Photo: Two queen-sized bedsheets acted as their curtain during St. Joseph’s shadow theatre performance of Stations of the Cross, March 24.

Hub Staff

St. Joseph’s Catholic School celebrated their Lenten Devotion for Holy Week, the week before Easter, with a shadow theatre production of Stations of the Cross.

Grade 7 and 8 students got the opportunity to grace the backlit stage and tell the story of the last moments of Jesus’s life, through the 14 stations, that have been depicted in the Catholic Church for thousands of years.

Recreating the Stations of the Cross was a long-time goal for retired and now part-time teacher, Lucie Desbiens. “This was on my bucket list, to do it in my home parish, and to do it with my co-director, Mrs. Hewitt [Grade 7/8 teacher] was huge,” said Desbiens, who has directed the play seven or eight times prior at St. Anthony's in Kincardine.

She added, “every Catholic Church has the 14 Stations of the Cross on the walls and now [students will] know which ones they are off by heart. Kids remember the plays, this is what they’ll remember from school, when they go on to careers, and get married but this is what they will remember.”

Desbiens went on to praise Ethan Cutting, who played Jesus, for holding the heavy cross for so long. The school did a Wednesday evening, followed by a Thursday afternoon, performance.

“Some parents asked me after last night's performance if [Ethan] was shaking because of the performance, but I had to tell them that [the cross] was actually that heavy," said Desbiens.

After Thursday's performance, Cutting said that being the lead character was hard. "You're the main person of it, and it's all on you,” said the humble Jesus.

Jesus' mother Mary was played by Natalia Perico who had acted in school plays before but thought it was easier to do in the dark.

“We did it without light, then we kept practising,” said Perico. She later added that she learned a lot of what happened to Jesus after his prosecution by Pontius Pilate.

Following Easter weekend St. Joseph’s School is set to start a production of Annie, with cast members receiving scripts next week. The play will begin in June.

Photo: Actors from left, Owen Lang played Jesus’ friend, Simon; Jesus, played by Ethan Cutting; Austin Hagen played the rock that held the cross, and Mary, Jesus’ mother was played by Natalia Perico.

Photo: The tenth Station of the Cross.

Photo: Ethan Cutting played Jesus in the school's performance of Stations of the Cross.