For long-running Simon Peter play, it's curtains for now

Simon Peter Productions, which produced Tucson's largest Easter passion play, is disbanding because of copyright problems.

The move means the end of an annual local Easter custom that grew so large in recent years that it was performed at the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall, regularly filling to a 2,200 capacity each Good Friday. There has never been an admission charge, and Simon Peter Productions has relied on donations and fund-raising to cover costs.

Some of those who were involved in the nonprofit production company are developing their own, independent passion play, though it's uncertain if it will be ready for Easter 2006.

The Simon Peter play was founded, written and developed by Tucsonan Katherine A. Genders in 1979. The emotional musical is presented from the perspective of Simon, a doubter who became the Apostle Peter.

Genders died unexpectedly in 2002 at age 57 and left ownership of the play to her adopted daughter, who's now 16. Elizabeth Genders Martin now lives in Sahuarita with her birth mother, Clarice Martin, and is a junior in high school.

The nonprofit production company did not know about the copyright issue until March, said Board president Paul Cisek said. Board members made the difficult decision to disband when they found out about it, he said.

The teen and the board were unable to come to an agreement.

The copyright issue never went to court, and Cisek said the board was adamant that it not get to that point.

"From a Christian and moral and ethical point of view, it was the right thing to do, even if it meant not going on any more," Cisek said. "The play is still there. It's up to the owner to do what she wants."

Clarice Martin said Elizabeth is upset the board decided to disband and about the situation in general, but she hopes to bring the play back herself one day.

"The last three years have been very hard on Elizabeth. She has every intention of putting the play back on, maybe in a few years," Martin said Friday. "The play is her mom's legacy, and she wants to do it the way her mom wanted it, the way her mom originally wrote it. The script had been rewritten, and she wanted the words back to the way it was."

Like other passion plays, which focus on Jesus Christ and his death, suffering and resurrection, the Simon Peter script underwent many revisions over the years. The 2004 production, for example, was the first time Mary Magdalene was not portrayed as a prostitute. The change was part of an overall effort in recent years to make the play more true to Scripture. Last year, a Last Supper scene was added.

"I went through a period of mourning. It was horrible, but when it came down to it, the board had no choice," said Wendy Knox, who spent the last two years as chief executive officer of the production company. "I've seen every performance but one — I've watched it my whole life. It's an incredible script and an incredible show. It has touched thousands of lives, and I think the Tucson community will definitely notice it is gone and miss it."

Knox said the play had elaborate sets, including a large wooden cross and a boat, which along with the play's costumes are going to other local Christian theater groups.

Simon Peter was a big part of many cast members' lives, Cisek said. Auditions were held each January and intense rehearsing began in February — sometimes up to 20 hours per week, which actors balanced with jobs, school and families.

"It's hard for some people. There are upwards of 100 cast members in any given year. Hundreds of people have been involved over the years," Cisek said. "There was sort of a family there."

Michael Dohrmann, who directed Simon Peter this year and also has acted in it, is leading a splinter group that is developing a new play based on a Roman soldier who comes to faith in Christ during the passion week.

"We're not sure if it's going to be on in 2006, and I'm not sure if it will be a musical, but we are working," Dohrmann said.

Gail Davlin, who played Mary Mother of Jesus in the last few years of Simon Peter, is part of Dohrmann's new group. But she has faith that Simon Peter will reappear one day.

"I think when Elizabeth becomes old enough to take over the play herself, it will come back," Davlin said. "It belongs to her."