April 4, 2004 at 11:05 PM

Mel Gibson's "Passion" film has had a big influence on the passion play I'm playing for this week. At the very end, the pastor spent twenty minutes explaining in graphic, medical detail what sort of torture Christ had to undergo after getting arrested. Seriously. "The Scripture says he sweat blood. According to medical journals, this occurs in extreme cases of stress where the capillaries burst underneath the skin..." I was waiting for the powerpoint presentation, but they probably didn't want to detract.

And the audience loved it. They loved hearing about the violent account. I've never worked with an American passion play like this before, it's so Shakespearian.