OBSERVING REHEARSALS – DAY 3 : HUMAN STORIES
There is something very German in the aesthetic. Despite the pageantry, ritual, and scale of this project, this is a story about human beings. Human beings are imperfect, messy, and clumsy.

OBSERVING REHEARSALS – DAY 2: FACING THE PAST
With the challenging history of passion plays and the contemporary history of the region, Oberammergau doesn’t hide from its past. Nor does it hide from its responsibilities.

OBSERVING REHEARSALS DAY 2 : EVOLVING TO MEET THE TIMES
Widely considered the best part, this year Judas is played this year by 22-year-old actor Cengiz Görür.

OBSERVING REHEARSALS DAY 2 : MUSIC AND TABLEAUX VIVANT
To maintain the unique traditional skill sets needed for the music, the village has multiple choirs and orchestras operating throughout the 10 year gaps between productions.

INTERMISSION – EXPLORING OBERAMMERGAU
The passionsspiechele echoes through every aspect of Oberammergau. I walk down streets with names like “the kingdom of heaven” and “the way of the cross” or named after past writers and composers of the play.

OBSERVING REHEARSALS – DAY 1
The first performance of the Passionsspiele in 1634 was performed on a simple wooden construction at the cemetery by the parish church. A symbol of victory over the plague in a meaningful location, the passion play took place over the fresh graves of plague victims.

OBERAMMERGAU
The Oberammergau Passionsspiele has been performed every 10 years since 1634 by the inhabitants of the Bavarian village of Oberammergau (Germany). The earliest continuous survivor of the age of Christian religions vernacular drama, it’s one of the longest running western performing arts traditions and a UNESCO event of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

PROLOGUE or BACK ON THE ROAD
Perhaps because I’m watching an intergenerational creation with over a hundred community members, or perhaps because I’m watching a known innovator who values the traditional and sacred as well as the new, it seems right to write about another director, another ritual, and another village far from the Balinese sun.