A Jesuit Off-Broadway

As someone who's not really a “theater person,” I learned a lot and really appreciated this book. I didn't realize until I got started how much an actor's perspective could really open up some Biblical narratives. If you're portraying Jesus/Judas/etc for an audience, you have to embody the character as well as you can, and it leads you to ask all kinds of fascinating questions about your character's motives, priorities, and inner turmoil. It makes for great Bible study, and it fits in well with the Jesuits' “Ignatian Contemplation” of imagining yourself within a Bible story to better understand it.

A fairly quick read, but thoughtful and warm. Recommended if you like, theater, the New Testament, or James Martin.

This is the second of Fr. Martin's books that I've read, and though it's still a memoir, it was less personal than In Good Company, blending his experience on the production with quite a bit about the historical figure of Jesus. He also provides little bios of many of the actors, and it's been fun seeing them in other roles, such as Stephen McKinley Henderson's portrayal of a priest in Ladybird.