I had never really considered myself an actor. Somehow or the other though, people seem to think that way. Personally speaking, I never thought that I had the talent to play a character as realistically as possible. The first time that I acted in my first play was in 1990. It was a school play called Say No To Drugs about a young boy who goes to a party and his "friend" introduces him to marijuana. I get high on it and then become addicted and then face an uphill battle to come off it. After my performance I was given many kudos by my classmates and teacher. After that I never did much acting again until many years later as an adult. It was as recently as 2013. I received a call at home. Lo and behold it was the First Lady of the church which I attend. She informed me that they were having a play for Easter and that they were looking for a person to play Jesus. I paused for a moment as I thought about it. 'Did she say she wants me to play Jesus?' She then went on to say that I had the right look for the role seeing that I was the only guy in church who had a beard. 'How does she know that Jesus had beard?' I thought to myself. Then, without thinking, or perhaps not wanting to appear unwilling, I accepted the offer. She informed me of the day of the audition and at what time I was to come.
'What on earth did you just do John?' I thought to myself. It was too late now. I had to go ahead with it. The name of the play we were doing was a very popular one. It was called Heaven's Gates Hell's Flames. For those of you who don't know what its about, its about Jesus' suffering and Crucifixion and rising from the dead and the consequences you face if you reject him as Lord and Saviour. In the first scene Jesus is carrying the cross down the aisle while Sandi Patty's Via Dolorosa plays in the background. He is then taken by the soldiers and crucified while Satan comes on stage and laughs as Jesus dies. Jesus of course, rises from the dead goes into hell (or to the hell box as it's called in the play) and comes back as the triumphant king. He has Satan crawl to him and he snatches the keys of hell from him, stomps on his back and then casts him back to hell. Well not exactly. I just gently put my foot on the actor playing Satan's back. All this happens while He's Alive is playing . After Satan is defeated, Jesus ascends to heaven and then a series of short scenes involving people who make choices which either lead them to heaven or hell begins. The Friday before the play, all the 'actors' who were called to star in the production were requested to the church for a rehearsal and given their respective scripts to learn. As Jesus I had no lines but I still had to remember where to stand on stage and where to go to and when to go. It was important that I gave a great performance because I didn't want to disappoint the church. Especially my Pastor and the First Lady.
After the rehearsal, all the cast members felt satisfied with their respective performances. The big day was in two days time. Easter Sunday. The play was carded to start at six that evening and we were all very excited. I remember feeling nervous that day. Even through morning service all I could think about was the big play late in the evening. After service, Shawn, the stage director had a quick briefing with the cast members about what we had to do later on in the evening. We all left feeling confident that we were going to get everything right later on. After I had lunch and a quick nap that afternoon, I took a cold shower and headed to church to prepare for the play. I have to admit that I really enjoyed putting on my costume and having the 'wounds' painted on my hands and feet. Soon it was show time. I stood at the top of the church aisle as I spotlight shone on me while the rest of the church was in darkness. Then Via Dolorosa started playing. This was it. No room for error. My heart started beating fast as I felt a little nervous. I said a little prayer in my mind so that all fear and apprehensions would be removed from me. Then everything started to flow. I started to become confident. I graced the stage with poise and a sense of boldness overcame me. Soon everyone began acing their parts brilliantly as the audience grew more and more satisfied by what they were seeing and enjoyed every moment.
At the end of the play the cast received a standing ovation from the audience. For some strange reason I received the biggest cheers. When we got out of our costumes, the church members began referring to me as 'Jesus.' I was congratulated by the Pastor and the First Lady for the job I had done. I tried to sound as modest as possible by stating that everyone involved in the production, including the electricians, sound engineers and musicians made it possible. And that was true. Unfortunately though, since the play I am now the 'Official Jesus' in the church and it has been stated that my services will be required in the future. In fact on Easter Sunday this year I had to play Jesus again in another production. Talk about deja vu.
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