Production Notes
Dorothy Sayers was once asked about how she cast for one of her plays. Did Ms. Sayers, the questioner asked, first make sure that the gentlemen who played angels have an angelic disposition? Sayers replied that first she made sure that her actors were physically strong because they were required to stand perfectly still holding up a canopy for the entirety of the whole play. Whether they even believed in angels, much less in God, didn't much matter so much as their belief in the almighty paycheck.
Or, to paraphrase Flannery O'Connor, to be a good Catholic artist, one needn't necessarily be a good person or a good Catholic, but one does need to be a good artist.
Those who are preparing to do any sort of pageant - whether it be a Nativity, a Passion, or a random and very welcome return of Medieval Mystery Plays - would do well to keep these thoughts in mind. However, as other directors may well know, while actors clamour to play the great classic roles, they tend to be far more reticient to play God. (Insert your own ironic comments here.) Likewise, directors sometimes feel that since a pageant is even more particularly a piece for the lay community, it ought to be something "of the people, by the people, for the people" - whether or not "the people" are up to the task.
I admit that with the 2003 Passion, I fell into the entirely pious but impractical trap of limiting my acting pool solely to green actors, pulled from Freshmen and Sophomore years. Negatively, it didn't go over well with the upperclassmen (who can tend to be a cliquish lot), and my actors were either entirely or relatively untrained. Positively, it did boost several actors either onto the stage or into a greater confidence for larger roles down the pike. (So truly, there is nothing wholly lost in His plan.)
A few other observations from the 2003 Passion and others:
Modern dress does work
Choice of venue is important (the lower church is not as beautiful as the upstairs church)
Choice of date is important (we performed in 2003 the day before school vacation - the natives were restless to say the least!)
Know thy audience (playing to students can be quite different from playing to adults)
Music is our friend (in both 2003-2006 any musical interlude played strongly regardless)
