Passion Plays

Great article here from Slate, just in time for Easter, talking about Passion Plays -- often lavishly produced -- that churches put on at this time of year.

I remember the simple version that we always did at the Catholic Church I attended growing up. I was a reader when I was in high school, so often ended up reading a part. But everybody had a part in the passion play -- if you weren't one of the characters, you were part of the evil mob who wanted Jesus crucified. When Pontius Pilot asked, "What would you have me do?" The crowd -- the congregation -- would respond, "Crucify him!" I hated reading that. What a terrible sense of culpability! What power theater has, to tell a story in real time and space and motion...