Last Supper Enactment

Is Coming To Newtown This Year

By Shannon Hicks

Immanuel Lutheran Players will bring one of the world’s most recognizable paintings to life next month with four offerings 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, and the first time it will be offered in Newtown.

With direction by Mary Ann Grogan and Diane Wardenburg, the Players will offer performances at Edmond Town Hall theater, 45 Main Street, on Sunday, March 4, at 2:30 and 5 pm.

Mrs Wardenburg’s name may be very familiar to many Newtown residents. Long a student and then staff member with Lathrop School of Dance, “Miss Diane” has since taken over the reins of the dance studio started by her late friends Mack and Ginnie Lathrop. The dance studio relocated into the former town hall building in 2010, and its director now considers Edmond Town Hall her home away from home.

“It has been [Diane Wardenburg’s] dream to share this special presentation with her friends and family from the Lathrop community” and the rest of Newtown, said Ms Grogan.

Former Newtown resident Marie Sturdevant has also encouraged the Players to bring the event to Newtown, Ms Grogan said.

“I saw it for the first time four years ago, and again two years ago,” Mrs Sturdevant said this week. “It is an absolutely awe-inspiring thing.

“When you see this, it’s a tableau of The Last Supper, with everyone in their place and they stay absolutely still for the entire hour, except for when it is time for [each disciple] to speak,” she continued. “You can hear a pin drop. It’s just quiet, and you feel a part of it, you really do. It’s unexplainable.”

Mrs Sturdevant, who moved with her husband to Brookfield a few years ago, remains very active in Newtown, including within Newtown Congregational Church. She remembers speaking with its senior pastor, the Reverend Matthew Crebbin, as well as Diane Wardenburg, about the enactment.

“Diane asked me what I thought about them coming to Newtown, and so I spoke to Matt and he was already aware of it,” said Mrs Sturdevant. Rev Crebbin, who serves as the convener of Newtown Clergy Association, took the idea to NCA, “and they approved it,” said Mrs Sturdevant.

Newtown Clergy Association is sponsoring the Newtown presentations. NSA has underwritten the cost of renting the theater, light, and sound.

“We’re very excited about this,” Rev Crebbin said on Tuesday, February 21. “We had a familiarity with it ourselves. There were various folks who have Newtown connections, who had seen it or had been connected it in various ways.

“It’s a great way for people to encounter that story, through the imagery of that famous painting, and also through the whole spectrum of what’s going on in the lives of the folks at that table, while really, what’s also going on in the lives of us, as we face the challenge of all that that presents, also surrounds you,” he continued.

The town’s clergy association is “entrusting in the community,” Rev Crebbin said, “to make the event a success so that not only will the costs of the event in Newtown will be covered, but there will be money left over to donate to FAITH Food Pantry.”

The Players will also offer the program at its traditional location — Immanuel Lutheran Church & School, 18 Clapboard Ridge Road in Danbury — on Saturday, March 31, at 7:30 pm; and Sunday, April 1 (Palm Sunday), at 1 pm.

In 1495, 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?” among the 12 Apostles seated at the table.

The Last Supper is one of the most dramatic episodes in the gospel accounts of Christ’s life. The moment has been recalled by Christian churches ever since through the sacrament of the Eucharist.

The Last Supper Enactment, however, is different than the sacrament, said Joanne F. Archibald, who wrote some of the music for the program as serves as musical director for the Immanuel Lutheran Players event. Original music was also written for the dramatic presentation by Carl Lindquist, a Newtown resident and, incidentally, a member of Newtown Congregational Church.

“Knowing Carl’s talent and the enthusiasm he brings to each project is another reason why I am looking forward to the event,” said Rev Crebbin.

The presentation begins with Jesus seated at a banquet table, his disciples seated on either side of him. This is, as ILP co-producer Mary Ann Grogan calls it, “the picture pose,” the recreation of da Vinci’s painting. A narrator (Steven Bowers) describes what attendees are seeing, introducing each of the disciples as the lights go up. The curtain then closes, and then reopens, with Jesus (Joel Wardenburg) the only one still seated at the table.

For the next hour, each disciple returns to the stage, offering his story as a monologue, before returning to his place at the table. Musical interludes, written by Ms Archibald and Mr Lindquist, are interspersed between the stories from the disciples.

Once the disciples have all returned to the table, the group moves into the enactment of the breaking of bread and drinking of wine that serves as the basis for Communion in churches around the globe. As Ms Archibald’s song “The Passover Lamb” is played, the disciples slowly move back into the “picture pose,” which closes the show.

“During that whole last scene, it’s very different than what you see at church,” Ms Archibald said. “People are not going up to get their representative bread and water. Here, each man is having a moment, an eye-to-eye connection with Jesus.”

The disciples are being played this year by Denis Bouffard (Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter), Bruce A. Grogan (Simon Peter), Kurt Habeck (Matthew), Bill Hunt (Simon the Zealot), Jeff Jackson (Thaddeus), David Lutz (James, the brother of John), Arthur Stock (James the Lesser), Erik E. Tonner (John the Beloved), Alexis M. Vournazos (Judas Iscariot), Anthony Vournazos (Nathaniel), and Randy Watkins (Thomas).

Music will be performed by Ms Archibald and Mr Lindquist, and singers will include Renee Harper, Debbie Hollrah, David Jurman, Nancy Lutz, Bob Sanger, Deidra Woodend, and Lori Woodruff.

A History Of The Enactment

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.

The Last Supper Enactment has been performed around the world since then. While the program was expanded in 1998 into a full musical production, it is the original version that Immanuel Lutheran Players continue to present.

“Andy worked very hard to make the Lenten season meaningful,” said Carl Lindquist, who worked with Chaplain Krey on both versions of The Last Supper Enactment. “The new script became a different production, however, with a different writer, and a totally different telling.”

The Last Supper Musical, which returns to the scene depicted in da Vinci’s famous painting, is more concerned with portraying the artist’s struggle to complete the mural. Actors portray Jesus and the 12 Apostles, as well as da Vinci and two women, while singers “express the meaning and emotion of the action through song,” according to program notes.

“I didn’t really feel the spirit [with the musical] like I did with [the original work],” Mr Lindquist said last weekend. In 1998 he felt compelled, he said, to seek out Chaplain Krey and talk about these conflicted feelings.

“I had never visited him at his home before, but felt a strong need to just talk with him about this,” Mr Lindquist said. “It was the night before he signed the rights over for the new production, and he gave me permission to use the original script.

“Call it luck, or providence,” he continued. “I felt compelled to go there, and he turned around and gave me this gift.”

Mr Lindquist had invited Mary Ann Grogan and Diane Wardenburg to see one of the earliest presentations of The Last Supper Enactment, in its original form.

“They loved it,” he said. With permission in hand, the trio began collaborating on bringing the work to Danbury.

Joanne Archibald was equally enthusiastic about the project, and her role in creating music for the local presentations.

“When we first sat down to do this, we each had ideas, we had songs in our minds that were going to be perfect for this, even before we ever planned this show,” she said. “I think that’s God’s way of preparing you for something. He just gives you these wonderful ideas, even if you don’t know yet what they are for.

“The music is so simple,” Ms Archibald said last weekend. “It speaks to your heart. It sets the mood and helps paint what you’re seeing.”

As attendees will note in the bulletin they are given for each presentation, the audience is asked to refrain from applause at the conclusion of the program. “Please use this time to reflect on the message presented,” the note continues.

“This is not a production. It’s not a play,” Mr Lindquist agreed. “This is a worship. It’s a return to making Lent meaningful again.”

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. Each presentation lasts approximately one hour.

Call 203-426-9024 for reservations to the Newtown shows, or 203-775-5566 for the Danbury shows. Most churches in Newtown have tickets, and tickets can also be purchased at C.H. Booth Library, at 25 Main Street; and Everything Newtown, 61 Church Hill Road.

Anyone interested in volunteering as ushers or in other capacities is also invited to contact the NCC church office, said Rev Crebbin.