Samuel A. Stephan: lecturer and reciter

              1910
SAMUEL A. STEPHAN LECTURER AND RECITER

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Dramatic Recital of the Passion Play With Character Impersonations

Management
Chautauqua Managers Association
CHICAGO, ILL.



REV. SAMUEL A. STEPHAN
IN presenting Rev. Samuel A. Stephan to the public we are presenting a young man born in the country, reared on a farm, received his first education in the rural public schools, and fought his way, against severe odds, through college and the theological schools.  The year he completed his education, The Passion Play was being given in little Ober-Ammergau.  He longed to crown his preparation for the ministry by witnessing that which was a representation of the passion of his Lord whom he was to preach.  He had no money in his pockets, though his veins were full of red blood, and with a determination that would not brook defeat, he took passage on a cattle ship and successfully made the trip to Europe.

In Mr. Stephan's delivery of the Passion Play he realizes that the play itself is the attraction of the hundreds of thousands who crowd into Ober-Ammergau every ten years.  He makes his description of the quaint village and of its nature-loving people, with a brief history of the origin of the play, appear as the frame in which the great picture is set.  Unlike the average lecturer on this subject, he then passes rapidly from act to act, reciting and giving impersonations of the important characters as the unfoldment of his work progresses.  His descriptions, recitals and impersonations are so adjusted and so well accomplished that his hearers feel, as many have testified, that they understand just what the Passion Play is.  Many of the scenes are so vividly presented that the imagination instinctively runs to the original tragedy itself.



SUBJECTS

RECITALS:

The Ober-Ammergau Passion Play
Jean Valjean, or the March from Hell to Heaven
The Book of Job

LECTURE:

The Bible from Hebrew to English




OBER-AMMERGAU AND THE PASSION PLAY
THE quiet little village of Ober-Ammergau, nestling among the Bavarian Alps, has become the best and most widely known village of its size in the world.  Were one to visit it without a knowledge of its Passion Play he would be impressed at once with its simplicity and uniqueness.  But to witness their Passion Play stirs one's deepest amazement.  For here is a village of but 1350 inhabitants, who have dramatized the most sacred and sublime event in history with pleasing and satisfying effect.  Here are peasants among the mountains, not alone entertaining the lover of dramatic art, but dispelling the prejudices of those who may feel that an attempt at reproducing the passion of our Lord is sacrilegious, and of turning the love of many to the Lord.  For every part, every movement, passes off with so much ease and naturalness that not for a moment does anyone feel any repulsion.  The play reveals a naturalness and a realness that is almost irresistible.  The history of the origin of the play is set in the pestilence which swept over Europe in 1633 with awful effects.  Its fearful ravages swept from hamlet to village with destructive rapidity.  In one village only two married couples remained alive.  The most severe quarantine regulations were broken through in the person of Casper Schuchler.  He had been working in the plague-stricken district.  He felt an uncontrollable desire to return to his family in Ober-Ammergau.  Whether it was because he felt the finger of death upon him, or whether he merely wished as a good house-father to see that they were comfortable, history does not record.  In two days Casper Schuchler died of the plague, and in thirty days eighty-four of the villagers had perished.  In their desperation the people wondered what to do.  Soon there would not be enough living to bury the dead.  All sanitary and curative measures had failed.  It was as looking into the hollow eye-sockets of death when they cried aloud unto God.  The healthy met and counciled, and remembering their sins, repented, and as a token of their gratitude for their deliverance, if they were delivered, they solemnly convenanted that they would every ten years perform the Passion Play.  It is said by the local chronicler, That from that moment the plague was stayed: those who were already smitten with it revived, nor did any more fall victims to the pestilence.  Thus it is that the Passion Play has become a fixed institution in Ober-Ammergau.  And the promise has been faithfully kept ever since, with but a few exceptions caused by existing wars.


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Comments by Individuals and Press

REV. JESSIE LEE CORLEY
Pastor of First M. E. Church, Norwood, Cincinnati, Ohio

It was my good fortune to witness the Passion Play at Ober-Ammergau in 1900, the year that Mr. Stephan was there.  To attempt a delineation and interpretation of this world-famous event I know is a great and difficult task, but Mr. Stephan does this in a highly satisfactory and interesting manner.  His descriptions of the village and its people are splendid.  His historical references are accurate, but where the lecturer excels is in his dramatic impersonation of the various characters of the play and in imparting to his hearers much of the intense life and stately movement that characterizes the great drama.



J. B. HAWK, Ph. D.
Platform Manager, West Union, Ohio, Chautauqua

The immense audience sat spell-bound for an hour and a quarter while the speaker with true dramatic power, retold the story of the Passion Play in character impersonations and extraordinary acting.  Mr. Stephan's recital is worth a whole battery of magic lantern and moving picture shows of the Passion Play.  He is a man of fine, magnetic presence; rich, full voice; and he works while before his audience, and the audience does not sleep.



REV. C. E. SCHENK, D. D.
Pastor of Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, M. E. Church

Dr. Stephan not only saw this production in the mood which deeply impressed him but he has the ability to make others see that which he witnessed and to share his emotions.  His lecture deeply interested me and it affords me real pleasure to commend both the lecturer and lecture to others.



PROFESSOR JAMES McGINNIS
Superintendent of Dayton, Ky., Schools

Rev. S. A. Stephan gave his lecture on The Passion Play at the M. E. Church, Dayton, Ky., to an excellent audience.  So deep was the impression produced on the minds of our people that the High School was induced to recall him in less than a month thereafter I do not recall any effort in dramatic and descriptive lecture work that equaled this.  Mr. Stephan owes much to his dramatic ability.  He pictured the scene so vividly that we saw not simply the Ober-Ammergau production, but the original tragedy itself.



REV. G. I. WILSON
Pastor of Presbyterian Church, Sistersville, W. Va.

Rev. S. A. Stephan presented the play in a most pleasing manner, making his audience feel as if they were looking upon the play itself.  He made each character live.  Several people who had witnessed the play in its native city were in the audience and their verdict was most complimentary to Mr. Stephan.  A number had heard the play given by others who had witnessed the play, and every one of them unreservedly said he excelled in his presentation of it.



REV. L. O. HARTMAN, Ph. D.
Pastor Union M. E. Church, Cincinnati, Ohio

Unlike many lectures on this subject, Rev. Stephan dealt with the play itself, rather than with a description of the village, or the history of this ceremony.  The audience, therefore, went away with a very clear notion of the Passion Play.  To my mind Rev. Stephan has real dramatic ability.  His impersonation of some of the characters, especially that of Judas, was particularly fine.



PROF. C. A. WILSON
Manager of the Georgetown, Ohio, Chautauqua

Rev. Samuel A. Stephan of Cincinnati, appeared before a critical audience of two thousand people, at the Georgetown, Ohio, Chautauqua, when he gave his recital of the Passion Play.  He came upon the platform at a late hour, following a lengthy musical program.  Notwithstanding this fact, he held his vast audience for an hour and a quarter with the greatest ease.  Dr. Stephan is a man of fine personal appearance, possessing a deep musical voice, and presents rare dramatic art in the delivery of his lecture.  He will make good in every sense before any intelligent audience.



REV. ROBERT C. MATHEWS
Pastor of St. Paul M. E. Church, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Rev. Stephan has rare platform powers and is especially strong in dramatic work.  He has a method of presentation that assures him an interested audience.



REV. J. C. SCHAIBLY
Pastor of Grace M. E. Church, Newport, Ky.

Your impersonations were both artistic and realistic, and you held your audience from beginning to end.  Your closing scene, The Ascension, was a most fitting climax, and all left feeling that it was an evening well spent.




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MR. W. B. FERRIS
Educational Director Y. M. C. A., Cincinnati, Ohio

Your description of the little village, its inhabitants and their manner of living, the scenes and acts of the play, and your impersonation of the characters was most vivid and impressive.  Any one whose privilege it may be to listen to your description of this wonderful play cannot but have a most realistic conception of it.



THE DAILY MORNING SUN
Springfield, Ohio

Depicting the remorse of Judas and Peter, the audience felt somewhat more kindly toward those men, though fully alive to their heinous crime.  The haughty, proud word of Caiaphas, the noble defense of Nicodemus and Joseph, the shameful cowardice of Pilate, the tender words of Mary and above all the words of Jesus, all formed such a wonderful picture of the greatest tragedy of all ages that the audience sat with tense silence, drinking in all that was said, and at the close the tension was evidenced by long sighs and their generous applause.



MR. C. W. HACKET
Manufacturer, Cleveland, Ohio

Rev. Stephan's lecture on the Passion Play is well worth hearing.  It is a graphic recital of the play, and the impersonation of several of the characters is masterly.



G. O. MARCH
Publisher, Lebanon, Ohio

I was wonderfully suprised at the absorbingly interesting recital of the Passion Play, given by Rev. Samuel A. Stephan.  I have known the man for some years and knew his character and worth; but his recital is so original, so dramatic, and so provokingly interesting, that I was surprised to find that a matter of such keen interest could be presented.



DR. W. A. ROBINSON
Superintendent of Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio

I have rarely heard anything that so thrilled me.  You brought with dramatic power the whole marvelous tragedy before us.  The impression which I carried away with me of your portrayal of the representation of the crucifixion and the taking down from the cross the body of our Lord, was one of mingled compassion and reverence which lingered with me for days.



EX-GOVERNOR RICHARD YATES
Springfield, Ill.

I heard you with great pleasure.  Your work with that sacred tragedy is very extraordinary.



DEAN D. T. SCHOONOVER
Of Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio

I have heard lectures on the same subject before, where they were accompanied by the lantern slides, but by no means did I get as clear a conception of the play and the people giving it as from the Rev. Mr. Stephan.  The speaker has a dramatic power that enables him to impersonate remarkably well some of the characters.  He made his audience feel the significance and importance of the great theme celebrated in the play.  At times the audience was still with stillness which comes when a great event is being vividly portrayed, and at the close of the lecture there was no applause because we felt that applause on such an occasion would hardly be fitting.  Throughout the whole of the lecture one feels that the speaker is leading him to realize more deeply the significance of our Lord's suffering and His love for us.  I hope this story may be told again and again to thousands of people for the great good it will do.



REV. C. W. BARNES, D. D.
Pastor Williams Street M. E. Church, Delaware, Ohio

It is a pleasure to speak of the Lecture-Recital of the Passion Play of Ober-Ammergau, by Rev. S. A. Stephan.  It is especially strong in its realistic description, moving pathos, and dramatic power.  It is presented with that earnest religious feeling which is so characteristic of the Passion Play.



PROF. M. F. ANDREWS
Principal of Public Schools, Cincinnati, Ohio

I was suprised as well as pleased with Rev. S. A. Stephan's rendering of the Passion Play.  He has been and seen, and knows what he is talking about, and an evening spent with him will never be forgotten.  One comes away with higher ideals and nobler thoughts of the world's Redeemer.



REV. JOHN C. HILL
Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Ohio

This presentation is most extraordinary.  It gives a most complete view of the whole play in its varied details.  By his remarkable ability he makes it so vivid that those who are listening to him seem to see the actual drama going on before their eyes.



JUDGE T. P. BREEDING
Batavia, Ohio

It would be great pleasure to witness the original play at Ober-Ammergau, but everybody cannot do that; but those who cannot, as well as those who can, should when the opportunity affords, hear and witness the realistic and dramatic recital of the Passion Play by Rev. Stephan.





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