Passion play performed in Nazareth

1. Wide shot of crowd arriving 2. Various shots of performance - Last Supper scenes 3. Setup shot Michael Hostetler, director of Nazareth Village 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Hostetler, director of Nazareth Village: "There are a lot of controversies around the passion of Christ thanks to the work of Mel Gibson around the past few months. One of the things that strikes me is that the controversy revolves around the issue of condemnation, the accusation that somehow the Jews are responsible for he death of Christ, but from our perspective that is totally missing the point". 5. Pan from audience to door 6. Performance - Romans pushing Christ through audience 7. Various shots performance - Christ walking to crucifixion 8. Performance - women crying 9. Various shots of performance - Christ being crucified 10. Performance - close shot of Christ on cross 11. Wide shot of audience walking PASSION PLAY IS PERFORMED IN CHRIST''S HOMETOWN A play based on the last hours of Christ''s life is being staged in life-size replica of Jesus'' boyhood town of Nazareth, built with the help of archaeologists and biblical scholars on a hill above modern Nazareth. The outdoor re-enactment by local Arab Christians and volunteers from the United States and Europe begins with the Last Supper. The actor playing Jesus, 33-year-old Nazarene Samir Hawa, is a local construction worker who helped to build the site. Nazareth is in Gaililee, in Israel, and wary of allegations that Mel Gibson''s film, ''The Passion of the Christ,'' unfairly portrays Jews as responsible for Christ''s crucifixion, organizers say their Easter Week re-enactment is not about blame. The performance, which began last week and continues through Saturday, emphasizes the betrayal by one of Jesus'' disciples, Judas, and the brutal treatment at the hands of the Roman soldiers. The replica ancient town, known as Nazareth Village, is an attempt to recreate a working Galilean village of 2000 years ago, to farm it with period tools and to understand how that land might have influenced Jesus. The six-acre village, which opened in October 2000, draws many volunteers and about 10-thousand visitors a year. Modern-day Nazareth is a city of 70-thousand, about one-third of them Christians. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/accdc6351214c548224b7f5c592cbec2 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork