Drumheller resident Shawna Pliva is starring as Mary, Mother of Jesus, in the Daughters of Eve, a mini series that will air, starting March 27 on Yes TV.
The six part mini series chronicles the courageous and remarkable women that lived during that time.
Pliva spoke with The Mail saying “I started doing theatre, very young, when I was six years old and I have acted throughout my life, but I had stopped in my mid twenties. It was time to get a real job, which kept my parents happy. Then about 5 years ago I started acting again, with the Passion Play, along with my kids.”
Pliva explained, “The filming of Daughters of Eve was done within a week. I basically spent four days crying. When they cast me, there is a young women in Israel, who portrays young Mary, with distinct brown eyes. Mine are distinct green and I had to wear contacts. I can’t get contacts into my eyes on a good day, never mind when they are swollen shut from crying. I had to go to my optometrist’s office every morning at 7:30, asking them to put my contacts in. I was able to get them out at night.”
When asked, how easy is it to cry, Shawna responded, “It wasn’t that hard, I have a personality that is very empathetic. I could picture my own kids and what it would feel like, someone you give birth to, and for them to be in pain. I was thinking that, this is someone’s son. Just walking in Mary’s shoes was enough to make me cry.”
“I worked with Colin Mulligan, an actor from Los Angeles. He portrayed Jesus and it was really easy for me to work along side him. It was very neat, and very humbling.” said Pliva.
According to Passion Play Executive Director Vance Neudorf, “TriCord Media Group and Chelsea Road Productions, originally started filming the mini series, on location in Israel. TriCord had heard about the Passion Play and once they arrived and toured the site, they realized that the whole thing could have been filmed here.”
TriCord used over 100 members from the Passion Play cast and were able to complete all their filming within a week.
