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Loren Manrique (LM)
(sophomore, animal science) Makarios drama sub-director

Esterady Caamal D’Vicente (EC)
(senior, Spanish studies) Makarios drama director

When did you start practicing, and how many rehearsals did you have for the Easter Passion Play?
LM: We started rehearsals with a first reading of the whole play on Friday, March 12, and our first official practice was Sunday, March 14. We had a total of 7 practices of about two hours each.

The stage really looked amazing. Can you tell me about who made the stage props and costumes and how long that took?
EC: Thanks to Chase (the religious vice president of AUSA), we had a budget, and whatever we would ask him for he would do his best to get it for us. Some costumes were ours (the Makarios team) and the rest were from the Spanish Church (Chase helped us get those). Loren and I also had the help of our props team. Imani Cousins (freshman, Visual Arts Education) helped us a lot with the ideas for the props. Then we had Paola Padulla-cisneros (senior, psychology and French), Nathaly Manrique (senior, Biology and Spanish), Karla Torres (freshman, graphic design and Spanish), and Ari Maheda (junior, international business and French). On the last day we got help from Grecia Castillo (senior, Spanish), Konnor Adema (alumnus, flight instructor), Yulian Tinoco (senior, psychology and Spanish), and, thank God, we were able to finish on time. We started working on the props the Friday of the week before the passion play, and we worked on them on Wednesday and then Friday, so we had only three days to work on them.

LM: There were also some props that, because of technical difficulties. had to be made the day of.  But it all worked out in the end.

What were your favorite/most rewarding parts of putting on the production?
LM: I have to say that my favorite parts were the practices. Even though they were long and difficult, being with everyone was great, and there were also a lot of really funny moments during practices that made them okay. The most rewarding parts as a director had to have been seeing everything come together and seeing all of my actors grow and take on their characters.  Definitely seeing Brandon take our writing and bring it to life has to be one of the most rewarding moments of the whole production. Also, the final performance of the play is our proudest moment. 

EC: The most rewarding times were having all the actors memorize their parts and show their excitement for the passion play! All of the actors were wonderful! I can't thank them enough for what they did. We also had some actors who were not part of the drama group, and I appreciate their willingness to help!

What were the most difficult parts of putting on such a big performance?
LM: The most difficult thing was the little time we had to put everything together. From the moment the idea was proposed to the day of the performance, it was all “go, go, go.” The long hours and trying to figure everything out was pretty difficult and exhausting. But at the end of the day, all of those hard moments gave us a great program and bonding experiences with everyone involved.

EC: The most difficult part was always having every person at every rehearsal, but we managed! And each person was able to memorize their parts perfectly. Another difficult part was that on the day of the passion play, that Saturday, the wind was so strong that we weren't able to have the stage we had dreamed about, but God helped us and with the help of all Makarios and Chase's team, we were able to set up and it all looked wonderful.

Is there anyone else that you would like to credit for the success of the play?
EC: Besides God, obviously, Loren really helped me a lot with writing the play and I put the rest together, gathering from the Bible and from the spirit of prophecy.  There were also some adjustments made along the way by Yulian and Chase. Also, the last monologue that Jesus said after he had risen was written by Nathaniel, and my brother as well helped me a lot. Lastly, the actors helped me suggest here and there, pointing out some of the things we could add to their parts to connect them more. 

I also have to thank the props team, which includes some people that I already mentioned, like Paola, Natalie, and Karla--they helped a lot. Additionally, on the day of the passion play, we got so much help from the proximity team and AUSA, and I really appreciate that because without them, honestly, it would have been really hard to manage. Like putting all the props in each scene and everything so it was such a big ayuda en equipo (team effort) that I really appreciate.

LM: I have to thank my fellow directors Esterady and Ari, and my logistics team, which consists of Nathaly Manrique, Paola Padulla-Cisneros, Grecia Castillo, Vany Carballo (sophomore, speech-language pathology and audiology), Karla Torres, and Imani Cousins. Additionally, our biggest support is our president Yulian Tinoco.

Is there anything else you want to share about being in Makarios?
LM: Makarios is the best decision I have made here at Andrews. Is a wonderful Hispanic ministry, and it is an amazing community of Hispanic and non-Hispanic people that want to share the word of God with programs in churches outside of campus and on campus. Our programs consist of drama, music, and poetry. Being part of Makarios and being the drama sub-director is a privilege that I will always cherish in my heart and be thankful for.  

Can you tell me how the Passion Play play fulfills your mission as a club?
LM: The Passion play fulfills our mission as a ministry in that we are following the mission that Jesus gave us, to share his word with others. In the passion play, even though it is a known story, we got to remind people what happened and how all of these stories are real; Jesus really died for us and he is calling us to go back to him, because his plans for us are greater than we could ever imagine.

EC: I think the main purpose of this was just to share and to remember what we all know but we sometimes need a reminder. As I told the actors, Ellen White mentions that if we could think about everything that Jesus had to go through, because of His love for us, we would really be better Christians. I think this was a great reminder for all of us to just meditate more on Jesus's life, and continue doing our best as a club and as a ministry.