finally, it's over!
for the time, for this year.

Preparation
so, since around one month and a half ago, me and Johan help our friends to preparing the play of Jesus' crucifixion story that will held on the morning of the Good Friday. we invite young people, do casting on them, and trained them to get the character. and this is our second year for directing.

there's quite big differences between this year's and last year's. of course with the casts; a lot of new people and some old friends that i asked them to help. the other thing is i've made a little arrangement for the script that originally written by Roland Wiryawan when he wrote the script on 2005. because i found out that this year's casts didn't fit for the script. at least we still keep on going.

our every rehearsals, didn't went quite well; lack of cast, bad schedule, some of the properties are missing. but surely we still have some fun and for this one month and a half, we've made another brotherhood and fraternity.

for technical thing, i still use my minimalist and simple concept from last year, especially on the decoration because i use no decoration at all. and i will strengthen the story with lighting effects, nice soundtrack (some of the songs from Taize ;p), and a good make-up effect.

D Minus
three days before the Final Rehearsal, i've got a terrible news. one of the cast got ill and have to get rest in a hospital. and this character is one of the important character. got panic because i can't delete this character, it's related to synchronicity to the other characters that related to this character. but, the show must go on!

so desperately, i tried to contact one of my friend who played the same character on last year's play. fortunately, she can help. she asked me to held an additional rehearsal, one day before Final Rehearsal to know the dialogues, blocking, and synchronicity with the other casts. and thankfully she can do her best. she's a great actress! ;p

finally came the Final Rehearsal day that held on one day before the D-Day. and the Final Rehearsal really below my expectation. i don't know why but there's a lot of mistakes that the casts did, their acting didn't get up to the top, their vocals went down, and a lot of techincal problems. and these things really ruined my day and just hope for the better on the D-Day.

It's Not a Show
here comes the D-Day. we gathered around 6 o'clock and began to make-up the casts. i used2006's photo of casts that held a really great make-up effects because >on that time we hire a professional make-up character artists that used to make-up professional theatre group. but from last year and this year, i only asked some of my friends that can do the make-up character and use the photos for the references. and this year's result is way above of my expectations! even much better from last year's. unbelievable! even i can't believe it if these make-up effects is done by not-professional-make-up-character-artist! ahahahaha....

for the technical thing, i asked some of my friends to take care the lighting and sound system. there's only 9 people who helped on these things but gratefully, we done the things within one hour! ahahahaha.

before the play, the priest once again reminds us that what will we perform isn't a show, but rather a guidance. every dialogue, expression, body language, business acting, every little thing we do in the stage is to guide the people to remind, reflect, pray, and build their faith back.


















09.00, it's show time! begins with opening song, prayer, and Jesus start to walk down into the church, guarded by cruel soldier. He got accused, tortured, and condemned to death. He brings his own heavy cross, whipped, spitted. Finally, His hands and feet were nailed to the cross. Her mother cried in pain. And He took his last breath.














me, i've made my own cameo appearence to become Barabas, the criminal who got released. have no dialogue at all, but it needs a great expression and temprament. only seconds appearance but it's a strong character that helps build the story. still can't believe it, the people wants the cruelest criminal ever got released than this innocent Son of Man.














Tears, Tears, Tears
after my appearance, i look around to see the people who sat down in the church, trying to see what they see, feel what they feel. and i found a lot of people, mostly women, hold napkins or tissues in front of their face, with starry eyes. uhm, were they cried?

and i quite shocked to found out that the organist and solist which i asked them to help to fill the >score, watch the play with starry eyes as well. spontaneously, i asked one of them, "wowh, you're crying?" and she replied, "it's sad, mo..." wowh! ;p

yes, one of the the indicators that the Jesus' crucifixion play was success is to see how many people who walk out the church with tears. of course it's not a certain thing that they really reflect on Jesus' miseries, but at least that tears is the tangible thing that they really felt about the story, about on what they watch, see and feel during the play.

after the play is over, i instructed all of the cast wait in the side of the church while all of the people slowly walk out the church, because we wants to take a photo inside the church. unexpectedly, the people who walk out passed us, begins to thanks and congrats us. finally came this old lady to Jesus' cast, and begins to hug put her hands to "Jesus'" face, talking something while she cried. don't know what exactly she said but i think she really see and feel Jesus' presence, on him. it's a deeply touchy moment.

from that moment, me and Johan were realized that, to portray Jesus' character, it's not only depends on physical things (tall, good looking, etc), but also has to have a good personality and charming. and i admitted that this year's Jesus cast is have that 'charm' in a way.

Epilog
overall, i'm really satisfied with this year's play. all of casts do their best, over the top. even above my expectations. all of my worries about vocal, articulation, expression, acting, etc is vanished by their performance. my strategy to emphasize on "little" scenes such as Israeli Women, Meeting with Mother Mary, Veronica, etc works really good. and we helped by a great crews as well. such a good work and great team-work. great sound so we can hear much better, great lighting effects, great make-up, great documentation. amazing!

so, it's a long and tough way journey of this year's play. begins with my laziness to direct this play, but ends with proudness of what the casts has done. begins with a lack of people who played the casts, but ends with a lot of feelings after the play. a lot of obstacles in the way, but paid with full of blessing.

Happy Easter!


Credit to:
Casts
Nando as Jesus
Rere as Mother Mary
Indra as Peter, Simon
Kenrisen as Kayaphas
Patrick as Hanas
Stevanus as Pilatus
Tere as Inciter #1
Bianca as Inciter #2
Angel as Inciter #3
Richard as Inciter #4 who can't made it to the play
Amel as (Additional) Inciter #4
Vincent as Head of Soldier
Shady as Soldier #1
Petrus as Soldier #2
Mario as Soldier #3
Vian as Soldier #4
Yoriza as Veronica
Betty as Israeli Woman #1
Kartika Meliana as Israeli Woman #2

Crew
Agung
Boni
Dimas Cilix
Devina
Fanie
Felix
Ivan
Pius
Toni

Documentation
Aart
Rangga
Valent

Make-Up Artists
Amel
Melly
Rere
Sesi
Yoriza

Musicians
Indri
Marcella
Sisi

Producers
Rm. Ari
Fr. Bayu