"The Living Last Supper" is a drama where the disciples on Leonardo Da Vinci's Renaissance masterpiece of The Last Supper come alive. A lot churches all around the country present "The Living Last Supper" on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week.
The script for the play varies with the churches, but the main idea is for the men in the painting to speak. Each disciple expresses his individual thoughts about his relationship with Jesus after having spent three years with him. They walked with him as he was teaching, preaching, healing, and performing miracles.
So, they got to know Jesus in their own way.
The play
Each disciple speaks one by one and expresses his thoughts when Jesus says one of them will betray him. Each one asks, "Is it I?" Then they give a brief monologue about their relationship with Jesus. All twelve disciples give reasons why he is not the one to betray Jesus. The disciples detail what their journey with Jesus has meant to them. The monologues are short and memorized by the actors.
The play can be presented in about 35 minutes. If music is used, then the play will go longer. However, churches should remember that it is not a concert. The music should not overpower the words of the disciples. After the drama, communion is served to the congregation because that's what Jesus did after talking to his disciples who sat around the table with him.
Communion is optional, but most churches do opt to serve it to those who attend the play.
The painting
The Last Supper is one of the world’s most famous paintings of the Italian painter, Leonardo Da Vinci and the most reproduced religious painting of all-time. Da Vinci painted the picture based on the characteristics of the disciples as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
While the disciples had a relationship with Jesus, each one related to Jesus in a different way. As they sat at the table with Jesus during their last meal together before Jesus went to the cross, they each gave personal testimonies.
The purpose
The purpose of "The Living Last Supper" is to give the audience something to think about.
Those who have seen the play in the past said the presentation made them think about their own relationship with Jesus. If the play is presented in the right way, everyone who attends will leave asking the same question the disciples asked, "Is it I?" Then they will think of the type of relationship they have with Jesus. The actors in the play often feel transformed as they speak the same words the disciples spoke.
