OCU Stripped’s production of Godspell takes inspiration from the Netflix original Orange is the New Black and the 1960’s Paul Newman film Cool Hand Luke.
Godspell, by Stephen Schwartz, is a modern retelling of the Gospel of Matthew. Sophia Macias, director and music theater senior said the show does not have a set plot.
“’Godspell is a deceivingly difficult show to direct” Macias said.
Macias said she originally desired a female Jesus but was unable to obtain permission. Instead, with help and guidance from Dr. David Herendeen, professor of music and director of opera and music theater, she decided to set the show in a women’s penitentiary with Jesus as a male corporate counselor.
Macias said she wanted to stray from the idea of a man coming in to save all of the women, because that is not the message of Godspell. She wants to illustrate that Jesus is a “channel of wisdom and love” for the woman, and learns from the inmates in return.
The influence of Orange is the New Black, the popular Netflix series about a women’s prison, manifests itself not only through the setting, but through the way in which the prisoners tell their stories. The inmates in Orange is the New Black are illustrated as people, humans with lives and goals separate from their sentences. Macias hopes to convey the characters in Godspell with a similar humanity.
“We’re all just fleshbags bumpin’ into each other” Macias said. “We are all trapped within the confines of our own unconscious existence.”
Macias’s interpretation of the show includes specific lessons and ideas represented by each character.
Jesus will be played by Collin O’Neill, music theater sophomore.
“Jesus represents that channel to wisdom and love and a higher sense of awareness of your own existence,” Macias sad.
The prisoners represent everybody in society and the struggles with self-acceptance and acceptance of others.
The male ensemble comprises the prison guards who represent the physical jail bars, as well as the seven deadly sins.
Judas, played by Teresa Franks, music theater/vocal performance sophomore, is an inmate who in the end of the show joins the guards and completes the seventh deadly sin, Pride.
Godspell premiered Sept. 16 and will have one last performance Sept. 17. Performances are at 8 p.m. in Petree Recital Hall. Admission is free.
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