Passion Play

EPAS assessment tool

This exercise was created by Robin Bennett, using Tom Creamer's dramaturgical article on Passion Play.

Download the Goodman Passion Play Assessment here.

Download the Goodman Passion Play Assessment answers here .

Download the PLAN Type Reading Humanities Questions template here .

Meet the Cast & Crew

Click here for a copy of the Profiles section from our Passion Play playbill.  You can learn more about the cast & crew and their credits before seeing the play. 

THINK ABOUT IT
What assumptions do you make about what each actor's performance might be like based on his or her bio and photo alone?  Why?

The ADL & Oberammergau

"Since the late seventies, the Anti-Defamation League has been very critical of the [Oberammergau Passion Play] script, which projected a theological anti-Judaism, as well as an anti-Semitic message."
- www.adl.org

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL)--a group that fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in the U.S. and abroad--has been critical of Passion plays for many years. The student guide contains the first page of a series of articles detailing the ADL's critique of the 2000 version of the Oberammergau Passion Play and some of the most recent changes made to the play.

Click here to read more about the ADL's opinions and the reasoning behind their critique.

'I Have a Dream'

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech is excerpted in the student guide. You can read the full text of his speech here.

Homosexuality, Identity, and PASSION PLAY

In Parts 1 and 2 of Passion Play, characters grapple with their sexuality and the attitudes of the societies in which they live.  Consider the following quotes about homosexuality and homophobia:

"Growing up homosexual was to grow up normally but displaced; to experience romantic love, but with the wrong person; to entertain grand ambitions, but of the unacceptable sort; to seek a gradual self-awakening, but in secret, not in public."  -  Andrew Sullivan

"In sum, 'homophobia' is a form of acute conventionality.  We should do our best to help humankind over this illness, since heterosexuals who are free of it tend to have much better lives than heterosexuals who are not." - George Weinberg

How do these quotes relate to the characters' experiences in Passion Play?  How might each character react to these quotes?  How do you feel about these quotes?  Why?

In Dennis Altman's essay "Why Are Gay Men So Feared?" (excerpted here) the author explores ideology surrounding homosexuality and homophobia in his attempt to answer the question posed in the essay's title.  The kind of fear espoused by this ideology and the quest for personal identity in a largely unforgiving society are both at the heart of Ruhl's Passion Play. 

THINK ABOUT IT: After reading Altman's essay, what do you make of its title?  Do you agree that homosexuality inspires fear in those who most vocally object to same-sex partnerships?  How do the perspectives of the men above (Sullivan and Weinberg) inform your reading of Altman's essay?  Think bout Altman's assertion about Nazi Germany in terms of Part 2 of Passion Play.  Do you think his hypothesis is correct based on what you observe from the characters in the play?  Why or why not?

In Conversation: Sarah Ruhl & Paula Vogel

The full text of the interview of Sarah Ruhl conducted by her colleague and mentor, Paula Vogel, which is excerpted in the student guide can be found in its entirety by downloading it here.

THINK ABOUT IT: Mentors
Think about a mentor of yours or someone to whom you have been a mentor.  What kind of influence has the relationship had on your life?  How would you be different if it weren't for this person?  How do you think Sarah Ruhl's life and career might have been different were it not for her relationship with accalimed playwright Paula Vogel?

Playing a Role in the Cold War

In listening to a recent This American Life podcast, I was struck by Arthur Phillips' reading of his short   story, "Wenceslas Square" in which a CIA agent working the final days of the Cold War plays a role that in many ways ends up playing him.  While for more mature audiences, the abridged story, read by its author is quite affecting and can be found in a free download (in the second act of the episode) here. 

THINK ABOUT IT: When are the stakes highest for us in the roles we play?  In this story, the protagonist is caught in a situation where the future of his career, his country, and potentially his life rest on his ability to convince a woman he's someone he's not.  How does this compare with the experiences of the character in Passion Play?  How does it compare to roles you've played in your own life? 

Worth a thousand words

ACTIVITY
Create A Picture Wall

While in the rehearsal hall, the cast and crew of Passion Play had a source of constant inspiration in the wall of images they (and the dramaturgy staff) constructed on one of the walls.  When dealing with a play that moves through several time periods, it can be helpful to have visual representations to help you remember where - and when - you are.  Working together as a class, create your own image wall as you work through Passion Play to help you get a sense of time, place, and people.  Here are a few suggestions to get you started.  Follow the links to get the "full size" images.

Think about what other types of images would be helpful as you go along and add those to your board.  Would images of Elizabethan London, images of Jesus Christ, of Oberammergau, or of South Dakota be useful as you read the play?  Why?

TAKE THE NEXT STEP: Apply this idea to the next novel or history text you read for class.  Find images that help you remember key players or events and great a collage - either on a wall, a large piece of paper, or even just a page in your notebook.  Is it easier to keep track of all the information you need to know?

Passion Play Timeline

Use this interactive timeline as a starting point for further exploration of the history of passion plays utlizing the internet.  Click on the hyperlinks for more information - the items in bold are ones we think you might find especially useful.  This timeline is edited from the timeline given to the actors in Passion Play  at the beginning of rehearsals by Goodman's dramaturgical staff.

Passion Play & Liturgical Drama Timeline

925(ca.) - Choral dialogue is introduced into church services with Quem Quaeritis trope.

970(ca.) - Christian comedies based on Terence are written by Hrosvitha, a nun.

1140(ca.) - Play of Adam: first appearance of scriptural drama in the vernacular.

1264 - Establishment of the Festival of Corpus Christi.

1338 - Authorities in Freiburg, Germany prohibit churches from performing anti-Jewish scenes in Passion Plays in fear of a violent backlash aimed toward the Jewish people. 

1375(ca.) - Second Shepherds Play, part of the Wakefield Cycle play series based on the Bible.

1376 - Earliest reference to the York Cycle

1402 - Confrerie de la Passion (a band of amateur actors comprised of merchants and craftsment) is given permission by Charles VI to perform mystery plays in the city of Paris

1463(ca.) - Earliest text of the York Cycle.

1469 - Special precautions are taken in Frankfurt to protect Jewish people during Passion play performance.

1490-1510(ca.) - Date of Townley Cycle (also known as the Wakefield Cycle) manuscript.

1495(ca.) - Everyman written.

1519 - John Skelton writes Magnyfycence, a morality play.

1518 - Confrerie de la Passion becomes a theatrical monopoly in Paris

1548 - Religious plays are banned in France.

1539 - Passion plays are banned in Rome in response to years of anti-Jewish violence.

1567 - York Cycle begins to be suppressed.

1575 - Last performance of the Chester Cycle.

1576 - Wakefield Cycle is suppressed.

1580 - Final attempt to stage the York Cycle fails.

1591 - Earliest known text of the Chester Cycle.

1633 -Village counsel of OberammergauBavaria vows to perform ,The Tragedy of the Passion every 10 years.

1634 - Oberammergau's first Passion is performed in the graveyard beside the church. Earliest surviving text of the Oberammergau Passion Play.

1680 - System of performing the Oberammergau Passion Play in the first year of each decade is adopted.

1770 - All Passion Plays are banned in Bavaria. The Oberammergau Passion is not performed.

1815 - The end of the Napoleonic Wars sparks special performances of the Oberammergau Passion Play.

1922 - Oberammergau Passion Play is performed to make up for 1920 when the play was not performed because of WWI.

1930 - Adolf Hitler attends a performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play.

1932(ca.) - Troup of German Passion Players emigrate to the United States. Among them is Josef Meier, pioneer of the Black Hills Passion Play.

1934 - Hitler attends the Oberammergau Passion Play for a second time for a special jubilee performance.

1939 -  The Black Hills Passion Play is first performed in Spearfish, South Dakota

1940 - Oberammergau Passion Play is not performed because of WWII.

1954 - Spearfish citizens are given the Freedoms Foundation Award to note their achievements in community development.

1965 - The Roman Catholic Church takes formal steps to correct anti-Semitic interpretations of the Passion, most Protestant churches follow suit.

1988 - The United States (Catholic) Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs issued, Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion This pamphlet stressed the importance of avoiding caricatures of Jews and the false opposition of Jews and Jesus in Passion plays.

1990 - A commission responsible for the Oberammergau Passion Play text works on solutions to issues raised by the Anti-Defamation League in order to combat anti-Semitism.

1990 -Women who are married and/or over 35 are allowed to perform in the Oberammergau Passion Play. This is in response to a case taken to the state court of Bavaria.

1999 - Josef Meier is commemorated by the South Dakota State Legislature for many achievements, among them: his life long commitment to the performance of the Passion play, and setting a record for play Christ over 9,000 times.

2000 - Most recent production of the Oberammergau Passion Play.

Focus on Identity: Embodying the Role

IDENTITY in
SARAH RUHL'S PASSION PLAY: A CYCLE IN THREE PARTS

Embodying the Role

The following piece from the 2004 MTV Movie Awards is a kind of meta-satire on what happens when the line between an actor and his role blurs - for both Jim Caviezal (who portrayed Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ) and Will Ferrell, reprising his role as Ron Burgundy from the film, Anchorman.

TALK ABOUT IT
How do the roles we're assigned in life affect how we see ourselves?  How do they affect how others see us?  Post a comment to talk about the different roles you play in life (son or daughter, student, girlfriend/boyfriend, etc.) and how they come together to help define who you are. 

Or - talk about how playing a role in a movie, a play, or on television seems to affect how we view actors and other celebrities.  What happens when a celebrity acts in a way that contradicts the role society has assigned him or her - for example, when a "good girl" behaves badly or a "leading man" leaves his wife?

Feel free to start the discussion on your own blog - just make sure you TrackBack to our post and let us know what you discover.