Behind the making of 'Joseph and Mary'

Submitted

BelleIsle Entertainment and The Parish Players are presenting “Joseph and Mary” at the Grand Island Cultural Center (formerly the old St. Stephen's Church), 2106 Baseline Road, at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7; 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Dec. 11-12; and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13. Proceeds will benefit the renovation of the new Grand Island Cultural Center. Tickets are available through Zeffy.com.

Additionally, donations of nonperishable food items will benefit the Grand Island Neighbor's Foundation.

“Joseph and Mary” is a love story that stretches across the ages to touch all of us today. Yet, while most of us know the story as it relates to the birth of Christ, not much thought is given to Joseph and Mary themselves prior to that event.

For Jim Ineson and Jerry Cahill, this story provided fertile ground for a new rock opera to follow up their successful presentation of “Acts – A Rock Opera.”

While “Acts” was a huge story that covered over 30 years and half a continent, “Joseph and Mary” is a small, intimate tale of two people who find each other, fall in love, and then find themselves struggling to understand and cope with one of the most profound events in human existence – which they have been chosen by God himself to bring about.

Imagine yourself, being a young, devout Jewish girl, unmarried and untouched by any man, yet suddenly with child – the child of God. How would you react? How would you explain this turn of events? Would anyone believe you?

Or imagine yourself as Joseph, a successful Jewish tradesman, deeply in love with his fiancé – who suddenly turns up pregnant and then tries to convince him the father is none other than God himself! How could anyone buy into this story?

Joseph is not a fool. He knows a little of the ways of the world.

This dilemma still touches all of us today. The works and plans of God often seem at odds with what we know to be the reality of the world. God demands faith to overcome these doubts. But we are all human, and sometimes faith can be a big order.

This conflict can be the stuff of great drama.

So it is with Joseph and Mary. The doubts and fears they must have felt being caught up in something they could not possibly understand are very human and very much like most of us today.

This is a powerful story of love, betrayal, fear, courage and redemption. It is a story that every human being is vested in, and every one of us is touched by whether we know it or not.

For this reason, the story was developed – the theatrical story of Joseph and Mary – and the music was written in a contemporary style that will appeal to audiences today.

We hope that you will enjoy the music and the tale we tell.

As Christmas approaches this year, think about the story of these two young people who lived some 2,000 years ago and what they must have gone through to deliver us God’s most precious gift, in the year of our Lord, Anno Domini.

This show is written to be a Christmas gift to all of you. And so, from writers Cahill and Ineson, and all the cast and crew of “Joseph and Mary,” The Parish Players, and BelleIsle Entertainment, may you all have a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, and a wonderful holiday season.