Corpus Christi to Play Rattlestick in October

Terrence McNally’s controversial play Corpus Christi will play the Rattlestick Theatre, October 14-26. Nic Arnzen will direct.

Corpus Christi is a retelling of the Jesus story, updated to 1950s Corpus Christi, Texas. The play originally opened ten years ago at the Manhattan Theatre Club to intense protest and bomb threats, due to conservative Christian concerns about its depiction of a “gay Jesus.”

The cast will include Nic Arnzen (Peter), Amanda Axelrod (Simon), Jan Ambler (Andrew), James Brandon (Joshua), Steve Callahan (Judas Iscariot), Melissa Caulfield (John the Baptist), Elizabeth Cava (Matthew), Mark “Colby” Colbert (James), Steve Hasley (Bartholomew), Molly O’Leary (Thomas), David Pevsner (Philip), Sheilagh Polk (James the Less — Week One), Scott Presley (James the Less — Week Two), and Suzanne Santos (Thaddeus).

Presented by the LA-based 108 Productions, this revival will be performed in honor of Matthew Shepard, whose brutal murder occurred just 24 hours prior to the play’s world premiere in 1998. Proceeds from the show will benefit The Matthew Shepard Foundation, now also in its tenth anniversary, in support of their efforts to “Erase Hate” in today’s society.

For more information, visit www.108productions.org.