CINCINNATI -- Hailed as a savior as he entered his nation’s holiest city. Betrayed by one of his closest friends, and deserted by the rest. Convicted of trying to overthrow the government, and nailed to a tree until he died.
Yes, there’s enough dramatic material in the last earthly week of Jesus of Nazareth for several plays. Plays about that week – called passion plays – have been performed for centuries.
And speaking of centuries, starting Saturday, April 1, one such reenactment, the St. John Passion Play, will present its 100th season. It’s been performed in the Tri-state every year since its creation in 1918.
There will be six productions of the play -- three at Lockland Christian Church, 231 Mill St., and three at Mount St. Joseph University, 5701 Delhi Ave. The Lockland performances will be 7 p.m. April 1, 3 p.m. April 2 and 7 p.m. on Good Friday, April 14. The Mount St. Joseph performances will be 7 p.m. April 7 and 8 and 3 p.m. April 9.
The play has received commendations on its 100th anniversary from Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Mayor John Cranley, as well as Diocese of Covington Bishop Roger Foys.
It’s called the St. John Passion Play because of its creator, the late Father Richard Wurth, who in 1917 was the pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Over-the-Rhine. He conceived of putting on a passion play as a sort of prayer for the protection of his parishioners on the battlefield in World War I.
The church is long gone, having been torn down in 1971, but the play has been kept alive by faithful volunteers like Judy Hughes.
Hughes started working with the play in 1962 as an usher, when tickets were sold with reserve seating. She later graduated to acting roles such as Claudia, wife of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and is now a member of the board.
She and other board members also dipped into their own pockets to help keep the play going in the early ‘70s, when it faced some lean years because of a change of venue, she said.
The play pays for itself through donations and through an offering taken during each performance. Since more is typically collected than is needed to cover expenses, the excess is donated to a local charity -- this year, to the City Gospel Mission.
Other volunteers donate their time, like the late Frank Sansone, longtime artistic director of the play. Sansone took a year off work to redesign or recreate all the costumes used in the play. He also created many of the props, adding details such as authentic Latin writing on the scroll Pilate reads from when he sentences Jesus.
For some people, seeing the play has become part of their Lenten ritual, like climbing the steps and praying at Holy Cross Immaculata in Mount Adams, Hughes said.
Members of the cast of about 100, who are not all Roman Catholics, tend to stay with the production. So do their children -- there have been four generations of one family working on the play at one time, Hughes said.
Sedamsville resident Leano Sokalski was a 12-year-old when she made her debut as a child of Jerusalem in 1967. Her mother and father, who were working with the play at the time, got her involved, and now it’s become a family tradition.
Her mother worked on costumes for years, she said, and now that’s her job.
“There’s a lot of energy there,” she said. “I have a lot of friends there.”
For more about the St. John Passion Play, see interactive graphic below.
