Beneath the Upper Room

A Short Play About Jesus' Last Supper-- from the Viewpoint of the Women Who Served Him

Fiction & Literature, Drama, Religious & Liturgical, Nonfiction, Entertainment

• Author: Kevin M Reese
• ISBN: 9781620957615
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Publication: April 13, 2006
• Language: English

This play is about Jesus from the perspective of the women who knew him best. Through the well-known events of the Last Supper these women reflect on the life of Jesus and his affect on mankind. We see the Last Supper from a different angle, from a different perspective than usually depicted in stories about this event in Jesus' Passion. This is NOT your typical Last Supper Drama. This play uses the well-known setting of Jesus’ Last Supper as a spring-board for a little different perspective– and a few "What ifs?" "Whys?" and "Why nots?" in for good measure. During Jesus’ time, it was usually women who served meals, did the laundry, fetched the water and all the other "menial" chores. From what we find in the Bible, there were a number of people who constantly traveled with Jesus, many of whom were women. Undoubtedly, those women took up the many caring tasks of the group. We know at least some of the names of the women who were there for the crucifixion. By a sort of "reverse engineering," it's a safe assumption that the characters in this play could very well have been around Jesus during the Last Supper. That's what this play is all about. Using the traditional Jewish Pesach (Passover) Seder that was most likely the same format that Jesus and his Disciples used, we follow the women as they serve each course and listen to what they witnessed as they were in the Upper Room. With humor and tenderness, we understand-- from their perspective-- the significance of Christ's last moments with his Disciples. At the time during the Seder where Jesus very likely passed around the Bread and the Wine, the audience is invited to partake in communion, after which, the play continues. Since 2006, the play has been performed in over 150 churches all over the USA.