Last Supper Enactment Coming To Newtown This Year

Immanuel Lutheran Players will bring one of the world’s most recognizable paintings to life next month with four performances of The Last Supper Enactment. It has been two years since the last presentation of this program, which the Players have done eight times since 1999.

With direction by Mary Ann Grogan and Diane Wardenburg, the Players will offer performances at Immanuel Lutheran Church & School, at 18 Clapboard Ridge Road in Brookfield, on Saturday, March 31, at 7:30 pm; and Sunday, April 1, at 1 pm. Original music was written for this dramatic presentation by Joanne F. Archibald of Danbury and Carl Lindquist of Newtown.

Prior to these performances, however, there will also be two performances in Newtown, marking the first time the Brookfield group has extended its offering into its neighboring town. Those performances are scheduled for Sunday, March 4, at 2:30 and 5 pm. They will be in the theater of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street.

Suggested donation for all shows is $10, with a $30 maximum for immediate families. Tickets will be sold at the door, but reservations are recommended.

Call 203-426-9024 for reservations to the Newtown shows, or 203-775-5566 for the Brookfield shows.

In 1495, at the end of the 15th Century, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to paint a mural on a wall of the monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. His subject was The Last Supper. The painting depicts the moments immediately following Christ’s dramatic announcement to his disciples that “One of you will betray me.” It depicts the emotion and the question of “Who could it be?” The Last Supper is one of the most dramatic episodes in the Gospel accounts of Christ’s life.

Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. As he dined with them, he had a premonition of his imminent arrest and execution. He blessed the wine and bread, ate with his disciples, and said to them: “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Last Supper has been recalled by Christian churches ever since through the sacrament of the Eucharist.

In 1995, Chaplain Andy Krey, serving for Maritime Ministries of Southern New England, was stationed at the US Navel Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The base was at that time a camp for thousands of Haitian and Cuban refugees fleeing their homelands.

Holy Week was approaching and Chaplain Krey wanted the religious time to become meaningful again for the displaced refugees as well as the servicemen and women who were far from their homes. The chaplain stuck upon the image of The Last Supper, and decided to bring the famous painting to life.

Born out of the refugee camps that Lenten season, The Last Supper Enactment has been performed around the world since then.