Great Passion Play Gets Last-Minute Reprieve from Foreclosure

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. -- It looks like the show will go on for the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs.

The President of an Oklahoma-based Christian radio network says it has hit its $75,000 fundraising goal to stop a foreclosure.

The long-running production, involving more than 150 actors and animals, tells the story of Jesus Christ's life and death. Money woes led to the production's collapse in late 2012. The show started in 1968 and has drawn millions of visitors from across the country over the decades.

A spokesman for the Gospel Stations Network says a former cast member donated $5,000 and a resident from Berryville also donated $5,000.  

Randall Christy, President of the Gospel Station Network, says the Great Passion Play will open on schedule in May and run a full season which ends in October.

The Carroll County News in late December reported several sources close to the production said the Great Passion Play was in arrears to the tune of $1.2 million and could not make its mortgage and interest payments.

Now that his broadcasting company has saved the show, Christy says he aims to raise $6 million to renovate and expand the production.

Christy plans to hold a news conference at noon on Thursday at the amphitheater in Eureka Springs to announce more details of his organizations plans for the future.