Our weekly program Arts News with Randy Stewart highlights the events and news of the arts community in Springfield and the surrounding areas. The live program airs on KSMU at 10:00 Friday mornings. You can play this interview by clicking the "Listen" button above.
“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” by Stephen Adly Giurgis is running through November 6 in the Craig Hall Balcony Theatre on the MSU campus. Dr. Kurt Heinlein directs the production. On “Arts News,” we hear from Assistant Director Zoe Rico-Beaubien about her duties in that position—and about the production itself.
“I basically help out with whatever's needed at rehearsals, make sure blocking notes get given out every night, try and make sure to keep up cast morale, lead warm ups, things like that,” Rico-Beabien said.
Rico-Beaubien noted that there's a lot of "heavy content" with this show.
“When we first read the script with the cast, we made sure to have a sit-down conversation to sort of talk about some of the tougher themes in the show—making sure that we understood that as a cast, you never know how these issues are going to affect each individual member," Rico-Beaubien said. "There's no way to really tell who this could hurt or trigger things like that. But you also can never tell who has never thought about these things before. Maybe it's something they've never been really faced with.”
Giurgis’s play is described in MSU Theatre and Dance publicity as a “thought-provoking dark comedy.”
It tells the story of the last days of Judas Iscariot in a court case that is tried by fictional characters Fabiana, Aziza Cunningham and El Fayemi. Those are played by Amy Mayer, Mara Kohlberg and Tristan Brown, respectively. The setting? A courtroom in Purgatory. And a few of the various people called to the stand include Mother Teresa, Caiaphas, the elder, and Henrietta Iscariot.
“So you've got a little bit of everything going on," said Rico-Beaubien.
In the Biblical account, Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus to the religious and civil authorities of the day. Then, consumed by overwhelming guilt, Judas hanged himself from an olive tree, according to the New Testament story. But in the play, he is now on trial, with flashbacks to his betrayal of Jesus—and much farther back, to his own childhood.
“The reason it's thought provoking is because it does detail how guilt can, while sometimes seeming like you're saving your own self, can really be a true reflection of your actions,” Rico-Beaubien said. Universal themes such as justice, free will, faith and forgiveness are explored in the play, which contains adult themes and content.
When and where to see the play
Performances of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” by Stephen Adly Giurgis are tonight (Friday October 28) at 7:30pm, next Monday through Friday, October 31st through November 4th all at 7:30 pm, and a single Sunday matinee next Sunday, November 6th at 2:30pm, all in the Craig Hall Balcony Theater on the second floor of Craig Hall. Tickets range from $12 to $14, and they're available from the MSU box office at (417) 836-7678 or online at https://theatreanddance.missouristate.edu.
