Passion for Jesus brings believers together Bangor church produces its own true-to-the Bible play for a diverse audience

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BANGOR – An early Christian tradition is getting an ecumenical treatment this Lent at the former Unitarian Church.

A Passion play – the story of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection – will be presented five more times through next weekend at the Union Street Brick Church at First and Union streets.

Catholics, Methodists, Congregationalists, evangelical Protestants and nonreligious theater buffs have come together to present a new version of the story familiar to millions of Christians around the globe.

Last year, a Passion play was performed at the church with a script used for years by a Catholic church in New Jersey. That version was no longer available, so the Rev. Leland Witting and his wife Charlene Kent Witting of Castine wrote a new script using the Book of John from the New Testament.

“We’ve updated the English, but it’s all there,” she said. “Jesus doesn’t say anything in the script that’s not in the Book of John.”

With a master’s degree in theater, Charlene Kent Witting has constructed and staged the production with the traditions of sacred theater in mind.

“It’s not really a play or a performance but an acting out of the Scripture by people who believe it is the living Word of God,” she said. “In sacred theater, we expect the actors to all have that connection to the Word and to take on a sense of the divine. The idea is to bring the divine down to the people.”

The Wittings’ version of the Passion play also includes mimed poems that open and close the play, including stories from the Old Testament and passages from the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.

Also borrowed from the traditions of sacred theater are processionals by the cast through the audience and the sharing of food with its members when Jesus performs the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

Jesus was not a major focus for Jennifer Emrich-Shanks of Brewer. A student at Bangor Theological Seminary, she attends the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bangor. She decided to try out for the Passion play after seeing a sign in front of the church. Emrich-Shanks plays several roles in the play, including an angel who narrates the prologue and epilogue.

“Spiritually, being in this show has been a real exploration for me,” she said. “I’m a UU and don’t have a lot of background in Christian theology, even though I’m now taking a class on Jesus. It’s been an amazing synthesis – studying it while acting it out at same time.

“I’ve also made friends with evangelical Christians,” said Emrich-Shanks. “For me, being in the play has brought about a spiritual deepening, while for them, it’s a religious act. It’s been interesting to be a part of.”

Charlene Kent Witting said that one of the biggest challenges in mounting the production turned out to be one of its greatest strengths. She said that most cast members have not appeared on stage before and have had to learn to separate their conviction and devotion to the word of God from the need to be seen, heard and understood by an audience.

Patrick Ammarell Gordon of Bangor had never done any acting before he took on the role of Jesus. An electrician, Gordon is part of the dance ministry at Abundant Life Church in Bangor.

“At first, I was just overwhelmed by the part,” he said. “The biggest thing was trying to get into character and trying to portray the correct emotion for each scene. It’s Jesus! You just don’t get a much bigger role than that.”

Gordon, who approaches performing as an “act of worship,” said that he’s tried to approach each scene with the kind of compassion that Christ showed others during his life. He added that playing the role has given him a better understanding of Jesus the man rather than thinking of the savior just as God incarnate on earth.

“I hope that people who don’t have a relationship with God or have never heard the story before will come hear it and it will affect their lives,” said Gordon.

Canda “Cooki” Santiago of Winterport, a student at Wagner Middle School in Winterport, is one of six children in the 25-member cast. She attends Hampden Highlands United Methodist Church with her mother, Kelly Nelson-Santiago, who also is in the play.

Cooki Santiago observed that seeing the play could give people a different perspective on the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

“Reading the Bible gets a little boring,” she said. “Instead of looking at a book and trying to picture it in your mind, you can sit and actually see it in the play.”

The Passion play is just one piece of the church’s vision, according to Witting. He purchased the former Unitarian Church in 1998 while still a student at Bangor Theological Seminary.

Since then, Witting has worked toward the goal of “fostering creativity in the arts as a means of praising the creator and toward helping one another reach our highest and best potential in this world.”

Open mike night is held at the church most Thursday evenings. Other events held at the Union Street Brick Church have included performances by a local Eastern dance troupe, the Harborside Players’ production of Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap,” a Renaissance fair, Celtic music concert and religious art exhibits.

The building also functions as a house of worship, of course. Witting, an ordained Congregational minister, conducts services at 11:30 a.m. Sundays.

The Wittings want the Passion play to become an Easter tradition in the community so they wrote it for a broad audience. Charlene Kent Witting said that she expects the people who attend the play to come for reasons as diverse as the production’s participants.

“A lot of people in the Passion play see this as a way to witness,” she said. “For me, it is an act of worship. For all of us, though, Jesus is at the center of this.

“It is all about Him.”

The Passion play will be performed at 7 p.m. today and Sunday, and again April 10, 12 and 13. For information, call 945-9798.