One of the perks of being retired like Terry and myself is the luxury of attending matinee performances. Prior to this afternoon, our last such matinee was a play written and directed by our son Derek called A Christmas Dinner, the nativity story told from Joseph’s perspective.
Today, we attended a play called The Way of the Cross produced and directed by Antony Caruso, a grade eight teacher at Holy Spirit Catholic School in Newmarket. Based on a book by Gwyn Costello, Antony admits his true inspiration for putting on this production for a tenth consecutive year comes from a simple passion play performed by senior students at Brebeuf College some thirty years ago.
A one hour drama, The Way of the Cross consists of a tableau of the fourteen stations each introduced by one of four narrators. Each speaker describes a situation in her immediate experience, from wanting to fit in with peers to how she reacts when seeing a schoolyard fight, and then introduces a corresponding station replete with Roman soldiers and a cross carrying Jesus. After the audience has viewed each tableau, the narrator takes a few moments to reinforce the truth that although the Passion happened some two thousand years ago, it still has significance in our lives today.
That we should follow the example set by Jesus was the key phrase that resonated at the end of each scene.
The audience of students from grades four to eight was spellbound by the production which ended dramatically with a spotlight on a risen Jesus.
The entire cast of thirty actors is to be commended for delivering, in a very modern day way, the timeless message embedded in the Stations of the Cross. Congratulations!
May you always have the love of Jesus in your hearts.
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