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DEPT. OF WWJD?
Would Jesus be labeled a terrorist if he returned today?
BY CAMILLE DODERO
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"If Jesus came back and saw what’s going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up," Frederick, a Soho artist character in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), famously says. And that’s the premise posited by Jesus Christ Terrorist, a radical spoof of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, coming to the Zeitgeist Gallery next Thursday. First performed four years ago as part of the anti-corporate, anti-militarist "Death and Taxes Resistance Festival," the play was written by the Reagan Babies — an anarchic punk trio whose live shows are so chaotic and confrontational that, guitarist Jonathan Leavitt says, "We’re welcome in some places, but not invited back to most." The mock-guerrilla musical was kept low-profile and staged in DIY venues because, as Leavitt explains, "It can get a little steamy." Meaning that its depiction of Jesus Christ — here a Noam Chomsky–like professor who "speaks truth to power" — would undoubtedly attract a lot of angry attention. Particularly the part where Jesus, who is grappling with his sexual orientation, faces persecution by the Bush administration. But in the current polarized political climate, Leavitt and his collaborators felt it was time to bring the play out of the closet, figuratively speaking. "We’ve got four years of relevance for this one now," says Leavitt, a Lawrence activist who helped organize this past summer’s Boston Social Forum. In the revamped Jesus Christ Terrorist, the Son of God returns to find that anyone who preaches love for all is a bleeding-heart liberal, and "anybody who essentially supports David over Goliath is now a terrorist," says Leavitt. So Jesus too finds himself classified as a threat to national security, and has to tangle with Pontius Ashcroft and Herod Powell. He’s also openly challenged by the Feminist Critique Chorus, an audience plant extrapolated from the Greek tradition, who leaps up from among the spectators, "looking punked-up and sexually charged," and questions both Jesus and the play itself. "The Feminist Critique Chorus has been a one-person punk-rock Viking who has a double-edged battle-ax and holds George Bush’s bloody head in one hand," says Leavitt matter-of-factly. "She critiques the script itself, in terms of looking at the patriarchy of the script or the dialogues. For example, one year, we had a scene where one of the women characters was essentially straddling a nuclear missile and using it to pleasure herself sexually. So the Feminist Critique Chorus would jump in and ask why the [play] is presenting an image of a woman getting sexually charged by militarism, when traditionally women are the ones who bear the brunt of the militarism." Point being, this isn’t your grandmother’s Passion play. For the record, Leavitt and his collaborators aren’t worried about Bible-thumping protesters showing up. In fact, they encourage such a response. "If we don’t attract them, then we’ll bring our own," Leavitt says, laughing. They also encourage the 75-person-capacity audience to be uninhibitedly boisterous, animated, and confrontational. "We’re looking for people who’ll come and support, but also people who know how to interact at a participatory level," explains Leavitt. "We’re not looking for wallflowers. We want people to come, to laugh, to throw things, to scream at us, whatever. We just want to start a dialogue." Jesus Christ Terrorist will take place at Inman Square’s Zeitgeist Gallery, 1353 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, on Thursday, December 2, to benefit MassGlobal Action. Doors open at 7 p.m.; the performance starts promptly at 7:30. Tickets are $20. Call (617) 338-9966.
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