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The Canadian Badlands Passion Play is a passion play performed annually since 1994 in Drumheller, Alberta. The play takes place every July in a natural bowl amphitheater found in the Drumheller Valley. The outdoor stage was chosen for its likeness to the hills found near Jerusalem, Israel, as well as the superb natural acoustics. It follows the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus found in the Gospels, told through drama and music, using nearly 300 performers. The play begins with the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, and ends with the Great Commission of the disciples. It is a large attraction to Drumheller, an area already known for its tourism industry. The play draws audience members from across Alberta, Canada, and internationally, some coming as pilgrims, others simply coming to see a large scale professional theatre production. ==History== In 1988 the founder of the Rosebud Theatre and Rosebud School of the Arts, Laverne Erickson, formed a steering committee and began gaining the support of local community organizations for what would become the Canadian Badlands Passion Play. 1990 held the charter meeting for the establishment of a passion play, and thus was born the Canadian Badlands Passion Play Society. The Honourable Gordon Taylor, Former Minister of Highways for Alberta and Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Drumheller Riding, was presented with the title of honorary chairman for the society. Mr. Taylor had, during the 1960s, put forth efforts in Drumheller to produce a passion play for the area, but the project was never started due to several factors. The name Canadian Badlands was chosen due to the topographical similarity of the Badlands to the Israeli countryside surrounding Jerusalem. The society set Summer 1994 as its goal for the first production of the show. of land were obtained, in addition to another owned in conjunction with the Drumheller Valley Ski Hill. In July of that year, the Canadian Badlands Passion Play held its premiere performance, filling the 1150 available seats. The original playwright, Kathy Covert, directed the show. The next years saw the introduction of many changes and upgrades, including an increase in seating, the building of a choir loft, expansion of the set, and various script changes. Regional choir rehearsals occurred throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan. 1998 saw the Society’s first Winter Choir Concert Series in Lethbridge, Calgary, and Red Deer. In the year 2001, the Jerusalem Wall Project opened its first phase. The project meant to replicate on a smaller scale the actual Jerusalem Wall in Israel. The Jerusalem Wall through the years has housed many services including a concession, gift shop, black box theatre, interpretive museum, wardrobe, production offices, storage and a rehearsal space. Many of these facilities continue to exist as such. 2003 introduced a variety of small scale dramatic performances on the site, although this initiative lasted only three years. In 2006, partly in response to declining ticket sales, the performance was completely updated, with a new script, written by Royal Sproule, and new music by Bill Hamm, both of whom held a reputable history with Rosebud theatre and Rosebud School of the Arts. Auditions were held province wide, and other changes were made including the expansion of the musical instrumentation, and the insertion of a narrator character in order to aid audience comprehension of time and location changes in the storyline. January 18, 2011 The Passion Play Society celebrated the 20th anniversary of its founding. A commemorative heritage coffee table book with photographs will focus on the past five years of plays and appear in a story format, telling the story of the life of Jesus based on the book of Matthew, the tax collector. 15 July, the 100th performance of the Passion Play will take to the outdoor amphitheatre and kick off its 2011 season. Playwright Royal Sproule has written a new script that will focus on retelling the life of Christ through the eyes of the John the apostle, the choir will joining actors on stage, and the play itself running for seven nights instead of six. The Passion Play also debuts a new sound reinforcement system for its 2011 performances. The three-dimensional sound system will enhance the audiences’ audio experiences, and strategically place sound (both voice and music) that keeps audiences engaged as the visual action unfolds in front them. The audience will feel more like they are in the play rather than just watching it. This modification was also completed to accommodate those with difficulty hearing. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Canadian Badlands Passion Play」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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