CLAYTON — It's the 35th year in a row that Bruce N. Beattie has enjoyed a good mystery.
Along the way, scores of youth and members of two other generations of the Beattie family have joined him.
With the maxim and credo "Life is a mystery and we are the players," the Franciscan Mystery Players was created in 1976 by the Rev. Francis Pompei of Syracuse. He wanted to dramatize the Stations of the Cross because of the dwindling number of people attending Lenten devotions in his parish. That first "play" consisted of only a few youngsters and one spotlight.
After serving as a priest for nine years at churches in the Syracuse area, Father Pompei became a friar 25 years ago. Friar Pompei serves as guardian of St. Francis Friary in Buffalo.
There are now 13 Franciscan Mystery Players chapters around the U.S. (The Immaculate Heart Central Mystery Players are not part of the Franciscan group.) The Clayton group was created in 1999, a year after Mr. Beattie moved to the north country from Liverpool. Its seasonal performances began Sunday at St. Mary's Cathedral in Ogdensburg, with four more planned in Utica, Lowville, Clayton and Watertown.
Mr. Beattie's son, Paul, a former player with the Clayton group, owns a construction company in Florida and has started a group in Cape Coral, Fla. One of Mr. Beattie's two daughters, Michele L. Capone, has joined the Clayton group and has two daughters involved in it.
It was Michele who got the family involved with the Franciscan Mystery Players.
"She was 4 and wanted to see this mystery play Father Pompei was doing at a church," Mr. Beattie said. "So we went to see it. And I just fell in love with it. I just got hooked."
The group performs during Advent and Lenten seasons. It performs "The Birth of Jesus" for Advent and "The Sorrowful Mysteries" for Lent.
In past years, the Clayton group, consisting of 14 teens and six adults, has rented a tour bus and traveled around several Eastern states. It has also performed in Central New York and Kingston and Cornwall in Ontario.
The six presentations Father Pompei wrote for his Franciscan Mystery Players can be classified as plays, meditations or prayers. Mr. Beattie said the only speaking parts are by adults, who "give different reflections on scenes." The plays have recorded background music and mood lighting.
He added, "They relate to today and what's going on in the world. They are readings Father Pompei has put together. Some of them are a little bit of Scripture."
According to the Franciscan Mystery Players website, "The Birth of Jesus" play is based on St. Francis of Assisi's first re-creation of the Nativity at Greccio, Italy, more than 800 years ago.
"The Christmas mystery play is not a Christmas pageant, but attempts to portray the events surrounding the Lord's birth as real as possible," from King Herod's slaughter of innocents to Jesus's birth, the website notes. "Because of this, it may not be for small children."
The play, the website says, "brings people to a real sense of peace during the usual busy and hectic holidays."
Mr. Beattie, 63, a retired tax auditor for the state, said that reaction is one of the reasons he has stayed involved with the players for more than three decades.
"To hear their comments, and to see how the Lord really touches them, that's what kept me involved," he said. "It's just a powerful thing. A lot of times I say, 'I want to quit.' You don't — because of that."
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The following are the members of the Clayton Franciscan Mystery Players.
Adults: Mr. Beattie, Michele Capone, Angela Cipullo, Tim Orvis, Charlie Stage and Christine Woodley.
The teen "players," consisting of four students from Watertown High School and 10 from Thousand Islands Central High School, Clayton: Mark Getman, Lauren Beeles, Johanna Capone, Allison Capone, Mikayla Cipullo, John Wayne Eppolito, Noelle Flynt, Shane Garrabrant, Gaby Haycock, Mike Hough, Stepahnie Korcz, Danielle Savage, Anola Stage and Emily Cooper.
