OPEN THE BOOK OF INSIGHT
What is sacred? What is it that rituals do? What ancient traditions should inspire us now? Where lies the magical and mystical in modern faith? Where do we sense Lady Wisdom at play? Might we hear Her call and meet the divine?
In our quest we must cross thresholds and traverse other worlds. Join us in this journey through LADYMASS, an open-air performance installation at The Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard.
“In the journey towards presenting ‘LADYMASS,’ it’s been incredible to see the project guide us and unfold its path before us, taking unexpected turns and revealing new insight along the way. I look forward to discovering how our audiences will experience and respond to our offering.”
The Wisdom of St. Elmo the Stylite
listen to learn
In this podcast episode, Rev. Rita Powell, Meredith Wade, Prof. Charles M. Stang and LADYMASS director Kirsten Z. Cairns talk about the piece and its relationship with ancient theology.
CAST AND CREW
Kirsten Z. Cairns (Director/Iris Matthews)
Director Kirsten Z Cairns is equally at home creating productions in traditional performances spaces, and exploring site-specific projects in a variety of venues. She is Artistic Director and Founder of Enigma Chamber Opera, established at the end of 2019. Their debut production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw was hailed in the Boston Globe as ‘an auspicious arrival in the Boston arts landscape.’ Cairns has staged works throughout the US and in the UK; as Resident Stage Director for Intermezzo: The New England Chamber Opera Series, her productions included three world premieres. Her work has been described in the press as ‘so good you want to see it again, right away’ and ‘astounding, phenomenal, superb’.
Cairns went straight from student days at the New England Conservatory to working at the Boston Conservatory, where as Director of Opera Studies, she staged many productions of opera and theatre, as well as spearheading their very popular children’s opera series.
Cairns earned her M. Mus. in voice from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her earlier background is in English and Theatre, and she is a qualified instructor of drama and literature. She has lectured for groups such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Duke University, MIT, and Boston Lyric Opera. In her spare time, she performs for the Council for Music in Hospitals and Care, Scotland, specializing in giving concerts for dementia sufferers.
The Rev. Rita T. Powell (Peter and the Rose)
Rev. Powell is the chaplain for the Harvard Episcopal Community. Rita earned her BA from Barnard College of Columbia University, where she served as captain of the varsity softball team, and her M.Div from Yale Divinity School, where she was awarded the William Muehl Preaching Prize. She spent a long stretch living and working with the monastic community in Taizé, France, and also served as the Youth Missioner in the Diocese of South Dakota for several years before coming to Boston as the Associate Rector for Liturgy and Music at Trinity Church in Copley Square. She lives in Belmont with her husband and two children.
Gabe Colombo
(Paul Belladona)
Gabe Colombo is a designer and writer studying architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (with sides of urbanism and theology). A Roman Catholic by birth, Episcopalian by choice, and theatre kid with a background in Shakespeare and the humanities, he loves all things liturgical, theatrical, ceremonial, and absurd. When he's not drawing buildings, you can find him nerding out about Wes Anderson and Star Wars, cycling to Walden Pond, and making parody podcasts of academic jargon.
Meredith Wade (Rosemary Thomas)
Meredith Wade served as Harvard's Episcopal Chaplaincy Kellogg Fellow from 2019-2021. Mer spent two transformative years with Life Together, where she honed her community organizing skills alongside a brilliant cohort of other young, spiritually rooted activists. Through Life Together, Mer supported St. James's Cambridge in building a justice-centered, relational food ministry. She has also served as a mentor and crew leader to teens on urban farms at The Food Project (Boston, MA) and Real Food Rising (Salt Lake City, UT). Chopping onions and singing with friends are Mer's favorite forms of worship.
the immersive film experience:
September 19 & 21, 2021
The journey continues in an immersive film experience created by the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard, with Director Kirsten Z. Cairns, Composer and Singer Adam Jacob Simon, and Filmmaker Ashlee Rose Scott.
LadyMass: the Film will be an experience that allows you to wander and explore, and then share in the viewing of a narrative film, all in the course of about a half hour. Protective pandemic protocols will be observed. Bring your mask. Bring an open mind. Leave behind your preconceptions. Walk in the labyrinthine path and let the absurd sing you its song, tell you its tale. What will you find?
