It takes months – sometimes years – to fully prepare for a role in the Passion Play. Though the principal roles and soloists do have ordinary lives and jobs, some of them study their craft intently – hoping for one of the coveted roles in the play. For the 2020 season, the cast was announced on October 20, 2018 with most of the town present. It was livestreamed and can be viewed on the official Oberammergau Pasion Play website. Two casts were chosen – for a total of 42 actors. Some of the physical preparation began on Ash Wednesday of 2019. Though more than a year before opening day, this is the time at which all hair-cutting and beard-shaving stops, in order for the actors to naturally look like the first-century people they portray. Now directing his fourth Passion Play, Christian Stückl, believes one of the ways his actors can embrace their roles is to experience the land in which it all took place. Therefore, he sent all 42 cast members to Israel in August of 2019. This preceded the start of the intense rehearsal season that fall. Near daily evening and weekend rehearsals consume the lives of the villagers in order to honor the vow their ancestors made nearly 400 years ago. With the postponement of the 2020 season to 2022, it remains to be seen what further preparations will be made and when they will begin.