Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Sorrows brings the Stations of the Cross to life
Sorrows brings the Stations of the Cross to life
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published March 14, 2008
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Kristen Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Regina Sebastian, in the role of the Blessed Mother, sings about the son she raised, portrayed by Michael Leither, during a Living Stations of the Cross dress rehearsal at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Farmington. Performances are scheduled for tonight and Sunday evening. |
Farmington — The Living Stations of the Cross at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Farmington, is more than just a performance for the people involved.
It’s a prayer, they say, and Michael Leither, who plays the role of Jesus, added that the performance is like an “annual pilgrimage” for the people involved. At the core of the show, which has been going for seven years, is that it draws people closer to Christ, said director Kelly Garver Nieto.
“It has been awesome,” she said. “We continue to do it every year because we know it’s what God is calling us to do.”
The Living Stations is a far cry from kids with robes made out of bed sheets. The production includes dozens of people from ages 5 to 70s, making it a cross-generational ministry; the costumes are detailed; and not only does the performance take place on the church’s altar, but a screen to the side shows complementary images, making it a true multi-media performance. Members of the choir provide the singing roles, and others help out to make the show the best they can for the audience.
“It’s God that’s making this thing happen,” said Michael Wright, who plays Pontius Pilate this year. “Somehow, it works really well.”
Parishioner Regina Sebastian, of Farmington Hills, who sings and plays the Blessed Mother this year, said everyone involved tries to help out wherever they’re needed. “Everyone wears 10 hats,” she said.
Wright, also of Farmington Hills, is one of many people involved since the show began. His past roles include a soldier that undergoes a conversion and Jesus.
Playing Jesus is difficult — “You’re representing the most important man that ever lived,” Wright said — because everyone has their own idea in their minds of what Jesus was like. But that role also helped him to grow in his own faith, and helped him to look inside himself, he said.
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Kristen Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Michael Leither, portraying Jesus, and the apostles reenact a scene of the Last Supper during the Living Stations. |
He remembered that after playing Jesus one year, a woman came up to him in tears and told him that although she’d been going to church her whole life, she didn’t think she understood it until that performance. “This allows people to participate,” he said of the show. “Something spiritual happens. This brings it to life for them.”
Although Wright has gotten a bit beat up himself playing the role — he once broke a toe being thrown down on the altar, and a thorn in the crown was digging into his skin onstage once — he maintains that it’s fun in addition to being a prayerful ministry. “I’ve enjoyed every bit of it,” he said. “It’s a way to bring it to life every time you rehearse it, too.”
Leither, who is playing the role of Jesus this year after six years in the role of Peter, said he likes that the Living Stations gives him “the opportunity to influence even a small number of people to consider the true meaning of Christ’s gift to us.” “The role of Jesus certainly gives me the opportunity to get a glimpse of the sacrifice that Christ made for us,” he said.
Leither, of Farmington Hills, is 6’7” — so tall the crew had to build a taller cross for him. Nieto said this just makes him “larger than life.”
Sebastian, whose sons, mother and brother are all involved in the play after she “dragged everyone else in,” she joked, said being involved in the Living Stations is a rewarding experience. “I like the fact that it’s a religious experience we all get to enjoy together,” she said. “It’s a way to depict something core to our faith.”
Bruce Lilley is another cast members whose family is involved — he has four children in the play, while he portrays the role of Peter. Lilley, of Farmington and a lifelong member of Our Lady of Sorrows, has also played Jesus and the soldier who undergoes a conversion.
He said he likes shuffling the parts around because not only do those involved get to see the roles from different angles, but it remains a prayerful performance and doesn’t become robotic.
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Kristen Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Michael Wright, as Pontius Pilate, wrestles with the decision of whether or not to condemn Jesus, portrayed by Michael |
“The root of it all is it’s a prayer,” he said. “It’s a ministry. Those coming to do this are called.”
Nieto explained that the show was revamped seven years ago after she reworked the parish’s Christmas program, and pastor Msgr. Walter Hurley, now the Bishop of Grand Rapids, asked what could be done with the Passion performance. She was able to use her past performing and producing experience — she’s a former Miss Michigan, past mistress of ceremonies and host of the show, and had her own comedy and singing routine — and rewrite a script to make it into the show it is today, she explained.
She became Catholic herself in 2000 and saw the Stations for the first time shortly after that. Getting involved was one of those moments in life where she heard God’s voice, she said.
At the first performance Msgr. Robert Monticello, then at the parish, asked where she found the troupe of actors, only to be told the talent came from his own parishioners, she remembered. “We have talent right here,” she said. “They break their necks to make it wonderful.”
She joked that the paycheck stinks — it’s volunteer work, after all, and she still has to get a babysitter — but the group is such a family that they pray together, cry together, work out their differences together, and that’s how they get the show off the ground every year.
“The community that we’ve created has been awesome,” she said.
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