Living Gallery presents: This Is My Word
Taylor Deaton, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
As we marvel in the beauty of the spring season, it is critical that we remember the reason for all of the beauty blooming around us. This beauty can be celebrated in many different ways, but it becomes even more apparent to us during the Easter season.
Reenactments of the Resurrection of Jesus and Easter productions have been produced for hundreds of years. They have very special value to Christians and bring lasting visual effects to those who witness these reenactments.
No one does Easter productions quite like Bob Jones University, a Christian college that was established almost 100 years ago and is located in Greenville, S.C.
Beginning in 1998, Bob Jones University began putting on a program known as the Living Gallery. According to livinggallery.bju.edu, in the Living Gallery “the people in the larger-than-life paintings, sculptures and stained glass are real.”
For 20 years, Bob Jones University has been using the Living Gallery, which is a “unique program [that] combines original drama, special choral and orchestral arrangements, and breathtaking live portrayals of class works of art,” as a live-action way of portraying the gospel and the Easter story to their audiences, according to livinggallery.bju.edu.
The production has been gaining more and more popularity over the years and has quickly become well-known in the upstate as a way to reach people during the Easter season.
The livinggallery.bju.edu expresses that the reasoning behind the annual productions is “to celebrate the story of Christ’s birth or resurrection.”
“A team of talented artists and technicians spend hundreds of hours putting together the sets, costumes, makeup and lighting needed to create larger-than-life artwork depicting the life of Christ,” said livinggallery.bju.edu to explain the effort that goes into the annual Easter production.
This year, Living Gallery is presenting a production known as This Is My Word. As described by livinggallery.bju.edu, This Is My Word is “a modern play focusing on a woman’s journey with cancer, her estranged relationship with her son, and her coming to Christ through the influence of her art work on illuminated manuscripts.”
The production will also feature “a mix of instrumental and vocal music selections” and “two illuminated manuscript pages from the Book of Hours,” explained livinggallery.bju.edu in reference to the elements of their upcoming production.
The annual Easter production will take place in Rodeheaver Auditorium at Bob Jones University, and will have multiple showings.
The production will be performed at the following times:
March 29 at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
March 30 at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
March 31 at 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the price of $14 for adults and $12 for children ages 6-12. They can be purchased online or at the Bob Jones University box office, which is opened 12:00-5:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
