Manitoba’s Passion Play is set to share the story of Jesus once again. The popular presentation will be performing for the 26th year, starting July 3rd. Gerald Marion will be in the role of John the Baptist, and in between rehearsals he chatted with Country 88, and how he got started with the production. “So, Belita Sanders, she's the director of the Passion Play.” Marion explained. “This goes back like 2007, 2008. She was looking for someone to do a small role, like one line. “So I did it. Seven years later, I continued doing it. So, every year, constantly.” Time away to start a family He did take a short family break. “I had a kid in like 2012, 2014.” Marion shared. “Then, yeah, life got a little complicated. So that was the last one. “My son was born in January. I finished that year, that Passion Play. That was my last year. Then basically I'd been on hiatus for like 12 years. My kids are now 9 and 12. Belita planted the seed and she's like, Gerald, we just need somebody, Just one line, Gerald.” Sanders may have oversold the just one line suggestion. “Well, this one's not one line.” Marion suggested. The first year I played Andrew, that's Peter's brother. Then right after that, I basically played Peter for the next six or seven years. “Peter's like, well, you know, he's top three. But now this year I'm playing John the Baptist.” Can't get enough Passion Play After his brief hiatus, Marion keeps going back for more. “Number One, I'm not going to lie, I've got a little bit of an ego issue.” Marion confessed. “You know, I love the limelight. I'm an extrovert. “You put me on stage and give me some lines and people are, like hundreds of people are looking at me. Yeah, I'll take that.” Team work It’s not all about him though. “The other thing is, I think the crew is just amazing.” Marion admitted. “Anything where you go and volunteer for something, and everybody has the same mindset and they go, yeah, we're doing this for the people, we're doing this for God. “The people doing it just have something in their heart about it. When we do the Passion Play, everybody there is just all for God, we're doing this for something. Of course, you get people with great virtues of kindness and love and caring, and they're just nice people. You get to know these people and it's just awesome.” Related stories: Manitoba's Award-Winning Passion Play Continues to Inspire 25th anniversary of Manitoba's Passion Play celebrates faith, community, and theatrical excellence His third reason for continuing with the play is deeper rooted. “I think sometimes people plant seeds in us, and we often can say yes or no.” Marion explained. “But when you say yes to God, there's just a joy you get out of it, this peace that you get out of it. “I think a big part of that is, I love bringing Christ to others and then planting that seed in us to do God's will is a great thing. It's just evangelizing.” Director aids in vision That camaraderie and sharing spreads further amongst the cast and crew. “There's been great stories.” Marion acknowledged. “I think Belita often has people tell her, because she's the director. People obviously go to her and tell her all these stories like, oh, when this happened, like it brought tears to my eyes. Or, I really felt connected to this. “When you get to see the Passion Play, it's different than reading a book, or different than reading the Bible.” First time for family Marion’s own family is set to experience their father on stage. “My kids are coming out on Sunday.” Marion shared. “I'm so excited. For the first time, they're going to see Dad, playing John the Baptist.” “We’ve watched King of Kings. That's an amazing movie cartoon. But this is going to be live, and there's lots going on. You could probably watch it like 10 times and see different parts.” Narrowing down personal best Marion had trouble narrowing his choices down for his own favourite part of the production. “When I played Peter, you know, Jesus is being condemned and it goes to Herod and it goes to Pilate.” Marion recalled. “There's this part where I'm like running out and I'm really upset and I'm pushing John. John's trying to stop me. “Like, no, don't go in there, and there's this part where because I'm a bigger guy and John's just trying to hold me back, and it's really tough. I really enjoyed there's this interaction that we have that is fun, but also real.” Emotion shapes production Another memory stands out as well. “I really like the Passover.” Marion added. “When we sit, we all sit together and we're trying to figure out what Jesus is talking about. Leading up to this, he's been talking about his death, his death and suffering. We're like, what's going on? “Then there's this weird meal where we sit down, he washes our feet. As you play it, okay, we have lines and we're trying, but the more you do it, I did it seven years before and every time you really start thinking about it, this would have been so weird. You get really involved and sometimes it gets really emotional.” Those emotions build out the performances. “I think emotion is one thing you provide as actors.” Marion shared. “We try to get in a mindset of like, okay, what's my character? What is he doing? But there's sort-of an emotion behind it. There's a real bond that's there. “I think it's also maybe something that really happens is, we're trying to get context in a lot of these scenes. You're seeing more than just what the camera would see, right? It's just a focal camera is giving you, know, 16 by 9, but you can see this big, big whole set instead. It's more than just these two people talking. It puts you into the time frame, what's actually happening,” Music also plays a role The director helps in focusing those emptions. “Belita often tells us about these little details.” Marion explained. “Like, no, no, remember you're coming on, you are buying something in the market. You have looked for something. “She gives us these little details because it's important to bring everything alive. “So hopefully, you get to see our emotion, and the range of things that are happening in the background.” Beyond actors and directors, live music brings the whole experience to another level. “We practice for 2 months without the orchestra.” Marion commented. “You don't realize how much music plays such a part in our emotional response because, you know, dun, dun, dun, there's this. Then now, okay, now I actually get the feeling of what we're supposed to be doing because we got this music in the background. “It really sets the mood sometimes.” Manitoba's Passion Play takes place at Oak Valley Theater in La Rivière 3rd, 4th and 5th, then again Jully 10th 11th 12th. All performances start at 730 PM. Adult Advance: $20.00 (Advance tickets are available until 10pm of the day prior to each show. After that time, you must buy your ticket at the gate.) Adult: $25.00 at the gate Youth (12 and under): $12.00 Group (minimum 10 adult tickets): $17.00/each Purchase at passionplay.ca or call the box office at 1-888-264-2038. Click on the INFO tab for helpful tips ahead of attending the performance. with files from Ty Hildebrand