Playwright tackles Doubting Thomas
The idea for Thomas: Confessions of a Doubter was percolating in Randall Wiebe’s mind for many years.
Wiebe wrote the play and is the one-man spark behind the 55-minute Passion Play performance, in which the doubting Apostle Thomas tells the story of his life with Jesus.
“I had the inspiration for it about 10 years before I actually did it, but I thought myself totally incapable of doing it. I didn’t pursue that. I wasn’t a writer or an actor or anything like that — more of a visual artist. Teacher,” Wiebe says.
But he became involved with the Canadian Badlands Passion Play, playing bit roles and eventually played Jesus for two years.
“When that was finished, that kind of left an empty spot for me. What do I do now? Because I love to tell the story. It’s intimidating to play the role of Jesus. It’s way too much. How can I tell the story in a different way and in a more compact way? So I thought, what about a one-man show? Something about an hour. Something that’s portable and easy to do.”
Wiebe will be performing tonight as a fundraiser in support of the national tour of She Has a Name.
His performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. at the Hope Community Covenant Church, 245 Brent Blvd., in Strathmore.
Admission is free, but donations can be made by cheque to Burnt Thicket Theatre and there will also be a free will offering.
She Has a Name, by award-winning playwright Andrew Kooman, is a critically acclaimed, fastmoving, episodic drama about a Canadian lawyer (Jason) working undercover to expose a humantrafficking ring based in Thailand.
To win his case, Jason must persuade his key witness, a young prostitute known only as No. 18, to risk her life and testify.
The national tour of 12 cities will begin May 23 and run through Oct. 6. In Calgary, the perfor- mance is scheduled for Aug. 3 to 11 during the Calgary Fringe Festival.
Wiebe describes his performance in Thomas: Confessions of a Doubter as a one-man passion play.
“It’s the life of Thomas from the time he first encounters Jesus to the time he encounters him again after the Resurrection,” he says. “Because it’s Thomas the doubter . . . the theme is most definitely of faith and doubt. And it actually explores the idea that doubt, in an implied way . . . is simply a stepping stone to faith.
“When I first thought of it, I’d always assumed Thomas was some kind of coward, a weakling, but as I studied the Bible, and there’s very little about him or by him, the few statements I see by him show, to me, that he’s actually a pretty strong, stubborn kind of man. A typical man. A man who wants proof.”
Wiebe has performed the play more than 350 times around the world.