Potsdam, NY, Mar 24, 2011 — SUNY Potsdam's Theatre and Dance Department will present an ambitious drama by playwright Sarah Ruhl in six performances, over the next two weeks, that opens tonight. "Passion Play" will be performed in the College Theatre, located in Satterlee Hall (7:30 pm).

The backdrop for Ruhl's play is the centuries-old traditional staging of the Passion of Christ. The play explores productions in two different eras -- Elizabethan England when the Queen outlaws the annual staging, and Oberammergau, Bavaria in 1934 as Adolf Hitler is rising to power. "Everything is not as it appears to be," according to one of the characters. Todd Moe spoke with director Susan Neal and some of the cast and crew.