ABOUT

Admission

Free - Donations Accepted

Date

2024 Play TBD

Location

Concordia High School, Pflugerville, Texas

Showtimes

TBA

About the play

The Easter Triumph is an 80-minute passion play performed by cast members from the greater Austin area. The play is an outreach, and the committee purposely selects venues outside of church settings to encourage the entire community to attend.

The play is scripture-based and not intended to promote any particular denomination. The pageant itself is sponsored by the Austin-area Lutheran Churches-Missouri Synod. Cast members, however, come from all Christian denominations, from Catholic to Methodist to Baptist.

The Easter Triumph is non-profit, and there is no admission charge to attend the performance. Production costs are paid through a free-will offering and memorial donations made to the pageant.

The pageant is guided by a Board of Directors made up of former and current cast members who donate their time and talents to the service of God. You may contact the board or the pageant director by clicking on “Contact” on the Home page.

Many churches within an hour or two of the Austin area arrange for church vans or buses to bring large numbers of members attend the performance. The board is careful to select venues where there will be enough seating. 

Quotes From
The Cast

My favorite scene is when Jesus goes into heaven. It just gives me a thrill. In your heart you know the story, but here you get to be a part of it. The pageant is like a family reunion every year.

Ann Alvarado

Cast member since 1959

I came back to the pageant for my kids. I learned so much from it as a kid myself. I think it had a lot to do with my faith. When I was in it as a kid, one of the things they told us to do to look like conversation is to say ‘peas and carrots.’ It’s always been a joke at my house.

Karen (Wukasch) Hocher

Cast member since 1959

It really doesn’t hit you until you’re on the stage and the curtain opens. Then you really lose yourself in the role.

Joseph Calvo

Cast member since 1974

The thing I notice the most is that when the scriptures are read during the Lenten season, you sort of zero in on the stories and remember the year you played a certain role.

John Petersen

Cast member since 1972

I started doing the pageant as a favor to Mr. (Glynn) Devine. I thought I’d do it one time, but I got hooked.

Martin Basore

Cast member since 1976

The changes I’ve seen (between the ’60s and ’90s) are that the props are more sophisticated. The scene that brings me back every year is when the crowd yells, ‘Crucify him!’ It makes it very real.

Edna May Getz

Cast member since 1968

About the Cast

All cast and crew members are volunteers. Casting for the primary roles in the Easter Triumph begins in January or February each year.

Primary role casting is at the sole discretion of the director. No auditions are held, but new cast members who wish to take on a role must contact the director.

Rehearsals begin about three weeks prior to the performance and costumes are provided.

There are about 60 individual roles to be cast, from involved roles like Disciples, Pilate, and Mary the Mother, to smaller roles for angels, soldiers, priests, and various members of Christ’s early fellowship.

Jesus is cast well in advance, and the 12 disciples are usually chosen by February. Other roles are filled in as rehearsals progress.

Approximately 100 people are needed for the crowd scenes to celebrate His arrival on Palm Sunday, to march in and lead a mob to arrest Him, witnessing His death, and rejoicing in His ascension.

Several children will have important roles as Pilate’s servants, heralds to announce Jesus’ arrival, and in a wonderful scene in the end when every child who can toddle or run to Jesus, will assist in the triumphant finish. There is no better way to get a small child to understand the story of Easter than to have them act it out.

The crowd is an important part of the pageant as well playing a key role in the mood of the production.

There are no qualifications to be a member of the cast other than attending rehearsals and having a love of God. Spoken parts are narrated so there are no lines to learn.

It is helpful, but not required, for men wishing to participate in primary roles such as a priest, Pilate, or disciples to grow a beard.

In addition to those on stage, the pageant always needs crew members from light and sound techs, to backstage personnel and entire families are encouraged to participate even if some prefer behind-the-scenes roles.

on portraying Jesus

Ask any of the actors who have portrayed Jesus to describe the experience, and you will hear words such as “awe,” “appreciation,” “understanding,” and “fear.” The role in itself is awesome, and to play it is, according to fellow cast members, to define the intensity of the entire pageant.

Although most ordinary men feel somewhat unworthy of the role of Jesus Christ, their work in making the story of his death and resurrection become real to the cast and audience is what makes the Easter Triumph the moving and inspirational pageant it has become.

OUR HISTORY

In 1959 the Easter Triumph pageant became the first staged play at the newly built Palmer Auditorium. The original script, written and directed by Pastor Robert Clausen in 1952 in Indianapolis, Indiana, has been adapted over the decades for the growing cast and more complex production.

To continue this long tradition on such a large scale with only volunteer cast members and donations was no small task. The annual budget of the production has grown from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Because the pageant has always been considered a gift to the city of Austin from the cast and crew, there has never been an admission charge. The pageant is paid for primarily through gifts from the Lutheran Churches Missouri Synod in Austin and through gifts given by the audience in appreciation for this moving production.

Cast members will tell you that the pageant has had its share of glory and mishaps in its long history. Most everyone in the pageant in the ’70s remembers when the curtain opened while Jesus was still climbing up on the cross for the crucifixion scene. One year a thief fell off 

his cross, and although several cast members rushed to his aid, he was unharmed. In the early ’80s, when the pageant was only held at 6 a.m. on Easter morning, the radio warned of a terrible storm and urged everyone to stay home. Although the rain poured down and the cast feared no one would show, God answered their prayers and over 1,000 people attended the pageant anyway. By the end of the performance, the sun was shining.

One of the moments many cast members remember with awe is the first time the actor portraying Jesus ascended into the sky courtesy of the mechanical lift and a cloud machine. This scene is the overwhelming favorite of the audiences and cast as well being the moment that Jesus joins His Father in heaven. Those who witness this triumphant end to the pageant all feel as though they are there.

Easter Triumph

Board of Directors

TRACEY GOURAUD – President 
Danny Foley – Vice President
Sara Frank – Secretary

Appointed Positions

Richard Mittwede – Pastoral Advisor
Danny Foley – Director
Linda Becker – Treasurer
Sarah Dart – Webmaster

Other board members:
Jim Parkhurst, John Petersen, Eddie Baumann
Concordia High School LIason – Michael Wiel

DOnors

We could not accomplish our goals without the support and involvement of our committed donors. 

Bridge Radio

The Bridge 101.1 FM, Austin TX

HEB Grocery Company

H-E-B plus! of Anderson Mill, Austin TX

H-E-B is a regional supermarket chain with over 300 stores in Texas and Mexico. We thank H-E-B for their donation to our 2021 Fall fundraiser. 

Redemption Coffee

Redemption Coffee Company, Cedar Park TX

Contact Us

Want to be a part of telling the greatest story? Or simply want to help out in another way?

SIgn up to be a Cast or Crew member!
Easter Triumph

P.O. Box 9992
Austin, TX 78766

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