Eastertime Reflections # 3

In the mid-1990's, the girls were in middle school;  I was the lay person on the youth ministry team at our church in Naples, Florida.  On one of our many trips with the youth fellowship members was to Lake Wales, Florida during Lent - to see the Black Hills Passion Play.

Staged in an open amphitheater this unforgettable portrayal of Christ's final days on earth was something I'll never forget.  Doubtful any of the youth who attended will either.  As darkness fell and gentle spring Florida breezes brushed across my cheeks, the play unfolded.  And even though I knew the story line - and the outcome, the Passion Play left a lasting impression on me.

The Black Hills Passion Play was performed every summer for almost seventy years in Spearfish, South Dakota; this production was an American version of the Lünen Passion Play that was brought over in 1932 by immigrants who claimed that it had been produced since 1242. The production was Americanized by seventh-generation Passion Player Josef Meier, who toured it around the country before bringing it to Spearfish in the 1930s; until its last performance on August 31, 2008, the show was produced under the auspices of Meier's daughter Johanna, a world-famous opera singer who had her debut in the play at the age of five weeks.

In Lake Wales, Florida the Black Hills Passion Play ran from 1952 through 1998. Lake Wales became the winter home of the same production which ran in the town of Spearfish, in South Dakota's Black Hills, from which the attraction takes its name. The attraction's manager, Josef Meier, also portrayed the role of Christ throughout the play's run of over forty years. In 2002, another enterprising actor and manager re-opened the venue, though it had to close again in 2005 due to damages from Hurricane Charlie.  While doing some research as to the performance dates, I happened upon a video of the area now that Hurricane Charlie blew through and crews dismantled the play's home for the final time.  While it holds more sentimental meaning for those who have been blessed to witness the site when it was full of life, it is nevertheless an intriguing walk across what once was the very ground where the play unfolded.

It saddens me to know that "an act of God" was responsible for the closing of this amazing piece of Christian outreach.  I find myself wondering just how many people were touched by the yearly presentations of the Passion Play.  I am blessed to have been able to be there that Easter season.