Longer days; looking ahead to Easter!

 

It's mid February and the days are getting perceptibly longer.  It's been a mild, snowless winter so far, but we residents of southeast Wisconsin know better than to anticipate Spring weather yet!  Kenosha averages over 5 inches of snow in March; usually in one big storm, if my memory is accurate! Nevertheless, in-person events are picking up and business owners seem to be looking ahead. I've had several headshot enquiries as people update their social media presence and think about new business cards. 

Easter is late this year, but preparations are already beginning.  At my church, a long-standing Easter tradition is a play called "The Twelve", which is performed on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. The play begins with a live representation of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper" painting, which comes to life as the Disciples tell their individual stories of how they met and came to follow Jesus.  The participants are not professional actors and the cast and script changes from year to year. It's a wonderful leap of faith for the participants, many of whom are already starting to grow hair and beards to look more like the men in the painting!

I have been photographing this play since 2001, when I got my first digital camera. There were no performances in 2020 or 2021, due to COVID, so enthusiasm for this year is high!  Photographing a play with stage lighting is always a challenge but the saturated colors make the pictures look more like a painting and add to the drama. The experience I have gained with "The Twelve" has led me to photograph some other dramatic performances, including a High School musical production and a local dance company production of "The Nutcracker". Broadway has not called me...yet... but I'd love to give it a try!

If you would like to see the play in person, it will be performed in the evening on Thursday, April 14th, 2022 at Salem United Methodist Church, Salem, WI. Time has not been set yet, but probably around 7pm. Here is a link to a video from 2018: The Twelve 2018