By Jackie Demaline
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Michael Burnham was standing outside Gabriel's Corner the other day, taking a rehearsal break from Corpus Christi. He's directing the controversial play, which has its area premiere today at Know Theatre Tribe's tiny performing space on the edge of Over-the-Rhine.

Members of the Corpus Christi cast dramatize the play's own version of the Last Supper. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

A woman approached him, politely asked if he were connected with the production, and explained some of what will happen with the peaceful protest that's planned before performances this weekend by America Needs Fatima, the advocacy arm of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property.

"She told me they'd be singing 'Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?,' " Burnham says a few days later as, around him, cast members wander in for another rehearsal.

They are white and black, female and male. They work busily around us, setting up the stage and folding chairs for an imaginary audience.

"I said that was interesting, because the show opens with the same song," Burnham says.

Producer Jay Kalagayan has been inundated with mail since Know Theatre Tribe announced the production of Corpus Christi at Gabriel's Corner. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

Corpus Christi is the proverbial case of opposite sides of the same coin.

Respected playwright Terrence McNally is gay, a recurring theme in his work. His inspiration for Corpus Christi is small-town Texas, where he was raised, and hard-line homophobia. He takes on that issue by telling the contemporary parable of gay Joshua. His story parallels, and then converges with, the life of Christ.

The society, which has campaigned against several other movies and plays, immediately charged blasphemy. Attempting to stop productions of Corpus Christi has been a nationwide cause since the play's premiere in New York five years ago. No production has been halted because of their protests.

On opening night, another national group, the National Rosary Procession Foundation, will lead a rosary and protest at 7:15 p.m., member Nick Federspiel says.

'The story needs to be told'

"It makes people nervous and angry," Burnham says mildly. Burnham, a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati and mentor to Know Tribe artistic director Matthew Pyle, said yes to the directing job because "this theater, in this building, in this community - this is the place where this story needs to be told."

The theater is in a church basement, and Burnham will let the audience see it.

What's normally hidden behind black curtains during Know Tribe productions is in full view: The kitchen at the far end of the hall, a storage area, a small portable organ pushed to a corner.

Burnham is using the length of the room as his stage, which is surrounded by chairs. "I wanted it to be near the audience. I want the audience to be part of it."

This Corpus Christi departs from its origins of an all-male cast. Burnham says casting choices are purely pragmatic. "If 13 good gay actors would have shown up, I would have cast them.

"A lot of good actors showed up, men and women. McNally makes my choice easy. He explains early on that the play is about 'a community of people coming together to tell a story.'"

Peter the Apostle will be played by a woman, the Virgin Mary by a man.

Fighting harassment

Pyle, who will play characters including apostle Matthew, has had some harassing phone calls.

"It has been a headache," sighs Pyle. So has scraping together extra funds for additional insurance and security. "But the pleasure we're deriving more than outweighs any inconvenience."

McNally's mix of the reverent and irreverent isn't for all tastes.

The company is rehearsing the Last Supper scene, a mix of contemporary idiom and New Testament. At one point, Joshua, at the center of the table, holds a container of what could be "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" and intones, "Take this spread and eat it in remembrance of me."

Corpus Christi, Burnham observes thoughtfully, "is a lovely mix of the silly and the sacred. And what it's about is who gets to tell the story and who doesn't."

If you go

What: Corpus Christi

When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through June 28

Where: Know Theatre Tribe, Gabriel's Corner, 1425 Sycamore St. (at Liberty)

Tickets: $12. 300-5669.

E-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com

'Corpus' spawns censorship discussions