Playing Christ in the Passion Play

Don Martens of Winkler portrays Jesus Christ in The Carpenter this July.

At first glance, Don Martens might seem an unlikely candidate for a major role in a theatrical production. The mild-mannered Winkler resident is married with two children and has a career in human resources. But each summer, Don portrays Jesus Christ in The Carpenter, Manitoba’s outdoor Passion Play, staged in the open-air backdrop of Manitoba’s Pembina Valley near La Riviere.

“I think we all have an expectation, or a picture of what Christ would have looked like or would have sounded like,” Martens, who attends Winkler MB Church, muses. “And I think through paintings or productions people have come to a preconceived notion as to what Christ might have looked like.”

“We could all be very wrong,” Martens says, “But I think producers then are looking for a particular voice, a particular look. And I guess they probably felt that I fit that to some degree.”

“I didn’t have to tell a lot of people initially that I was involved in [the production],” Martens recalls, chuckling. “I have spent most of my life clean-shaven, so suddenly people were encountering me with a beard and with longer hair. It forced me to tell people what that all meant.”

Martens admits the role is a difficult one. “The first time I committed to playing the role of Christ, I wrestled with that a lot, because I am by no means a perfect person, and Christ was perfect in the sense that He was without sin in His life here on earth. I have said to many that playing Christ onstage for me is relatively easy. For me it’s playing the part of Christ off the stage that is very very difficult . . . in my workplace and in my home.

He also recalls the first time he laid his body on the cross. Viewing the cross as a holy place, he found himself wondering what he was doing there. “After a few practices, wrestling with that, I think it was God’s quiet little voice in my heart that finally opened my eyes. I realized that this cross is not a holy place at all. This was my place, and because Christ sacrificed His life, then I don’t have to be on there. So it has become a holy place because of what Christ did for us. When we see it empty we don’t see our bodies on there – we just remember the Person that sacrificed for us.”

When he first accepted the role, Martens thought of it as something serious or sombre. Although it has been that to some extent, he has found his expectations changing as he portrays someone who had a magnetic personality and “enjoyed people and enjoyed life.” He began to see Christ as “a real person, as someone who lived on this earth.”

“My personal faith impacts the way I see the role of Christ,” Martens says. “I believe very strongly in the story, but more so I do believe in the Person of Jesus Christ. I was raised in a home with the beliefs I carry today, but I have gained a greater appreciation for what Christ did for me.”

Although Martens is not nailed onto the cross as Christ was, it takes strength to maintain that position and make it look real. He may go home with scrapes and bruises, and often with tired legs and arms. But there is a real sense of satisfaction in the part.

“I remember one time . . . when the production was over, I said, ‘You know if I could choose a time in life when I could die, now would be the time.’ It’s not as though I desired to lose or end my life, but I think if one wants to end life on a positive note with the feeling of having accomplished something, that would be the time.”

—Manitoba Passion Play release