intermissions

For ticket information, click here.

An Early Look at "Passion Play," Upcoming at ISU's CPA

I like Sarah Ruhl's writing in general. She's a little weird and a little wacky, but she manages to bring together disparate elements like love, romance, belief, fate, and yes, passion in a very creative package. The ideas are practically bouncing off the walls in her plays.

"Passion Play" is one of her best, if also one of the most dense and complicated. There is a lot going on here, both in terms of characters and the magical, sad, funny, strange world around them. And director Brandon Ray is doing his best to mine those depths and bring all the magic to the stage at ISU's Center for the Performing Arts beginning Friday.

The "passion" in this "Passion Play" is about the life (and specifically, the suffering) of Jesus, referring to the Passion Plays that have been happening since the 15th century, when regular old folks (not actors, in other words, but carpenters and fishermen and girls next door) put on dramatic presentations to tell the story of Jesus's trial, crucifixion and resurrection.

“I’ve been obsessed with the Passion play since I was a child,” Ms. Ruhl told the New York Times. “Maybe it was being raised a Catholic, but I was definitely also interested in how whole towns would get involved, or religiosity could be used as a cloak for other things. In that sense my play is much more about theater than it is about religion.”

Ruhl takes her "Passion Play" narrative across about four hundred years, showing us how they put on the play in an English village in 1575, with a visit from Queen Elizabeth; in Oberammergau Germany in 1934 with Hitler on the rise; and finally in a backwater town called Spearfish, South Dakota during Viet Nam and then the Reagan years. The script specifies that the same actors will play different characters in those three eras, but continue to play the same roles in the play-within-the-play. If that sounds complicated, it doesn't come off that way in the script. For example, for ISU, actor Matt Bausone plays a misshapen, smelly fish-gutter named Pontius in Elizabethan England. Pontius is set to play Pontius Pilate (obviously) and Satan in the play, and he is jealous of his handsome, pious cousin John, played by Jeff Kurysz, who will take the role of Jesus, as his father did before him. In the next section, set in Germany in 1934, Bausone plays a foot soldier in Hitler's army, one who is suppressing his feelings for Eric, another handsome man cast as Christ in the pageant, again played by Kurysz. And in the third act, with Kurycz as J, yet again set to play Christ, Bausone's character is P, a tortured Viet Nam vet who is having trouble keeping himself together long enough to make it to the play. Bausone plays three different characters -- fish-gutter, soldier, vet -- in the three different eras, but they're all cast as Pontius Pilate in their respective Passion Plays.

Photo credit: Alex K

Ruhl's soaring imagination and sharp sense of humor are on display throughout "Passion Play," and Ray's scenic designer, John Stark, is clearly matching that quirky mood, as you can see from the "paint day" pictures, with a crew member taking a break on the beautiful painted backdrop (below), and a view of the cross as it was being built (above) that plays such an important role in the Passion Plays within this "Passion Play."

Photo credit: Alex K

You should be aware, however, that you will not see an actual Passion Play in any of the three eras. All three sets of would-be actors and stage crews struggle to find a way to overlook or even improve on their own human frailties in order to tell this story that is so important to them. And they pretty much screw it up every time.

"Passion Play" is not a short play, and you can expect performances at the Center for the Performing Arts to take in excess of three hours, with two short intermissions. Sometimes a story is too big for the current 100-minutes-with-no-intermission model. "Passion Play" is one of those plays. Its theatrical scale and thematic scope require no less.

The play opens on Friday, February 17th, with a 7 pm performance. Subsequent performances are scheduled for February 18 and 19 and 22, 23, 24 and 25. For all the details or to order tickets, click here or here.