LAKE COUNTY–A strikingly tall, dark-haired man with a beard comes to the door. Aside from being in dapper black attire of the clergy, he bears a strong resemblance to Christianity”s most-famous son.
Nearly every year since 1990, Father John Boettcher, 55, has traveled from foreign lands to Lake County to portray Jesus in the Lake County Passion Play. The effect the play has on attendees is what keeps him coming back, he said.
“It”s such a powerful work that a lot of people are just speechless,” Boettcher said.
The annual play, which will be performed Saturday and Sunday afternoon, is entering its 31st year. Many details of the story of Jesus” death and resurrection are brought to life by more than 150 performers. For Boettcher, that includes growing out his hair and beard, going barefoot, carrying a 120-pound wooden cross on his back and being whipped.
Having the performance be realistic is very important to Boettcher.
“I want it to be as realistic as possible because I don”t want to have to fake it,” he said.
Boettcher said he once encouraged the actor who whips him during the play to strike him harder with the woolen whip because he couldn”t feel it and wanted his reaction to be authentic.
“He actually drew blood,” Boettcher said. “My back was full of welts. (The actor) said he couldn”t sleep for two days after, he felt so bad.”
He said the play offers him new insight into the life of Jesus each time.
Boettcher said he is a scripture researcher and spends his time traveling between Rome and Israel. He was researching an ancient manuscript of the Bible in Greek in Jerusalem this year before traveling here to take part in the play. He said he is also a professor of the Bible”s New Testament. His studies keep him busy but, apart from two years, he has found time to make it back to Lake County for the play.
“It seems to me a miracle each time I get back,” he said.
One time, he said, he was teaching at a Biblical institute in Canterbury, England and wasn”t sure if he could make it back.
“It worked out I could just cut out 10 days toward the end of the term and I came back to be in the play,” he said.
Each time he makes it out here, he said, he stays with the same people. The house is a modest-yet-modern farmhouse in Kelseyville where Father Phillip Ryan, founder of the Lake County Passion Play, resides. One of his hosts also plays Mary in the play.
“It feels like home,” he said.
Boettcher said he was able to see the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany last year, which is today performed once every 10 years at the end of each decade and has been performed since 1634. The Oberammergau play lasts for seven hours with a meal break, making it much longer than the continuous two-hour Lake County production.
“That one is more of a stage production,” he said. “The art gets in the way of the meditation.”
He said he enjoys the little touches of this production.
“There are all these things you”re not expecting,” he said. “All these sheep and goats come over the hill. There are soldiers on horseback. This one is homespun. The whole point is spiritual.”
He said the weather here is very similar to the ancient Israel in the Bible.
“The Sea of Galilee and (Clear Lake) are just about the same,” he said. “It gets really dry right now. You don”t get any rain until fall. You read how in the Gospel a wind would come up all of a sudden in the evening. It”s like that here.”
Boettcher said the weather one year was rainy and it got dark around the time of the crucifixion in the story only to have the sun come out during the resurrection, mirroring the change in the feeling of the story from somber to hopeful.
Boettcher said he isn”t sure how much longer he will take part in the play.
“You always think, ?You”re starting to get a little older, you look at your hair thinning out, how long can this be a reasonable representation?”” He said as he laughed.
But having taken part in it for so long and seeing all the work that goes into the play each year is beneficial to him, he said.
“It”s rewarding to see how many people are so committed and generous in what they”re doing,” he said.
The 31st annual Lake County Passion Play will be performed both Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Passion Play Grounds, which is located just off Highway 29 at 7010 Westlake Road in Upper Lake. The two-hour production is free to all with donations accepted. Attendees should bring their own seating. There is no smoking, eating, drinking or pets allowed on the grounds.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
