I can’t even begin to process all of the feels I’m feeling when it comes to the Resurrection Play. This was such an incredible experience for me, not only as a House of Brigid volunteer, but also as a theatre artist looking to find her niche in the world. Drama ministry is the phrase ringing around my head these days, and I’m excited to see where my latest revelatory journey might take me!
Rather than gushing about every minute aspect of the play, I’ve decided to share my director’s note from the program with you. Hopefully, it serves as a nice summary of the body of work I’ve spent the last year honing to perfection!
The story of “To See You” cannot begin unless you know a bit of my own Teach Bhríde story. In short, I didn’t know the community existed until one week before the application was due. Less than a month later, I had somehow said “yes” to serving two years in a country that I had never stepped foot in. Before that, I was set to go off to graduate school for a master’s degree in drama. It was a difficult choice for me, but one that I have ultimately, and without regret, been happy with. Music and drama have been an integral part of my life since I was a little girl. However, the two do not always live together harmoniously, especially in the Catholic Church. I struggled with how I could live out my passion for the dramatic arts while still maintaining my Catholic identity.
This struggle didn’t last for long. God and St. Brigid both provided when I arrived in Wexford last June to visit the former Teach Bhríde IV community. While here, all I kept hearing about was this “Passion Play” that had been such a success that Lent. Emily Puscas, having studied drama with me back at Saint Mary’s College, was eager to immediately hand the project over to me for the next year. If I am remembering correctly, it was Fr. Denis who said, “Why not make the next one about the Resurrection?”
And so, the seed for “To See You” was planted, and it began to grow rapidly. “My God, My God” was the first song that came to me during a daily mass in my June visit. It’s a beloved psalm setting from my own parish, and I was excited by the idea of including music that had personal meaning to me. While I spent July and August back home in Cleveland, Ohio, I began researching the biblical stories of Resurrection accounts. Really, the process can be summarized by the old question of, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” In some cases, I picked the music to fit around the stories; in others, I chose the stories, and then hunted like mad for the music to fit them. Truth be told, the script did not come together in its entirety until early February. “Why so long,” you ask? It was important to me that the stories were as true to scripture as possible. (I actually didn’t write a whole lot of this play – I copied directly from the Bible!) It was also important to me that the music be liturgically based. Indeed, every song in this show, (save for one,) can be heard in churches across the world. At the end of the day, I intend for this to be a prayer. “To sing is to pray twice,” and I believe anyone who witnesses the performance will be unable to argue with that.
There are so many people who have been a part of this process from the start that I cannot even begin to name names. So, to everyone who has been involved in any capacity along the way – Thank You! You have helped to make one of the most incredible sets of stories in our faith come to life in a new and innovative way. As Fr. James has been reminding us lately, we are all a Resurrection people. This play is our play. We must remember that behind these lights and costumes are our fellow parishioners. This is our parish family, and what we do, we do together in the name of Christ Jesus, our Risen Lord.
May God’s peace and blessings be upon you and your families in the remainder of this Easter Season!
And, because I’m seriously lacking in the picture department and can’t resist, here are five fun facts about this year’s Resurrection Play!
- We had a new cast member on Saturday night. A spider with the body the size of a teaspoon, (I’m not even joking on that one,) decided to make his own appearance in the play. For most of Act I, he was scuttling around the front of the sanctuary. Despite the fact that I hate spiders and usually make one of the boys take care of them for me, I was mostly worried one of the barefooted children would step on him and get hurt. (Or scream at an inappropriate moment…) I thought I had seen a lady a few rows down take care of getting rid of it, so I was jokingly telling the cast at intermission about the whole ordeal. Little did I know that our eight-legged friend wasn’t hurt and decided to reappear on the Road to Emmaus at the top of Act II. Luckily, a different lady decided enough was enough, and got up out of her wheelchair to squash him.
- We had two injuries during the course of dress rehearsals and performances. Carmel, one of our disciples on the Road to Emmaus, nearly broke her foot at the final dress rehearsal while putting a glass-top table away. The glass slid off and landed squarely on top of her foot. After spending the night in the ER, she was sent home with painkillers and a crutch, diagnosed with a bad bruise. She hobbled along the Road to Emmaus, sans crutch, and was absolutely marvelous! (By the second night, even her limp was gone!) Our second injury came at the last performance, but wasn’t found out about until much later. One of my lovely Chief Priests, Lisa, was helping to take down Jesus’ cross in a blackout. Her job of pulling out the crossbar was a little more perilous than one could’ve anticipated, and she ended up fracturing her hand doing so. She’s now in a sling for the next three weeks. As awful as I feel about both Carmel and Lisa’s injuries, I can’t help but wonder if God is playing a little joke on us – injuries to a foot and a hand? Those are eerily synonymous with Jesus’ wounds from the cross!
- I could write a book on the writing process for this play. Seriously, every scene and song was carefully handpicked and crafted by me in such a way as to make them all work together. Since this post is already long enough, I’ll just give you a few fun factoids about a bit of the music… Our “Resurrection Hymn,” (also known as “See, What a Morning,”) was written by Keith and Kristyn Getty, a Nashville-based couple originally from Ireland! The only non-liturgical piece in the show was “Long Time Traveller,” the popular song arranged by the Wailin’ Jennys. Mary Magdalene beautifully performed Liam Lawton’s “Voice of an Angel,” which was a last-minute switch in the writing process in order to include this well-known Irish piece!
- The kids had two songs on their own – “God Is Here” and “Followers of Jesus,” both by Carey Landry. I made up some very Kids Praise!-esque motions for them to learn – all while sitting on a three-hour flight from Munich to Dublin after the Easter holidays! (I think I scared a lot of Germans as I danced to my iPad screen…)
- Several of the scenes were written with certain people in mind to play the parts. (Indeed, my Angel of the Lord has always been Caroline in my head.) I also wrote a scene specifically to include some of our friends from morning tea. Bea, Marie, and Rosaleen all made their debuts to much laughter and comic relief!
I hope this plethora of stories about the play will placate you all until I can get some proper pictures up. Until then, enjoy this image of our beautiful poster!
Peace,
–Joy.
