The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-15
IN PASSION PLAY
Oberammergau Plans Thirty
Performances Next Year.
War Has Claimed Many Actors
of Famous Play.
THE WHOLE VILLAGE INVESTS
Failure of Crowds to Appear
Would Mean Ruin.
Anton Lang Will Play "The
$ Christus" Again.

Oberammergau, Bavaria, July Is
Thirty performances of the Passion
Play have been scheduled for 1922 by
the committee of 81, which is direct
ing the spectacle, but this number will
be increased if the attendance de-
mands. as was the case both in 1900
and 1910.
marks to stage the Oberammergau
play and the villagers are extremely
anxious about the German political sit
uation, lest conditions be such that
foreigners will not attend.
- The $50 burghers, who constitute
the descendants of the original peas
ants who made the VOW to produce
the play decennially, personally as
sumo the responsibility for this expen-
diture. and the failure to attract suf-
ficient visitors to meet the cost would
result in the bankruptcy of practical
ly the entire village, as the Oberam-
mergau folk have slight resources.
Announce Cast Soon.
Most of the burghers are wood
! carvers, potters, painters. sculptors.
farmers merchants and small shop
keepers. Only the descendants of the
villagers who were saved from the
plague in 1888 take part in the Passion
Play and assume responsibility for its
production.
Next October will be a fateful
month for then the names of the viii
| layers who are to have the leading
roles in the spectacle will be an
nounced.
Jesus Christ or one of the apostles is
| a far greater honor to an Oberam-
mergau man than erection to the
presidency of Germany or any other
office within the gift of the entire Ger
man people.
would far rather be chosen to play the
role of Mary or Martha or Mary Mag
dalene than to be in the position of
Frau Ebert as mistress of the presi-
J dents palace in Berlin.
Many Keep Old Roles.
Many of the actors in the Passion
Play next year will doubtless be the
same as those in the cast when the
| play was last produced in 1910. Anton
| Lang, who enacted the role of Jesus
| Christ in 1900 and 1910, will probably
| be chosen for the part again. as he is
still young enough to undertake the
arduous task and looks the part so
well that younger aspirants are not
likely to displace him.
Ottilie Twink. who played the role
of Mary in 1910. has married since
| that time. No married woman can
! play the role. Consequently all the
young women of Oberammergau with
ability and experience as actors are
eagerly trying to qualify for the
highly important part. Paula Rendl,
daughter of Peter Rendl. the sculptor,
who was Joseph of Armmathea in the
play of 1910 and enacted the role of
st. John twenty-one years ago, is one
of the most promising candidates for
the role of Mary. Fraulein Rendl
has shown great ability in minor re-
lfgious plays which are produced coz
stantly by the Oberammergau folk as
a means of training actors for the
Passion Play.
Marie Mayr, who played the role
of Mary Magdalene in the 1910 pro-
duction, has also married and is liv-
ing in Chicago. Marie Schmid, who
was the Veronica in the last produc-
ton. has also married.
Eighty-two of the .Oberammergau
men died during the war and many
of the older actors of the last pro-
duction will be disqualified by age for
important roles. Consequently there
are scores of places in the cast to
which young men with ability as
actors may aspire. They have begun
to let their hair grow. Wigs and
makeup are rot permitted by the di-
rectors of the Passion Play.
Practically all the older men who
had important parts in the last pro-
duction have never cut their hair.
Many of them have retained their
long boards and pride themselves on
their resemblance to the biblical
characters they have depicted