Our church put on a most interesting play for Maundy Thursday. Here's the history behind it.
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The idea for this particular production was suggested to me in the fall of 1953 by a Church Organist in Petersburg, Virginia, who had seen a group of local men portray Jesus and the Twelve Apostles in what was called "A Living Picture of The Last Supper" based upon Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting. During the next two months I studied da Vinci and his inspiring picture and then proceeded to write the soliloquies for the Twelve Apostles as they might have expressed themselves immediately after hearing the Master say, "One of you will betray me," whereupon each man had cried out, "Lord, is it I?" This was the moment Leonardo said he wished to capture in his picture.
This new drama had its premiere presentation in the Sanctuary of the Elm Avenue Methodist Church, Portsmouth, Virginia, on Palm Sunday night, 1954, during the seventh year of my fifteen year pastorate there. In September of the same year, 1954, the script and soliloquies for the Twelve Apostles were included in my book "More Plays and Pageants For Many Occasions," a collection of ten original non-royalty plays published by the W.A. Wilde Company. From 1954 through 1961 the original cast presented the drama sixteen times for more than thirty thousand people in many cities in Virginia and North Carolina, as well as over television. Since its publication, the play has been presented by many different groups in all sections of the nation and has been a source of inspiration to the many thousands who have seen it in person as well as over numerous television stations during Holy Week. Following my lectures on "Practical Hymnology and the Related Arts" at many Methodist Pastor's Schools in many states, and for the Southern Baptist Convention's Schools of Music in North Carolina and New Mexico, this play has been presented by many more semi-professional and amateur dramatic groups in churches, schools, and city auditoriums as well as on many college campuses, sponsored by local congregations, ministerial association, civic clubs, and other interested organizations.
The author's present congregation observed the tenth anniversary of this drama in 1964 with three presentations and planned two more for 1965. In 1958 the Elm Avenue Church and in 1964 the Cherrydale Church presented this play for several thousand delegates to the Jurisdictional Laymen's Conference of the Methodist Church at the Methodist Summer Assembly Center at Lake Juralaska, North Carolina. On Sunday morning, July 13, 1969, a Cast and Crew from the author's present congregation presented this drama for 6,000 people in the Music Hall of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, as the closing worship service of the National Quadrennial Conference of Methodist Men. As a result of this program, the play has been presented in numerous Churches throughout the United States during subsequent Lenten season. (copied from: http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1982/39622/NPC/LLS/lls.htm)
One of the most moving services I've ever attended.
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