Our goal was to run all the way across the stage before the scene shifted so we could turn and follow the donkey and not have to walk backwards. Featured on the front page of The New York Times, this epic production has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people over the last 28 years.. Don't miss this life changing experience. Ironically these same girls later in the play served as King Herod's harem watching as Jesus was brought before the King, given a robe and mocked before being sent back to Pontius Pilate for sentencing. James Shapiro, Oberammergau: The Troubling Story of the World's Most Famous Passion Play' (Little, Brown & Company, 2000).