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week during the summer in Spearfish. The troupe toured the country beginning each fall during the Passion Play's early years, and then had a winter home in Lake Wales, Fla., from 1953 to 1998.
• Meier's name became synonymous with the Passion Play. He and his wife, Clare, were a theatrical couple of formidable talents. He was producer, director and star, while Clare was his costar and wardrobe designer.
• Josef portrayed the Christus more than 9,000 times before his retirement in 1991 and Clare appeared almost 7,000 times as Mary the Mother until 1988.  Josef died on Jan. 31, 1999, at age 94, at his home in Spearfish. Clare died at age 93 at her home in Spearfish on June 3, 2007, at the conclusion of the season's opening performance.
• The Meiers' only child, Johanna, made her debut in the Black Hills Passion Play

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