New York City, and frankly Beacon as well, speaks to this dichotomy directly. Diverse, complex, open-hearted - yet brutal. We live in a tough city where the rules are not the same for each of her inhabitants and this is a tough school where our incredible students sometimes struggle to honor their truth.
Truth. The job of the director is to honor the truth. Honor the playwright. Serve the story. Create a world so completely that the audience forgets they are in a theatre, or better yet, that they are in our school. My task is to cultivate performances out of young actors that are so detailed that 15 to 18 year old bodies disappear into their roles. As a production, we orchestrate the alchemy of faith, creativity and trust into what I can only describe as magic. How is this work not an act of grace?
At its core The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a play about the ultimate betrayal and the unsettling philosophical debate of free will. Did Judas act of his own free will? And thus is his punishment just? And furthermore, if “Jesus” and “Judas” were “Bill” and “Mike” would anyone be nervous that the play was, dare I say it, a risk?
I personally have so much faith in this play, my students and my team that I trust that if any school can handle honest and honorable dramaturgy about a bunch of thugs on a goodness mission, we can.
Congratulations gang. This was a brutal battle of the heart and we’re so excited to share it with you.
Big Love,
Cimato
