{"id":15476,"date":"2018-02-21T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T17:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=15476"},"modified":"2018-02-19T11:55:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T19:55:52","slug":"camosun-alumnus-rethinks-jesus-christ-superstar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/02\/21\/camosun-alumnus-rethinks-jesus-christ-superstar\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun alumnus rethinks Jesus Christ Superstar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local director Peter Gatt has taken on the challenge of directing a play with heavy religious themes in his own church\u2014the church he grew up in.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I was raised in the church where we\u2019re performing it, I have a very good understanding of how a traditional church pushes their storytelling and how they like their issues brought across,\u201d says Gatt, who took university prep courses at Camosun in 2006 and 2007.<\/p>\n

But he recognizes that attendance numbers at churches these days are often decreasing, so he says he\u2019s trying to make the show \u201cedgy and different.\u201d The original movie was set in the \u201970s, but Gatt\u2019s show is set in the \u201920s, which\u2014much to some churchgoers\u2019 dismay\u2014allows him to change some characters\u2019 gender roles, he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Local director Peter Gatt attended Camosun in 2006 and 2007 (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never black and white,\u201d says Gatt. \u201cSt. Matthias is a very open-book sort of church; we have a female reverend and I would jump to her defence instantly over anything. There\u2019s some places that think that it\u2019s ridiculous that there\u2019s women preaching. And I would just ask those churches that think it\u2019s sacrilegious to really look at themselves and ask, \u2018Is that the message that the saviour would want you to spread?\u2019 I would never chastise or put the onus of something like that on a church; I would simply have them look inward and ask if that\u2019s really the message [they] want to send.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatt says he agreed with the church\u2019s fairly relaxed set of rules he had to agree to to rehearse and perform the show there, and adds that he would do some things differently if he hadn\u2019t been performing in a church he is part of and grew up in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s very graphic scenes,\u201d says Gatt. \u201cLike, the lashing scene is done any number of ways. [In] The Passion of the Christ<\/i> with Mel Gibson, they show the absolute raw ruthless side of it. By setting it in the \u201920s, we can\u2019t really use fake blood, because in the \u201920s that was never an option. It\u2019s possible that they would use pigs\u2019 blood\u2026 I\u2019m not really about to bring something like that into my church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatt says the church\u2019s presence will continue to diminish in society if some churches don\u2019t adjust to the times the way St. Matthias has.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil people get out of that old thinking and really look at, \u2018How can we do this differently and invite more people in?\u2019, church numbers are going to continue to drop across all places,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

So Gatt takes that stance and translates it directly to the stage, which some churches would not be okay with. He was even originally toying with the idea of casting Jesus as a woman, but, musically, it didn\u2019t work out; if it had, he would have had no problem doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the singers I have in the show are phenomenal,\u201d he says, \u201cso why would I not let them sing the guy part if they can sing it just as well?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus Christ Superstar
\n<\/i>Various times,\u00a0until Monday, February 26
\n$12.50 to $22.50,\u00a0St. Matthias Anglican Church
\nticketrocket.co\/event\/season\/233<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local director Peter Gatt has taken on the challenge of directing a play with heavy religious themes in his own church\u2014the church he grew up in. \u201cBecause I was raised in the church where we\u2019re performing it, I have a very good understanding of how a traditional church pushes their storytelling and how they like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-february-21-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15476"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15479,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476\/revisions\/15479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}