Easter comes early this year, not just on the Christian calendar but for the parishioners of the Rutherford Congregational Church who will get to see a performance of the passion, the story of Christ's trial, suffering and death, told through poetry, music and dance on Sunday, March 3.
The performance will be given by the Xavier Company, a group of Manhattan performers who tour the area putting on musical plays based on the Gospels. The group is affiliated with St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan, where the group rehearses and where they perform a monthly healing ministry. The members are all professional actors and actresses of various Christian denominations who volunteer to be in the group. Any money made by the church and the company comes from donations. Patricia Heaton, the actress who plays the wife on the CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," is a former member.
"It's almost like a religious Broadway show," said Reverend Gregory Rupright, the pastor of Rutherford Congregational Church (RCC). "It's very believable, very down-to-earth." "
They're really great and they're very spiritual performers," said RCC parishioner Carol Marshall.
The show will mark the company's third performance at the Congregational Church. On previous occasions the company has performed "Whom Shall I Send," a play about the lives of the disciples and other Gospel figures called into the ministry and a concert performance called "Opening Our Hearts." Director Carol Ferrone, who has a Masters Degree in stage direction from Columbia, and several others put the group together 26 years ago. A parishioner at St. Francis Xavier since before that time, Ferrone said she and the others were invited by the parish priests to put the company together after the priests saw a performance of the passion they had staged at another church.
The passion play, entitled "No Greater Love," is one of three plays in the company's repertoire. The performance at the RCC will mark the beginning of the company's tour for the season. They have performed in churches throughout the area as well as hospitals, nursing homes and even prisons. Janeen Stevens, a member of the group since it was founded, wrote the script for the upcoming performance.
The music is taken from contemporary Christian devotional music by modern composers. Some of the production's 17 songs were also penned by former St. Francis Xavier music director Michael Ward and current company music director and Rutherford resident, Gerry DeMan. DeMan, an experienced church organist, has been in the Xavier Company for over 20 years and was the connection that brought the troupe to the RCC, where he has been the church's musical director since 2006. DeMan accompanies the performers on the piano during their productions. Seven of the 17 songs also incorporate ballet and modern dance performances choreographed by Ferrone.
The actors' costumes are designed to "suggest the period" but need to be carefully modified to allow the extra freedom of movement needed for the dance numbers. DeMan said watching the narrative performed with dance, music and an elaborated script helps people get a fuller sense of the story than they usually get just through hearing it from the pulpit or reading it.
"It's a very unique spiritual presentation seeing the Gospel rather than just hearing or reading it," he said. "We find our audiences are deeply moved by it because it reaches all of the different senses. It makes it real for them. You hear it over and over again in church but it comes to life when you see it."
