I did a quick search online with google news concerning the content of the email about the Corpus Christi play and movie. As you may know, google news finds, archives and tracks nearly all news sources on the Internet. Just as Wikipedia gives us a fairly accurate view of what people really believe is true, google news content and trends are a very accurate reflection of what is really going on over time. If you follow the links below, I believe you will find that the stories about this play peak in early 1998.
http://news.google.com/
The Christian Post is a good online source for Christian news stories.You will find the play referenced in passing near the end of this article by the late Jerry Falwell in 2003. Even then it is only in a summary of evil that he lists at the end of his piece for emphasis. It is not the main point of his story. If you know anything about the late Dr Falwell you will know he would have made a very big deal about it if there was any chance the play was gaining popular ground anywhere except on the edges of society.
http://www.christianpost.com/
It would initially appear to me that this nasty play, like many other blasphemous and profane works of "art", continues to make the rounds of a few small performance venues even today.
http://news.google.com/news?
I found no credible evidence of any sort for the idea that a film version is about to invade our theatres. It is certainly not impossible. That did happen about 15 or 20 years ago with The Last Temptation Of Christ. Even if something on that order was happening though, we need to 'keep our eye on the ball' and focus on getting the gospel out, not on controlling the artistic expression of unbelievers. I know this is hard. It runs against the desires of the heart to influence our society for good but the only thing that will change society in the end is multiplied personal conversions. They burned the books of evil in Ephesus because the gospel changed their hearts, not because the legalistic Jews (or Christians) marched against them.
11And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. 13Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered alld of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Acts 19 ESV
There is one more thing to keep in mind. If I'm not mistaken, whenever you hit 'forward' for and email, the whole list of email addresses you forwarded to gets sent back to the original sender. This means that people who simply want to collect email addresses for not so good reasons only have to send out distressing messages that sensitive people will send on in a panic. We need to be careful not to let them use us in that way.
Again, I applaud and thank those forwarding this stuff for caring so much about the possibility of even more disgusting blasphemy overtaking our society. Let us make all such events whether real or imagined a cause for prayer, evangelism and the strengthening of the church. Let's encourage each other not to get sidelined by the natural desire to control the sin of our society from the outside.
JB
