Well, MBTBK has opened! After a strange and winding road, we're finally here. In the end we had 2 weeks to put together a play from start to finish with new scripts, new roles, and a pretty daunting task. Our director, Katie Jenkins, did a bang-up job whipping us into shape, though, and the result didn't seem half bad right before we opened. Then Prof. Hallstrom came an put the finishing touches on it, and now I for one and really pleased with it. It's dramatic, and tells the story of Jesus' death and ressurection in a way not usually seen in our almost Biblically-jaded culture.
What I mean by that is so often in this culture we're used to seeing an almost cliched version of the gospel story. Holy, white Jesus is born in a clean, Martha Stewart-decorated stable while well-groomed shepherds gaze on in awe. As Jesus grows up, he attracts a crowd of disciples, who are faithful, but rather stupid. Then there's Judas, the evil villain that everyone else must have been blind not to recognize as the scoundrel he was. After Judas springs his evil plot, no doubt giggling with vile glee and rubbing his hands together, Jesus goes to the cross, where he silently hangs, looking almost serene as he dies. Once he says "It is finished!" (sometimes nearly triumphant in his tone) he dies and is laid in the tomb. The disciples go back to thier daily lives, albiet more like sheep whose shepherd has left. Then Jesus rises from the dead and everybody is happy. Not the most accurate depiction, and certainly hard to stay interested in. Now, please don't think I'm saying the gospel story is boring. I don't! It's the greatest story ever told! But we don't tell it very well on the whole. It's sort of like watching Star Wars on a broken, 6 inch-television screen, in Japanese, and then expecting our friends to be impressed.
Dorothy Sayers, member of the Inklings club from whence authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien emerged, has written a masterful re-telling of the biblical account. While not perfect, Sayer's version humanizes all the characters. No longer is Judas the Snidley Whiplash so often portrated in today's christian media. Instead, he is an extremely intelligent man swayed by logic, and his own inability to fathom Christ's choice to take the way of suffering. It makes for a much more engaging tale while staying firmly withing the boundaries laid out in the Bible.
Anyway, last night's performance was small, since it was Thursday we didn't have a big crowd, but it went really well I think. Jacob Corbett's performance of Jesus on the cross is one of the most unsettling things to sit through, especially since I'm kneeling at his feet as he does it, so I'm right next to him.
Other than the play, things around here are starting to move towards the end of the semester. Classes are starting to focus on what we should know for the finals, projects are being returned, and plans are being made for next semester. Today my Accounting class was cut short by a fire alarm (false, by the way) so I'm offically in my weekend. We have another performance tonight, but other than that I can relax. Oh, and I have a bottom bunk now. Isaiah and I decided to switch bunks today, so I'm pretty happy right now.
I think I'm out of interesting stories to tell, and my fingers are starting to hurt, so until next time, Kwaheri!
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