New Jerusalem theater


New Jerusalem is a city theater founded in 1968, located in city of Brejo da Madre de Deus, in the district of Fazenda Nova, about 180 km from Recife, the capital of Pernambuco - Brazil.
Every Easter, the theatre hosts an outdoor Passion of Christ performance which tells the history of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. It's considered the largest open-air theater in the world due to its 100000 m2, surrounded by 3500 meters of walls and 70 towers.

Show

Every night at 6 pm, in just two hours, the crowd follows the footsteps of Jesus and his followers during nine permanent stages build it specially for the encenation, under the starry skies of the rural Pernambuco. The big mankind story of faith, hope and excitement for the Christians, containing 60 renowned actors and more than 500 back actors, with a daily average audience of 8000 people.
Another strength of the scenario is the technical infrastructure with digital sound, pyrotechnics, lights, special effects and elaborate customers; inside in a Jerusalem city atmosphere of 1.1M ft2 surrounded by walls and towers which delights national and international visitors.

Stages and Scenes

It was in 1951 when the marketer Epaminondas Mendonça had the idea to realize during the holy week the scenes of life, death and resurrection of Jesus, in the streets of the small parish of Fazenda Nova. The idea surges after his readings in a magazine about a German city who was doing something similar called Passion Play.
In 1956, Plínio Pacheco arrives in Brejo da Madre de Deus and soon married Diva Pacheco, daughter of Epaminondas and local actress. In 1958, Plinio become director of the theater and in 1962 he had the idea to build the New Jerusalem Theater as a small replica of the Jerusalem city. The city theatre just was finished in 1968, and since then Plinio Pacheco was the Director until his death in 2002.