The Canadian Badlands Passion Play is pulling out all the stops to make this year’s Canadian Badlands Passion Play its best performance ever.
The Passion Play is in its 22nd season and this year’s performance is the pinnacle of its Gospel of John cycle. Vance Neudorf, executive director of the Passion Play, says they want to make it the best performance yet. And part of that strength is the people, this year with 174 actors.
“We have one of the largest sets of children actors,” said Neudorf. “It is a great crew. We have a lot of new actors we have never had in the past, and a lot who want be in the play again.”
The look of the play has changed as well.
“We have a chariot this year, which is a neat addition,” said Neudorf. “The set has changed considerably, it is much taller and bigger.”
While this is the final year of the Gospel of John script, the production was not afraid to make some changes to the play itself.
“It is tighter this year. There are some scenes that have been taken out and some scenes that have been added, so it is a new look again. There is some freshness added to it, which is pretty exciting,” said Neudorf.
He says it is important they try to keep it fresh.
“There have been other Passion Plays that have died off because they didn’t make any changes and they ended up with fewer actors all the time, you have to keep things fresh for sure.”
This is the second year the Passion Play has extended its run to three weekends, and so far Neudorf says the ticket sales are on par with last season. Of course they would like to see the ticket sales grow.
Opening night for the Passion Play is this Friday, July 10 at 6 p.m. On Saturday, July 11, the performance is at 6 p.m. and on Sunday, July 12, there is a 3 p.m. matinee performance.
Performances continue on Friday, July 17 at 6 p.m., with matinees on Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19 at 3 p.m.
The final weekend has performances on Friday and Saturday evenings, July 24 and 25, and a final Sunday 3 p.m. performance on July 26.
Tickets are available by going to www.canadianpassionplay.com or by calling the box office at 1-888-823-2001.