ABSTRACT

CEREMONIALS: A RECLAMATION OF THE WITCH THROUGH DEVISED RITUAL THEATRE

by Rachel Lynn Brandenburg

Rituals have been used throughout history as a way to process change and emotion. In the modern day, people are beginning to turn away from organized religion and to take on more personalized rituals and spirituality. As such, identifying as a witch is a growing phenomenon that serves to empower many personally, politically, and spiritually. This creative thesis takes an autobiographical approach to explore how ritual and the identity of the witch can be used as tools of empowerment, tracing the artist’s own journey from Catholicism to a more fluid spiritual life. On February 22nd, 2019, Ceremonials: A Ritual Play opened as part of Miami University’s Independent Artist Series. The play was devised with a student ensemble over a period of five months and stands as the culmination of a series of performance projects that sought to combine ritual and theatre. This portfolio spans the breadth of that practice-based research and includes examples from performance experiments and the devising process, as well as reflections on how ritual and devised theatre can help to empower the individual and the artist.

CEREMONIALS: A RECLAMATION OF THE WITCH THROUGH DEVISED RITUAL THEATRE

A Thesis

Submitted to the

Faculty of Miami University

in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

by

Rachel Lynn Brandenburg

Miami University

Oxford, Ohio

2019

Advisor: Saffron Henke

Reader: Julia Guichard

Reader: Christiana Molldrem Harkulich

©2019 Rachel Lynn Brandenburg

This Thesis titled

CEREMONIALS: A RECLAMATION OF THE WITCH THROUGH DEVISED RITUAL THEATRE

by

Rachel Lynn Brandenburg

has been approved for publication by

The College of Creative Arts

and

Department of Theatre

______Saffron Henke, MFA

______Julia Guichard, MFA

______Christiana Molldrem Harkulich, PhD

Table of Contents

1. Framing Essay p. 1 2. Production Photos a. A Ritual in Search of Eden (Eve, After the Garden) p. 50 b. Ceremonials p. 55 3. Essay: Spooking the Ghost in the Rehearsal Room p. 60 4. Early Ritual Experiments: Digital Archive p. 71 5. Ceremonials a. Ceremonials – Dramaturgical Breakdown p. 73 b. Devising Process: “Witchy Questionnaire” p. 80 b. Skeleton Script p. 82 c. Completed Script p. 91 6. Annotated Bibliography p. 135

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List of Figures

Framing Essay 1.1 A V formation created in improvisation meant to isolate the Priestess. p. 30 1.2 Priestess isolated in performance. p. 30 1.3 One of the improvisation “paper walls” debriefs for the Lovers’ scene. p. 32 1.4 The Lovers surrounded by Society in performance. P. 33

Production Photos A Ritual in Search of Eden 2.1 The Woman’s headpiece with the altar setting. p. 50 2.2 The Woman’s witch confession, posed as if she is tied to a stake. p. 51 2.3 The Woman raises the Priest mask, evoking the imagery of the Mass. p. 52 2.4 The Woman transformed into the Priestess. p. 53 2.5 The outstretched arms of the Priestess. p. 54 2.6 Another image of the outstretched arms of the Priestess. p. 54

Ceremonials 3.1 The outstretched arm of the Priestess in Ceremonials. p. 55 3.2 The destruction scene in the Inferno. p. 56 3.3 The Acolytes surround the Priestess as she is initiated as a witch. p. 57 3.4 The burning of Marguerite Porete. p. 58 3.5 The burning of the Priestess. p. 58 3.6 The character of Marguerite passes out one of the gift bags. p. 59

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Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to all those who have suffered any form of religious violence or persecution, especially those who have suffered at the hands of Christians. May we never burn another witch.

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Acknowledgements

As this piece is ensemble devised, and no creative project is ever truly made alone, I want to take the time to recognize the following people, all of whom contributed, in some way or another, to the completion of this thesis:

To my family, who have provided an invaluable source of love, support, and encouragement through my entire life. They formed me with intense love for my faith and a joy for life, as well as the passion to always do what I believe is right, even when it has to go wildly against the grain.

To Miami University faculty and staff, who have challenged me and helped me grow over the past five years. A particular thanks to my advisor, Saffron Henke, who was with me from my first acting class through the development and publication of my Master’s thesis. You helped me harness my creative power and clarify my artistic vision.

To Dr. Christiana Molldrem Harkulich for her support—moral, intellectual, and as a human being. And Julia Guichard for her love and enthusiasm for art and theatre, and for her dedication to the department as a whole.

My entire graduate cohort: thank you for laughing, crying, and standing with me as we all did for each other. I’d especially like to thank Mackenzie Kirkman and Kelley Feeman for being my dramaturgical support and creative team in the development of A Ritual in Search of Eden, as well as for being an incredible pair of artists and friends.

My fall devising ensemble, spring cast, and creative team—lovingly referred to as my coven—thank you for your passion, your encouragement, and your creativity. It was an honor to collaborate with you, and to see you take my raw outline and transform it into a living, breathing work of theatre.

To God, my gods, and my own faith. It is a long, winding, and somewhat senseless path. But without it I, and this thesis, would not be here. May we continue to learn and grow and transform.

And to Dr. Paul K. Bryant-Jackson, professor emeritus, who passed away suddenly in August 2018. Your faithful encouragement, loving kindness, and immovable spirit were vital in motivating me to pursue this degree. You couldn’t be there for the performance, but somehow, I know that you were with me.

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Framing Essay Introduction to the Creative Portfolio How does one combine ritual and theatre? And what can one gain from doing so? This creative portfolio—as part of the Master’s thesis in Performance, Theatre and Practice—is a curatorial compilation of the research, projects, and analysis that explored these very questions. It culminated in the performance of Ceremonials, a devised ritual play, as part of Miami University Department of Theatre’s Independent Artist Series. The creative problem of the performances, inspired from events of my own life, was twofold. First, after being shut out from leadership in my own religion, Roman Catholicism, because of my gender—and then discovering the ability to lead my own personal rituals through witchcraft practice—I became fascinated with the ways in which ritual empowers individuals. My first question then, was how do witchcraft and ritual empower individuals? And, tied closely into this, how can I use the identity of the witch to empower myself? Because I am a theatre practitioner, primarily trained as an actor, performance has always been my preferred medium to explore personal and political topics. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to take the realm of ritual to the stage. Ritual is often an incredibly personal and meaningful event; one that I had developed a very close relationship with over the years to help me process identity, emotions, and change. I wanted to demonstrate this journey of discovery, identity, and empowerment to an audience. Even before I began to study the links between ritual and theatre, from my own experience going to Mass, I saw both ritual and theatre as two very different, although somehow related, modes of storytelling. In Mass, people read stories and sang songs that all communicated the story of the Bible and our religious heritage. And while Mass does have theatrical elements—such as singing, gestures, storytelling, and even re- enactments—it also has an aspect that distinguishes it from theatre. The Mass is much more participatory than an average theatre event and it is steeped in cultural context for Catholics. It has religious and spiritual intention that extends beyond theatrical storytelling. This extension is transformational. While a theatre performance can transport audiences to new worlds and transform actors into their characters, the performance itself generally does not have intention beyond conveying a story to an audience. While the Mass does convey a story, it tells it with transformative intention: the performance of the ritual (Mass) is in hopes that its participants may better understand their faith or, ultimately, become closer to God. This personal and religious

1 intention may relate to or shape Catholic identity in some way. Apart from the Mass, I discovered my own practice of performing personal rituals that allowed me to heal and shape my identity during a tumultuous part of my life. As an artist, I knew that theatre practitioners often want to bring these personal, emotional, and transformational moments of characters’ lives to the stage. And yet, the performance of ritual, and what it can do for its participants, was something I hadn’t seen often in theatre. I wondered if there was a way that I could bring ritual to the stage in a meaningful way for an audience. I hoped to demonstrate ritual’s transformational and identity-shaping qualities through theatrical storytelling. And, vice versa, I hoped to use a ritual format to tell a theatrical story. This gave rise to my second question: how do you bring a ritual to the stage? Or, framed slightly differently, how does one blend ritual and theatre to tell a story? My creative process grappling these questions is documented in this portfolio. After this framing essay, in which I explore the research and creative projects that led up to Ceremonials, my final performance, there is a section titled Production Photos. Here, I provide images that supplement the discussions about the creative development that I have in this essay. There are photos from A Ritual in Search of Eden, one of the first ritual-theatre projects I made, that greatly helped to inform Ceremonials. There are also production photos from Ceremonials itself. Each photo has a caption that explains how it relates to the development of the performance or of its visual significance in relationship to the performance. Next, there is an accompanying essay, Spooking the Ghost in the Rehearsal Room, which was written as the final paper for my Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course. It discusses the devising process as a way to empower artists and to create a more feminist and inclusive theatre—essential to my questions around ritual and devising as means of empowerment. Because my own piece was about empowerment through ritual and reclaiming the identity of the witch, it was important to me that the devising process fostered artistic empowerment for my actors as well. I provided this paper as a supplement to discussions I have in this essay about the experience of devising as a whole, such as the idea of the actor-creator, and how it may be used to shape artists. Due to my interest in devising as a method of empowerment, I decided to have my ensemble submit

2 anonymous journal responses about their experience.1 I discuss these responses in both Spooking the Ghost in the Rehearsal Room and in this framing essay. The Early Ritual Experiments: Digital Archive provides external links to an online archive where I have documented scripts and production photos from two of the creative projects that preceded Ceremonials. Because full knowledge of these performances is not necessary to understanding Ceremonials, I included them in this external link for those who want to gain more information. However, I explain key elements from these performances and how they relate to Ceremonials in this essay, so viewing the archive is not a prerequisite to understanding this portfolio. A video and production photos from Ceremonials are also available in this external archive. Next, the Ceremonials section contains documents that relate to the development of the script. The first is a dramaturgical breakdown that explains the function of each section of the Mass—in the words of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal—side- by-side with an analysis of how I intended to use the sections theatrically. There is also a questionnaire from the devising process that the ensemble used to develop their characters. I have both the skeleton script, which contains bullet points for each section that acted as a guide for the devising process, as well as the final script. The two copies—the skeleton and the final draft—are available here so the reader can mark how the piece changed as the ensemble developed it. Lastly, there is an Annotated Bibliography with appropriate headings and sub- headings that detail my background research and source material, as well as sources I found valuable to my understanding of the context in the performance.

My Entry Point – A Personal Narrative of Faith, Loss, and Witchcraft This thesis perhaps began when I was told that I could never be a priest. Growing up in Catholic school from kindergarten to twelfth grade, religious imagery crept its way in to nearly every moment of my life. Each week, students gathered at school-wide Masses where I frequently had the opportunity to lead readings, songs, and play music. These opportunities led to my broader interest in performing. I developed a fascination with the Catholic Mass, and, coming from a very religious family, a love for my faith and for the sense of community that the

1 Miami University IRB case 02912e 3

Church brought me. So, from a young age, I began to experience a deep-rooted desire to lead the Mass as a priest, and thus to give back to the community in a way I felt it had given to me. Around the time I was preparing to receive the sacrament of Confirmation2, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and many archdioceses around the country, began to experience a shortage of priests. In response, the Archbishop of my diocese released a “Prayer for Vocations” that the congregation said each week in Mass. The text of the prayer read: Almighty Father, You have created us for some definite purpose. Grant us the grace to know the path You have planned for us in this life and to respond with a generous “Yes.” Make our archdiocese, parishes, homes and hearts fruitful ground for Your gift of vocations. May our young people respond to Your call with courage and zeal. Stir among our men a desire and the strength to be good and holy priests. Bless us with consecrated religious and those called to a chaste single life, permanent deacons, and faithful husbands and wives, who are a sign of Christ’s love for His Church. We commend our prayer for vocations to You, Father, through the intercession of Mary our Mother, in the Holy Spirit, through Christ our Lord. Amen (Cincinnativocations.org).

The prayer specifically asks men to be priests, but never makes any mention of women (with the exclusion of Mary), and rather only implies women in “young people,” “consecrated religious,” “wives,” and “chaste single life.” Even as an early teenager, I found it hypocritical for my church to say a prayer for men to join the priesthood in the middle of the shortage when the same Church would bar me from doing so because of my gender. As I grew, I made this desire more well-known but was never taken very seriously by other Catholics. Many asked me why I would not just become a nun; in fact, many of my teachers, and even school priests, kept urging me to do so. I responded that it was not my desire

2 Confirmation is the coming of age ritual in the Catholic Church, usually received around the age of 14. Recipients take the name of a saint and are anointed by a bishop or archbishop. It is considered the beginning of the recipients’ adult life in the Catholic Church. 4 to simply live a religious life, but rather to be a priest—to be able to lead Mass, and to say blessings and anoint others. Other friends, who were not Catholic, asked me why I didn’t leave the Church. After all, many other denominations have women in leadership. I could never fully articulate why this felt wrong to me, but I knew it had something to do with the way I had been raised in Catholicism. Somehow, I felt that Catholicism would continue to permeate my worldview regardless of what faith I joined. To enter another denomination’s leadership, while still retaining some of my Catholic tendencies, seemed as if it would do an injustice to that church. I grew frustrated by this double standard: that my own diocese, and many others, were experiencing a shortage of priests and praying for more men to join the priesthood when it would never permit women to take on this role. I saw this staunch refusal to reform gender doctrine as one of many contributing factors in the shortage. And later, to discover that I was not only female, but also nonbinary, would even further exclude me from church leadership. The Catholic Church takes an entirely essentialist view on gender that maintains that women have one created purpose and men have another; I will discuss the Catholic Church’s view on gender, and gender essentialism as a whole, in the “Predecessors” section of this essay. In short, nonbinary identities aren’t a consideration in this model. Still, while I was dissatisfied and alienated, I saw no real reason to sever myself from my faith because I still enjoyed the personal sense of spirituality it gave to me. Like many other Catholics in my community, I would just grumble about the Vatican and go about my faith as I pleased. I wasn’t even sure if I’d want to be a figurehead for an institution with such rigid views, despite my belief that real reform in the Church would have to come from the bottom up. However, at the beginning of my sophomore year of college, I experienced a major life upheaval that shook my entire worldview to its core. While I will not go into much detail here, what’s important is the unraveling that it did to me mentally, physically, and spiritually. While this event had no immediate relationship to faith or spirituality, I nonetheless experienced a total loss of faith because I was unable to reconcile the existence of a God with the amount of pain I was in. This loss was jarring for someone who had grown up in such a Catholic household and as someone who took great pleasure in their faith and spirituality. I had not even realized how much of my worldview hinged on the belief in a God—or at least a sense of a divine spirit—until I found myself wanting nothing to do with it. It was at this point that it became not only easy,

5 but even desirable, for me to cut ties with the Church. In such a major shift, it felt as though my entire identity was called into question. I started to identify as an atheist, or at the very least agnostic, although I still continued to acknowledge the role Catholicism had once played in my life, as well as the role that religion and spirituality played in giving a sense of meaning to others. Still, it wasn’t long before I found that my need to connect to my spirituality had not disappeared, despite the amount of pain I was in. Rather than turning to the Christian God, I turned to nature and found the sense of spirit I was craving. These experiences greatly comforted me, and I soon began conducting my own version of healing ceremonies as I stepped into new age, pagan, and neopagan spaces. It was there that I first learned about witchcraft, which is not itself a religion (like Wicca), but rather a spiritual practice about ritualizing: taking certain ordinary objects or actions and imbuing them with new meaning. For example, cutting a string to cut ties with someone or carrying a sachet of rose petals to attract love are two small rituals, or spells, a witch might perform. Witches create these spells to direct magic, which, to them, is nothing more than intention and energy. Beginning to practice witchcraft, such as taking ritual baths to help me cope with anxiety and depression, taught me vital mental and emotional self-care skills. Additionally, it helped me make meaning out of a dark situation I could otherwise make no sense of. Because I was in control of the meaning behind my rituals— rather than having a prescribed doctrine set by an outside entity—I became more in charge of my own beliefs and identity. Like the feminists of the 1960s and 70s—whom I will discuss later in this essay—I was using the identity of the witch, a marginalized figure, to cope with my own sense of loss and marginalization. It was also an act of reclamation; a way to defy the religious patriarchy and injustice I felt that I had experienced. It was later, when I realized that witchcraft had given me the power to uplift myself, that I wanted to create this thesis about ritual empowerment. Witchcraft fulfilled the desire I had since I was very young: as a witch, I was my own priest. I conducted my own ceremonies in a way that I had always wanted. And, over the years, witchcraft even helped me mend my previously-shattered Catholic faith. While I would by no means be considered Catholic to other Catholics, I still acknowledge the role it has played in my life and continue to incorporate Catholic elements into my personal practice. In my research, two books became fundamental to my understanding of my need to ritualize and of the Catholicism that continued to shape my reality: Richard Schechner’s Between

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Theatre and Anthropology and Andrew Greeley’s The Catholic Imagination. In the first, Schechner lays out how rituals and performances help to shape identity and meaning. He argues there are two ways in which performances operate: they either transport or transform the participants. Transportations occur when a performer is taken somewhere but returns to ordinary life by the end of the performance (Schechner 126). For instance, a performance transports an actor when she puts on a costume, says her lines, and becomes the character, but then steps offstage and returns home as herself. In this way, theatre performances typically only transport its participants. On the other hand, transformations occur when there is a change of status or identity. The clearest example of this is in initiation rituals. As Schechner says, “An initiation not only marks a change but is itself the means by which persons achieve their new selves” (Schechner 127). The performance of action in a ritual, for example, walking across a stage and being handed a diploma, is what changes the status of the performer simply because the framework of the ritual says it must be so. It both marks the milestone, the completion of study, and is the means by which the student achieves the status of “graduate.” In this fashion, rituals transform a person’s status or identity (single to married, undergraduate to graduate). Performance’s ability to transport and transform identities means that, during the ritual or performance, participants’ identities are in flux. For example, an actor is both her character and herself during a theatre performance. Likewise, during a graduation, participants are moving from one status to another, meaning, at the time of the ceremony, they are between the two. Being between times and identities makes a performance, and a ritual, liminal. In this way, through liminality, I understood why I found ritual itself so empowering. It was a way I could take personal action to assign meaning to events in my life, especially during a period of personal upheaval that did feel, in many ways, like a transition between states of being. I was constantly performing mini transportations and transformations that helped me shape my identity in relationship to the events in my life. Next, Andrew Greeley’s book, The Catholic Imagination, finally helped me articulate why I felt that Catholicism continued to influence me despite walking away from it. Greeley builds on the work of David Tracy’s book, Analogical Imagination, which notes that Catholic artists and theologians tend to emphasize the immanence of God in the world, meaning that they see God present within the world, while Protestants emphasize God’s transcendence, meaning they see God as apart from and above the world (Greeley 5). It is important to note that there is

7 no single, definitive “Catholic imagination,” and each Catholic is affected, or not affected, by it to varying degrees. Still, Greeley notes the trend in this worldview through a series of social studies in the book and discusses what the results may mean. He observes that, The Catholic imagination in all its many manifestations (Tracy calls it “analogical”) tends to emphasize the metaphorical nature of creation. The objects, events, and persons of ordinary existence hint at the nature of God and indeed make God in some fashion present to us (Greeley 6).

The metaphorical nature of this worldview—that God can be present in everyday objects and events— is what Greeley is referring to when he describes God’s immanence and the Catholic “sacramental sensibility.” A sacrament, as Greeley defines it, and as many other Catholics understand it, is simply “a revelation of the presence of God” (Greeley 1). Catholics believe that ordinary objects or actions can have a spiritual dimension that connects them back to God, sometimes metaphorically, and other times literally. Either way, it is this spiritual dimension within ordinary life that creates the experience of a sacrament. The ability of God to be present in ordinary life is even reinforced in greater Catholic rituals. In Eucharist, Catholics believe the priest consecrates bread and wine to literally become the presence of God. Baptisms and marriages not only demarcate major life events, but also emphasize the very divinity of human experience. All three of these examples are considered part of the seven traditional, major Sacraments. But while the capital-S Sacraments are the official model of sacraments in the Church, Greeley’s model of sacramental sensibility means that “the seven are both a result and a reinforcement of a much broader Catholic view of reality” (Greeley 2). This broader Catholic worldview is the sacramental sensibility, or sacramentality. Greeley repeatedly uses words like “enchantment” or “magic” when describing sacramentality. Through this language, the links between sacramentality and witchcraft, with its own belief in magic, were quite clear to me. Nature and ritual had become ways for me to connect to a sense of magic—some kind of presence lurking in ordinary life—just as God lurks in ordinary life in the sacramental model. Toward the end of the book, Greeley suggests to the Catholic reader that, by considering this sense of enchantment, they might begin to understand why they continue to hang on to their heritage despite the issues they have with the Church and its leadership (Greeley 185). This line spoke to my own experience directly and further helped me understand how my own sacramental sensibility carried over into witchcraft and paganism. These two spiritual models, while vastly different in their structure and beliefs, do appear to share a common thread: the immanent

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(sacramental) presence of divinity. In my own life, I had carried my view of reality from one practice to another, trading words like “sacrament” and “God” for “magic” and “divinity.” In the switch, I had nonetheless retained a Catholic sacramental sensibility, and this is why I felt so intrinsically linked back to Catholicism despite my best efforts. I wanted my own performance to speak to this sense of sacramentality, which I found as a useful way to illuminate common threads in two otherwise different belief systems. And, even further, to suggest that some of the more painful or even “blasphemous” parts of existence can be sacramental. This take, that blasphemous parts of human nature can be sacramental, was adopted as a way to undermine the Christian perception of witchcraft and paganism as inherently evil. Rather, witchcraft had become a way for me to empower myself and to embrace my own sacramental sensibility. I strived to blend the language and aesthetics of the Catholic Mass with the language and aesthetics of witchcraft and paganism, just as I had done in my own mind. By doing this, I hoped to communicate to my audience that, just as a Catholic tries to connect to God through the sacraments, a witch tries to connect to divinity in a more personalized way. Ritual and religion are ways that human beings communicate, process emotions, shape identity, and create meaning. It should not matter what religions fuel these rituals, if any at all, and certainly not that we should hold beliefs that encourage the harm or oppression of others.

Predecessors – Religious Artwork, Gender Discourse, and Personal/Political Ritual I initially started my research in feminist empowerment in the 60s and 70s because it was the time when women reclaimed the witch as a figure of empowerment. Many women, such as Mary Beth Edelson, were creating artwork that spoke to divine femininity as opposed to the traditional patriarchal image of God. Edelson performed Goddess rituals on the Outer Banks that she documented in a series of photographs. Edelson also wrote in many accounts that she found the work to be personally empowering and connected her to a greater sense of control in her life, such as in her essay “See for Yourself: Women’s Spirituality in Holistic Art” (Edelson 312). The risk, of course, is inadvertently perpetuating the gender-essentialist model that can be damaging to the understanding of gender as a construct, which is a much more useful system in the construction of identity in my own work. Essentialism is the understanding of gender or identity as containing an immutable “essence” that cannot be destroyed. Constructivism, on the other hand, understands identity as determined by social construct and thus is something that can

9 be constantly reinvented. Women like Edelson were celebrating their bodies, which they viewed as important in helping them connect to a greater sense of the Goddess, or a feminine figure within themselves. So, more often than not, this placed them in the essentialist model. While I found it an important topic to study for context of gender discourse, it was not as relevant to my inquiry about the witch as an ostracized ritual-maker. I focused on the broader scale of the witch as an empowered/ostracized ritual-maker, rather than as a figurehead of essential “womanhood,” because it is more in-line with the contemporary understanding of gender as a social construct. It is also more in line with my own goals, which were more interested in how and why witchcraft was empowering; the model of the witch as a ritual-maker does not rely on the witch as a woman, and thus can empower many more identities. In Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Judith Butler points to this model of gender as constructed and performative, rather than essential. She writes that Gender ought not to be construed as a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts follow; rather, gender is an identity tenuously constituted in time, instituted in an exterior space through a stylized repetition of acts (Butler 191, original emphasis).

The first portion, in which gender is a stable identity, is the model that gender essentialism comes from. But even with a more essential understanding of gender identity, Edelson and other women were performing very specific actions that communicated something about their understanding of womanhood. Thus, even their own gender became a stylized repetition. It is the repeating of these actions that constructs gender both externally and as a more internalized identity. The idea of social construction—and of gender as a series of actions—serves as a much broader and more useful model in contemporary feminism, which places its emphasis on the intersection between many identities and social influences. It also then serves as much more useful in my own understanding of feminism in witchcraft. While women of the past embraced witchcraft and Goddess worship to reclaim women’s presence in patriarchal religion, as I was intending to do, these actions somewhat reinforced the gender-essential model by simply flipping the script on binary gender by emphasizing a female Goddess rather than a male God. And, what’s more, it is precisely this gender-essential model that keeps women out of leadership in

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Roman Catholicism. The Catholic Church views gender and sexuality as immutable aspects created by God. As the Catechism3 of the Catholic Church states: Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman. “Being man” or “being woman” is a reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately from God their Creator (Catholic Church 369, original emphasis).

In the Church’s eyes, “being man” and “being woman” are states that are fixed, internal, and cannot be changed. Therefore, if the woman’s created role is inherently incompatible with the priesthood, as it now stands, then it is something that cannot be changed through current doctrine or even through gender performance. My own use of witchcraft—and feminist witchcraft—does not rely simply on the witch as an essentialist figurehead of empowered womanhood. As a person, I fit neither the essentialist model of feminist witchcraft nor the Catholic model by identifying as nonbinary. Therefore, the constructed and performative nature of both gender and ritual serve my own sense of empowerment and feminism much better. By including gender constructivism in the definition of “feminist witchcraft,” the feminist movement of reclaiming the term “witch” modernizes itself to include a wider range of bodies and identities that strengthen the movement as a whole. This inclusion puts the movement more in line with contemporary intersectional feminism. Furthermore, my own witchcraft was not simply about womanhood, nor even always about reclaiming patriarchal space. Rather, it was about a sense of religious freedom and ritual empowerment that could be employed for any number of reasons. These reasons extended beyond—although could certainly include—the reclamation of gender identity, feminism, and other forms of political resistance. And, in fact, the political realm of ritual, and the identity of the witch, were already being used in a more modern intersectional context. In one such case of modern political (arguably, feminist) witchcraft, women, men, and nonbinary individuals gathered together to perform “binding spells” on the 45th president in something known as the #MagicResistance. On Friday, February 24th, 2017, a group of self- identified witches gathered around the Trump Tower to stage a protest ritual, joined in spirit by other participants over social media. The official format for the ritual, entitled “A Spell to Bind

3 The Catechism is the written record of official doctrine in the Catholic Church. 11

Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him,” was written by Michael M. Hughes and intended to be performed over a series of months under every full moon (Hughes). While a few outlets like Buzzfeed and BBC reported on the event, the ritual itself did not gain much mainstream attention. And yet, the event outside of the tower nonetheless created a viable experience for those who participated. It served as a sort-of spiritual arena with witches, minorities, and ritual- makers on one end and Christian counter-protestors on the other. Many Christian-identified groups saw the ritual itself as an attack on good from the forces of evil. Regardless of the tangible or speculative “efficacy” of the spell, there is no mistaking that in the moment, something very real was happening. Like any other protestor who marches with a sign or megaphone, these ritual-makers were performing very specific words and actions with political intention. The act of performing ritual in public itself was a clear way to speak out against injustice, and to demonstrate solidarity with those who felt endangered by the new administration. And, by the fact that it drew attention from counter-protestors both in person and on social media, it would seem that, as an act of protest, it was very effective. Additionally, many of the participants, both those performing the ritual at the tower and those who performed it at home, reported a sense of community and empowerment. One participant told BBC news that she saw the spell as a “unity prayer” (BBC.com). Other participants took to Twitter and reported similar rushes of positive feeling. The idea that ritual could incite such a strong feeling of community is not new. In fact, as Tom F. Driver describes in his book, Liberating Rites: The Transformative Power of Ritual, community is one of the primary gifts that ritual gives us. He writes that ritual “not only brings people together in physical assembly but also tends to unite them emotionally” (Driver 152). Participants in the binding spell came together both in-person and online and were united politically and emotionally under a common goal. Those who reported a sense of unity or change in emotional state experienced first-hand the ability of ritual to channel and direct emotions—something else that Driver describes in his book: A ritual is a party at which emotions are welcome. If the emotions are too strong, threatening to swamp the party, the ritual scenario can be used to guide and moderate them; and if the emotions are too weak, draining the event of its energy, the ritual can invoke them, like spirits, to be present, through the use of rhythm, display, and other summoning techniques” (Driver 156).

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Certain actions or social agreements in a ritual can help to shape participants’ emotions. For example, singing a fight song at a sports game can rally the players and the audience to experience a rush of adrenaline or a sense of unity. In this context, the binding spell had the ability to sort out the tense emotions of its participants (political anxiety), channel them for a purpose (protest), and unite the protesters as a community. It became both a political weapon and a valuable tool for activists to strengthen their bonds to another. Performing ritual can help to further fuel activists to believe that their words and actions matter because their words carry great weight in the ritual space. Performers can immediately feel the sense of unity the ritual brings to them. Ritual is a unique form of protest in that way; not only is it a way to communicate, but it also has the ability to empower and unite its participants by repeatedly helping them re-create and reimagine their own relationships to each other and to the world. The work of the witch is ritual. Feminists used ritual and the identity of the witch in the 1960s and 70s to push back against the exclusion of women in male-dominated spaces. Like Mary Beth Edelson, it also helped them to heal and process their own identities (channel difficult emotions) while speaking back to a greater political conversation. In the modern day, witches in the #MagicResistance used ritual as a similar form of emotional channeling and political protest. Witchcraft, as a spiritual practice, is also unique in that it has no unifying body. This makes it an even more flexible tool for resistance and empowerment; there is no set of doctrine that all identifying witches must adhere to. Dolly van Fossan writes to the power of this in her article, “Feminist Witchcraft: A Radical Women’s Religion.” She describes feminist witchcraft (and I would argue, the greater scope of witchcraft) as more of an affiliation than religion. As she writes, [feminist witchcraft] represents a unique instance in religious history where the structure of congregational order is deinstitutionalized, hierarchical authority is entirely rejected, the sacred is presently attainable, and a woman-centered spirituality drives ritual and practice (van Fossan 71).

The only consistent thing that practitioners of witchcraft have in common is the word itself. Hierarchy is challenged and spirituality is attainable by the individual. In this way, those who choose to practice by themselves, as well as those who choose to join covens or other organized communities, can all have practices that look radically different from one another. And yet, due to the long, dark, and political history of the term “witch,” it also carries with it a certain weight that unites all those who bear it. Combined with the broadened definition of feminist

13 witchcraft—which accounts for variable gender identity and social construction—this identifier holds a significant amount of potential, both politically and otherwise, for those who choose to identify with it. This is only amplified by ritual’s ability to unite others, transform participants, and channel difficult emotions. This is perhaps one of the key reasons why those who take on the term “witch” identify with it so strongly: it is a way to express alignment with the empowering act of practicing ritual, whether by a spell or by something else. It hearkens back to a shared alignment, history, and practice while also stressing the uniqueness of the individual. In my own work, I knew that I resonated with the identity of the witch because it allowed me to take personal ownership of the realm of ritual. It connected me back to this greater history and to a sense of political resistance—a kind of counter-culture that pushed back against the patriarchal and oppressive aspects of mainstream religion, especially Christianity. I wanted to demonstrate that the witch is someone who empowers themselves through ritual, someone who belongs to a deep history, and someone who exists comfortably on the fringes of society. Witches defy societal expectations by asserting their own individual power through rituals; often in the face of some level of marginalization, scapegoating, and trauma. And ritual-theatre was the way I was choosing to make these political/artistic statements: that it is unjust that women are not allowed to be Catholic priests, that we should not oppress others based on religious belief, and that calling oneself a witch is a powerful thing for all the reasons above.

Early Ritual Experiments: The Mass of the Little Flower In order to understand how I was going to bring an ensemble-devised ritual to the stage, I first needed to understand how I could perform such ritual-theatre myself. As part of the THE 481/581 class—a capstone class in devising for seniors cross-listed with graduate students—we completed an assignment to adapt something into a performance. Because I knew I wanted to adapt the stories of historical witches and saints, I decided to narrow in on the life of a saint for my first performance. In keeping with the witchcraft theme, I began to search for saints who were known to have supernatural experiences. I paid special attention to the saints who had undergone a period of doubt/loss of faith to tie the personal link back to myself. It would also help demonstrate that loss of faith does not equate loss of holiness, in keeping with my notion that fear, loss, and blasphemy can be regarded as sacramental. Beginning from the place of loss would set a strong

14 foundation for the rest of my performance work that dealt with doubt, fear, blasphemy, and witchcraft. This is when the story of Saint Therese of Lisieux, also known as Theresa Little Flower, caught my eye. Therese was born in Rue Saint-Blaise, France, to a devout Catholic family. She felt a call to religious life from a young age, similar to my own desire to be a priest, and struggled to join the Carmelites because she was so young. She even expressed a sense of being called to the priesthood, like I had when I was young (Catholic Online). She meticulously kept account of her life in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul. In it, she also expressed her fears and doubts as she began to die of tuberculosis. What compelled me about these manuscripts was not only her fear and doubt—a rare sentiment from those we picture as saints—but also that she wrote numerous times that she was afraid to say more in case it would be regarded as blasphemy (Lisieux and Taylor, ch. 9). As an artist, I wondered what was written between the lines. What would Therese have said if she was given a place to voice these emotions without fear? I devised my performance, The Mass of the Little Flower based on excerpts from Therese’s The Story of a Soul. It was an attempt to give her character a space to tell this unfiltered story, celebrating the whole of her human experience as divine. It echoes the idea of the sacramental sensibility described by Andrew Greeley, as I have discussed above. I used the structure of the Mass so that I could begin experimenting with its function in performance, because my ultimate goal was to adapt part of my own story to the Mass format. The structure consisted of five parts: an Opening Prayer by the Priestess, the Liturgy of the Word (adapted from The Story of the Soul), a Responsorial Psalm movement piece, a Second Reading that unleashed her anxieties, and a Closing that integrated a quote from Mother Teresa, who experienced similar spiritual darkness. The five parts were taken from parts of the Mass, which are named accordingly: The Opening Prayer (which is in the Introductory Rite), the Liturgy of the Word (having First and Second Readings, as well as the Responsorial Psalm), and the Concluding Rites (The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, United States Catholic Conference of Bishops). The dramaturgical breakdown of the parts was similar to the full analysis that I provide in the Ceremonials section of this portfolio, available on page 73. Although, this breakdown was in a much more abbreviated format to only include the five sections I mentioned above and how they worked for the character of Therese.

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There were two readings, or stories, present in the Liturgy of the Word. The First Reading followed Therese’s life closely, leading up to the moment when she coughs up blood and realizes she is going to die. At this point, there was a movement piece (representing the Responsorial Psalm, which the congregation sings in Mass as a response to the First Reading). In it, Therese struggles over a bloody handkerchief, unable to accept death. At the end of the movement, she finally takes it back from the Acolyte and gives the Second Reading, much more somber. Because we can never know what Therese would truly say, during the Second Reading, I composed an outburst at God for her toward the end of the play. In her outburst, I took artistic license and filled in with emotional memory from my own period of loss. I deliberately used an expletive in the last line because it is something that would be censored, something that people would not expect from a saint. In the context of the ritual-play, it is also a bit of an exorcism, an attempt to expel these feelings from her body so that she can overcome them. Because Therese died at a young age to tuberculosis, the very illness that caused her such religious grief, it did not seem right to end the play with the outburst. I needed a way to integrate her back into her community so she could accept herself and heal. She was, after all, still regarded as one of the most famous saints of our time. In doing research for saints who had experienced spiritual darkness, a quote from Mother Teresa stood out among the rest; I realized she would be a good figure for the young Therese to look to for comfort. Although she does come with a fair share of modern criticism, my interest in Mother Teresa was for this quote about spiritual darkness and for my audience’s familiarity with her as a modern saint. By including another saint at the end of the ritual—one from Therese’s own community of saints—who even bears her name—the character of Therese would have someone to identify with to begin the process of healing. This is why, in the closing, the Priestess, no longer acting as Therese, prays for the acceptance of darkness and then declares, based on the actual text from the Roman Missal: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life, and imperfection.” Imperfection, in this case, had been added deliberately and is not part of the original text. The project received mixed reviews from classmates, the majority of whom did not come from a Catholic background. While the structure was familiar to me, as a Catholic, it was difficult to gauge how much context I needed to give in order for the audience to follow. Additionally, due to time constraints for performance and in devising, I did not want all the contextualization to weigh down the ritual aspect and detract from Therese’s story. The result

16 was a piece that I was artistically and conceptually proud of, but one that had failed to fully translate to an audience. In discussion, my peers expressed their desire for some kind of guide, whether this came from the performance itself, or in the form of a paper handout with labeled headings. I knew that this would be something I would need to work on moving forward: a way to guide my audience, who may not be experts in the subject, through the structure of the performance.

Early Ritual Experiments: Eve, After the Garden For my final project in the devising class, I knew I needed to re-strategize. I began to realize for the first time what I was actually doing: grappling with a new performance medium that stood somewhere between ritual and theatre. It was not enough to think of it just as a play, nor could I picture it just as a ritual, as I had in The Mass of the Little Flower. Rituals are often heavily participatory, and still, full audience participation was not something I ever wanted to do for this performance. I was aware that the topics I was dealing with were sensitive—witchcraft, heresy, and religion—and that these are things that I would not want to imply the audience must partake in, only to witness. My question, then, was becoming: How do I bring a ritual, an often- participatory event steeped in cultural context, to the stage—an inherently different performance context—in a way that is still meaningful to an audience? I realized I would need to accept both the conventions of ritual and the conventions of theatre and use them to their full extent. Rather than immersing the audience in the show, as is often the intention in more realistic plays, I needed a way to emphasize the distance between the audience and the performer. Emphasizing the conventions of performance itself would help the audience better observe and understand its more ritualistic elements. This emphasis would also set up a boundary that would allow there to be a loop of commentary between myself, the character, and the audience. I developed several strategies to accomplish this, all which would highlight the performative aspects of the ritual and the play: the use of mask, costume choices, and audience address. These choices, like the ill-fitting mask and costume pieces, would highlight the character as one who is struggling with belonging and identity. In that way, the performance became more theatrical rather than ritualistic, which made it easier for the audience to understand their own role as witnesses.

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The resulting piece, Eve, After the Garden (later retitled A Ritual in Search of Eden) was one that embodied my own frustrations in trying to adapt a ritual to the stage. It was a one- woman show developed with two other graduate students as our final project for the THE 481/581 capstone devising class. After discussing the reception of The Mass of the Little Flower, we decided that the character of the unnamed Woman—someone who is not yet herself a Priestess—would be more effective because the story then becomes about her own inability to lead Mass and her gradual empowerment. This was true from an autobiographical standpoint as well; it was impossible for me to lead a Catholic Mass, just like the character of the Woman. I understood then that the words of the Mass must be approached inherently differently due to this shift in circumstances and performance context: from ritual led by a priest to theatre performed by an actor. In the first few lines of the script, I used the character of the Woman to voice the actual thoughts I had while developing and performing Little Flower. All of these frustrations, as a character and an artist, ultimately stemmed from being unable to lead a Catholic Mass. The Woman begins with the first words of the Mass: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (Roman Missal 513). However, she immediately stumbles, backtracking to make the sign of the cross, and starts to realize her efforts are futile: “It just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work if you’re not saying it with me. I won’t make you say it with me. But just know that it’s not the same thing if you’re not saying it with me.” She then explains that, because ritual and performance are liminal, she can theoretically transform into anything she wants to be. She dons a male mask that covers majority of her face and even her mouth. Then, she says the introduction again, forcefully and confidently, despite the fact that the mask obscures her entirely. The mask looks cumbersome and awkward on the Woman, much like the headpiece that also doesn’t fit her. These were deliberate choices that demonstrated how the efforts of the Woman are fruitless, clunky, and awkward. An image of her bare-looking headpiece is available in the “Production Photos” section as Figure 2.1. As a performer, these design choices also often made me have to fight against some of the costume pieces that were literally obstructing my speech or falling off of my head. Despite her efforts, the character of the Woman doesn’t feel as if she fits in one place or the other, which is only reinforced in her costuming. The use of the mask, and the way that the Woman takes it on and off, was also a technique that draws attention to the fact that she is wearing it, trying to be someone else. The mask and the

18 performance emphasize the way that a liminal space is able to transform performers, and yet, because the mask also inhibited the Woman, it also tied in to the theme of her own displacement. Now “empowered” by the mask to transform, more using it as a crutch, she moves on to the next Mass section, the Gloria. During this section, the Woman explains how she always saw links between Catholicism and paganism, describing her own sense of sacramentality. It is these links between Catholicism and paganism—the sense of the immanent spirit, or presence of God lurking in nature and reality—that led us to select Eve as the story’s focus. Eve is a figure heavily associated with nature, but is also associated with sin. A main source of inspiration for our Eve came from the poem “Apple Sauce for Eve” by Marge Piercy. In the poem, Piercy suggests that Eve was condemned for her curiosity, but in her curiosity, she is the first scientist (Jewish Women’s Archive). For our purposes, we wanted to suggest that Eve was not just the first scientist, but the first witch. She is the scapegoat that people point to for introducing evil into the world, much like witches are pointed to for bringing evil or famine to a village or community. After the Gloria, the character of the Priest, played by the Woman, gives a reading from the Book of Genesis. The reading detailed the creation of Eve, and how she was created from the rib of Adam. Both Eve and the Woman define themselves by their relationships to men outside of them: Eve, coming from Adam and obeying the will of God, and the Woman obeying the will of the Priest and the Church. The Woman even aspires to be further defined by another outside aspect: her soulmate. This is so that, if she cannot lead the Church, she may at least “rule over her own personal Eden.” It also reflects a certain Catholic sacramental model of the relationship between God, erotic desire, and marital love that Andrew Greeley details in The Catholic Imagination (Greeley ch. 2). It is this moment after the reading that the Woman invokes the spirit of Eve, becoming the character of Eve herself. Eve then tells her story of losing the Garden of Eden, feeling tricked and betrayed by the men around her. Having experienced Eve’s story by transforming into her, the Woman starts to change her mindset. She gives a homily about “opening the door to evil spirits,” a common phrase used in Christian communities to condemn everything from astrology to witchcraft. The moment in the script where the Woman mentions this was inspired by a real confession service I attended in high school. In it, the priest listed witchcraft and astrology as sins to repent from, and one student actually laughed out loud at the mention of them, as the Woman mentions in her own

19 retelling. This moment in the homily is where the Woman realizes that perhaps Eve’s gift to us was not sin, but free will. And, even further, that Eve is the first witch: “Burned at the stake for generations to come for stepping past the boundaries of life that men had assigned to her.” Using the words of the Apostle’s Creed, a declaration of faith said at every Catholic Mass, the Woman imagines herself as a witch at trial. She builds upon the words of the Creed and then proclaims her own declaration: that she is, in fact, a witch. In this intense, declarative moment, she stands firm, and asserts herself for the first time—an image of this is available as Figure 2.2 in “Production Photos.” After declaring herself a witch, she celebrates her own form of communion using words from the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This time, however, she seamlessly blends these two conflicting aspects of her psyche: the Christianity she was raised with and her more pagan tendencies. Once she accepts that her dream of leading a Church has been shattered, she shatters the mask of the Priest in return. She then takes the vines from her portrayal of Eve and weaves them into her headpiece with shards of the mask, making a crown. For each of these actions: raising the mask, the vines, and the shards, the Woman holds them in a way that mimics the Catholic liturgy (Figure 2.3). This crown unites both aspects of her being: her Catholicism and her paganism. With this new freedom, her movement, wording, and gestures still imitate the Mass format, but she is much more confident to change and substitute her own words. It is only at this moment of this destruction and re-creation that she is truly empowered and becomes the character of the Priestess. In rehearsal, we called the Priestess “the witch, already burned,” who is confident and powerful because she has nothing left to lose. She offers a prayer of healing and forgiveness, again ending the Mass with, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life, and imperfection.” The crown is a physicalized sign of her inner power, and the Priestess walks both lyrically and comfortably as she meanders between the two conflicting aspects of the set design: hanging flowers and fruit to represent Eve and paganism, and the rigid structures like windows and sticks to represent Catholic tradition. Her outstretched arms in Figures 2.5 and 2.6 were one of the gestural methods we used to express her confidence and comfortability. The piece was much more successful than The Mass of the Little Flower because I integrated several key items for the audience to engage with. First, I had taken the class suggestion and printed a handout with the order of the Mass on it. It provided quotes and titles

20 from the sections that I was drawing from. This handout allowed my classmates to follow the format and directly see the words of the Mass if they were not familiar with them. It also added an interesting churchlike element, as churches often do have handouts that help guide the service. Second, by having a character who is not yet empowered and who breaks the fourth wall, it allowed the character to confide in the audience as well as literally introduce parts of the Mass. This worked as exposition and helped to distance the audience so that they could think about the performance as a performance. It also distanced the actor—myself—from the character and the situation so that I could insert commentary. In this case, that witchcraft can be empowering, that it is unjust to exclude people from religious leadership based on their gender, and that it is fruitless to attempt to scrunch myself into a religious model that will never accept me.

The Skeleton Script: Ceremonials Reflecting on the knowledge I gained from the ritual experiments, I started planning how to fold other people into the process. My artistic questions began to loop back around to some of my earlier inquiries: how can I blend ritual (the Mass) and theatre to tell a story? How can the identity of the witch be used as a tool of empowerment? And, lastly, how can I combine the aesthetics of witchcraft and paganism with the aesthetics of Roman Catholicism in order to cultivate a sense of sacramentality that transcends a religious language barrier? Building on the work from The Mass of the Little Flower, I intended to weave together the stories of historical figures: a combination of any four saints, heretics, and real or fictional witches. I began to write a basis for the script, which I referred to as the skeleton. The purpose of this skeleton was to get all my ideas on paper and to understand how to blend all four of these narratives together. It also allowed me to understand how to weave my own personal story, combined with these other stories, into a ritual format. I titled each section of the skeleton according to its corresponding section in the Mass; a dramaturgical breakdown of each part and its use is in the Ceremonials section of this portfolio on page 73. I used this breakdown to inform where the script went and to enhance my own understanding of the ritual structure rather than to dictate its precise usage in the plot. Therefore, while this breakdown was a good starting place—like the skeleton—text and information in it changed as the script evolved. These sections are also titled in the final script itself and proved very useful later on when it came to prioritize what to devise. The skeleton embodied the main flow and structure of the piece, but,

21 as I emphasized to my actors, it could change based on the life that they brought to their own characters. Because the personal arc of the main character, the Priestess, would be based on my own, I looked for witches and heretics that personally resonated with me. I landed on Marguerite Porete, Joan of Arc, and Anna and Brita Zippel. I designated that the four characters—called Acolytes, as a reference to those who serve at Mass—would each embody one of these women. Two of the women, Marguerite and Joan, were purposefully Catholic to link back to the Priestess’ own origins. Porete was born sometime in the 13th century, although not much is known about her except through her book and her trial. Her book, The Mirror of Simple Souls, details how a soul can achieve perfection and become totally unified with God. Her book was widely popular with the public, but condemned by the Church, who eventually tried and executed her for heresy (“The Mirror of Simple Souls”). Joan of Arc, on the other hand, has a widely regarded reputation of hearing the voices of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Margaret of Antioch, who led her to victory for France. Joan credited God for the victory, and she was tried by England for hearing these voices. Her examiners found her innocent for hearing the voices, but considered her a lapsed heretic when she refused to wear a feminine dress out of fear that men would take advantage of her. This is what ultimately condemned her to die (Vale and Lanhers). The stories of the two other figures were deliberately more vague, leaving room for ensemble members to bring in inspiration of their own. As a starting place, I selected Anna and Brita Zippel, two Swedish sisters, on account of their reported differences. Anna was a baker’s wife and appeared to be more quiet and submissive. Her sister, Brita, on the other hand, had already survived several prior witch accusations and was portrayed as more uncouth and wicked (“From A Book about Söder”). The contrast in their behavior would help to cover a wide range of reactions that would be common in a witch trial. These characters began unnamed as Acolyte 3 and 4, but were inspired by Anna and Brita respectively. 3 and 4 were eventually renamed to Kitka and Brigette by the actors who portrayed them. With all the characters, I wrote out a list of topics that I thought were important but encouraged my actors to make artistic choices without the need to stick to historical accuracy. I took creative license with historic elements because the goal of my piece was about personal empowerment rather than being a historical documentary.

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Because of the highly personal and often difficult nature of the subject, I faced several roadblocks on the way to completing the skeleton script. The first roadblock was understanding how the Priestess’ story arc could reflect, but also deviate from, my own. Performing specifically as myself was not something I was interested in doing. If it was too personal, I feared that I would have problems separating my personal emotions from the work. Because of this, I changed the Priestess’s name and gave her different personality traits, setting her in an unspecified time period in the distant past. I chose her name, Anna, from Anna Zippel’s name. This was after Anna Zippel, as Acolyte 3, was renamed to Kitka. I also liked the name Anna for the Priestess because it is a common name that spans many time periods. I altered details of the Priestess’s conflict, such as by including a Priest who directly accuses her of witchcraft, a Lover who betrays her to avoid guilt by association, and her ability to physically hear the voices of angels. Although many moments were inspired by my emotional memory, the actual details of Priestess’ arc deviated enough from my own life to make me feel comfortable performing as her. Setting her in a nonspecific time period with a common name also served to keep her as somewhat of a blank slate that could represent any number of accused witches. The second roadblock was understanding what I wanted to do with the ending. After writing about half of the piece, I came to the moment of the witch trial and was unsure how to approach her confession and empowerment. I revisited the speech from A Ritual in Search of Eden because it had achieved one of the major things I intended to do: reclaim the identity of the witch. I decided to use the majority of the words directly from that section, only adding or changing a few so they would better fit the character of the Priestess. Once I had done that, however, I didn’t know how the piece would resolve from there. I knew that I wanted to destroy and rebuild the altar to create another crown like in Eden, but I was unsure how to initiate that process onstage. Then, one evening, I started getting an image of myself burning at the stake, similar to what I had established in Eden. While I had shown the moments before the Woman’s burning, I had only implied, not actually portrayed, a burning. This image would not leave me alone for several days, and I knew that I had to depict this harsh moment of destruction before I could move on to the transformation. Like the mask in Eden, elements from the altar, and the very Priestess herself, would be destroyed and then transformed. Once I had established this moment, writing the resolution became much easier.

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Even with clarity gained in the climax, I still struggled to come to a definitive ending. But after realizing that the whole piece was kind of an initiation both for the Priestess and for myself, my thesis advisor suggested that I “give myself a gift.” The theme of the gift mirrors the Eucharistic language of the “gifts” that the priest brings to the altar and transforms. These gifts of bread and wine are then distributed to the people in communion. I decided to imitate and emphasize the gift language, tying into the Priestess’ own “spiritual gifts,” and to distribute real gifts to the audience, mimicking a communion service. This Eucharistic language, which is very sacrificial, is also mirrored in the way the Priestess, while burning, repeatedly says that she is raising herself up as an offering.

The Making of Ceremonials: Casting and Devising After completing the skeleton script, I began the process of casting my devising ensemble. There were several artistic challenges that arose from this. First, casting a devising ensemble is inherently different than casting a play. Casting for devising necessitates that actors be cast as holistic collaborators rather than just to fill character roles. This is where the Theatre Topics article, “An Approach to Devised Auditions,” by Rich Brown of Western Washington University, or WWU, became an invaluable resource for my own process. In the article, Brown suggests that the audition notice must accurately communicate the expectations and time commitment for the piece. It must also summarize the “hunch” behind the creative inquiry (Brown 249). In my own casting call, I provided a brief synopsis of the script: a young Catholic woman, shut out from leadership and accused of witchcraft, convenes with a coven of witches who share their stories. I then explained that the casting for fall did not commit the actor to performing in the Miami University Independent Artist Series in the spring, which is where I planned to perform the piece. The time and performance commitment for the actors is a point I will discuss further below. Devising auditions and callbacks at WWU are a process that involve two rounds of callbacks that take place over two weekends (Brown 250). As such, it was unfeasible to commit to such a lengthy audition process myself in the context of a thesis project. However, knowledge of WWU’s process greatly informed my own approach. In WWU’s initial audition, actors bring in a short devised piece in response to the hunch. From there, they are often asked to explain their intention behind the work (Brown 250). I saw this as useful in getting to know how my

24 actors think and how they approach the process. So, as part of my audition call, I asked that actors either bring two contrasting monologues—which I planned to coach or ask questions about—or bring in one monologue and other examples of creative work that they do. I emphasized that “Creativity is highly encouraged, and the pieces should be chosen so that they reflect you and your interests as an artist.” By looking at my collaborators as not just actors, but as holistic artists, I was able to build an ensemble with a wide range of skill sets, as well as to create opportunity for student actors to contribute in a way they might not have been able to do otherwise. If, for example, we decided that music or painting would greatly complement the work, an actor with that ability could do so, which is not often said of a more traditional production where tasks are delegated between directors, crew, and designers. At the auditions, I padded extra time: ten to fifteen-minute slots, as opposed to the traditional five. This was so that the audition was not just a presentation but also an interview where I could get to know more about them personally. This idea came from the interview process during WWU’s auditions (Brown 252-253). It also came from the audition-interview process at Miami University, which is the process the Theatre department uses to admit students into the major. During the audition-interview, prospective students are asked to bring in a monologue or song as well as another example of creative work. Students then present their piece to faculty members and have a discussion about their choices. My audition-interview mimicked this format almost entirely. For it, I prepared a list of questions that particularly focused on how they responded to the “personal interests” part of the call. It also gauged their willingness to take risks and make bold physical choices. My questions were: 1. Tell me a little bit about the pieces you chose and why. Why do they represent you? 2. What was your process for rehearsing this piece or gathering your materials? What choices did you make? 3. (Direction for a monologue or song) Tell me your main objective, make a large physical choice about that objective (a statue), then do the monologue informed by that statue and see what happens. a. Or, using the whole space, select an element that you think represents this character or monologue, and perform the piece physicalizing that element.

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4. If you were going to stage this monologue or make a show out of it, what would you do? What would it look like? I also asked any questions that came up when viewing the work, or of other special skills listed on their resume. For example, one student brought in a play that she had devised, and another listed that she had sword fighting experience; things that could potentially be valuable to the performance. WWU also uses a Devising Inventory that lists actors’ skills and abilities, then uses several stages of auditions and callbacks, each often asking them to devise something. This is to test participants’ willingness to “work on their feet” and understand how they collaborate (Brown 251). It also allows lead devisers examine how auditionees operate under Anne Bogart’s idea of “exquisite pressure” (Brown 252). I planned my own callbacks with a similar, although condensed, structure: after a brief warmup and a devising game, students would split off and devise a two-minute piece with found objects. During this 20-minute time frame, I would examine how students worked under such pressure, and then ask them to discuss their decision- making process after performing. The turnout for my auditions was small, so it was not necessary to hold these callbacks. I casted the four actors from those who had auditioned. Instead, we used the time allotted for callbacks to discuss expectations, process, and time commitment. We did not compose any short pieces under exquisite pressure, although we did play some of the devising games I had scheduled. The small turnout for these auditions was related to the next obstacle in devising: the logistical challenge of creating a thesis project in the context of an undergraduate-oriented institution. Particularly, creating a thesis in a BA theatre program, where undergraduates’ time is often stretched between classes—which have a wide focus—and extracurriculars. In a BA theatre degree at a liberal arts school—where students are highly encouraged to double-major, minor, and take classes outside of their own fields—time is a big obstacle. However, I knew that this liberal arts approach would serve as fruitful ground for devised work, because devising often benefits from having a wide range of inspiration and outside knowledge. Devising a project from scratch also takes a long amount of time. With time divided by semester, it is very rare, even in a mainstage show, for an audition, rehearsal, and performance process to span more than four or five weeks. Trying to adjust for these challenges, I decided that devising rehearsal would take place over the course of two months, which is much longer

26 than the traditional process, but would only happen three to four times a week in three-hour increments. While it was a longer time frame overall, this weekly structure allowed for other things in students’ schedules. Additionally, those who committed to devising in the fall had no obligation to perform in the Independent Artist Series in the spring, where I planned on presenting the work. I was also able to give ensemble members one credit hour of independent study to compensate for their time; comparable to the credit hour that majors receive for working on a mainstage production. Even with these accommodations in place, due to other commitments students made prior in the semester, there were many days where only one or two actors could be present. In these cases, it was critical to prioritize what moments needed devising and to understand what we could realistically accomplish in the day. As such, I selected six main sections from the skeleton and judged them by their importance to the script, or by the length of time I supposed they would take to devise. I marked other smaller sections as lower priority if they could probably be devised during a smaller rehearsal. Judging sections by length and their importance to the story allowed me to strategize the devising and rehearsal process. The six priority sections were: 1. The Opening Chant 2. The Mea Culpa 3. The Gloria 4. The Lovers’ Movement Piece 5. The Inferno 6. The Witches’ Stories Because these six sections were major moments, for the most part, we only tackled them when everyone was present. But there were many days when we might do a smaller part of a larger section or focus more closely on many smaller sections. Even then, we allowed the fluidity of the process to help determine what to devise when. For example, on a day when only one or two cast members were present, we might handle some logistical design details. On days when only one member was missing, we would work on movement improvisations and document statues that would become the foundation for larger sections. Of the six sections, the highest priority was the one regarding the development of the other four characters: Joan, Marguerite, and Anna and Brita Zippel (who would later become Kitka and Brigette). Creating these characters began on the first day of rehearsal. After an

27 initial read-through, I assigned each actor to work more closely on one character. I spent the rest of that day debriefing objects to my ensemble, inspired by Elaine Aston’s “Elemental Objects” exercise outlined in Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook (Aston 147). In the exercise, Aston suggests that a devising group bring in objects that represent each of the four elements (earth, water, air, fire), and, using sense memory, tell stories based on the objects. Rather than just sticking to objects related to the elements, I brought in any objects from my own home that I thought related to nature or to the overall witchcraft theme. After giving an overview of some of the objects found on a traditional witchcraft altar (such as a tarot deck, a ritual dagger, or a pendulum), I asked my actors to select an object they felt best represented their character. I then asked them to explain why. I hoped that by selecting certain objects and explaining what drew them to each, my actors could start to get a more tangible, creative sense of their characters. While they investigated their objects, I also gave them a “Witchy Questionnaire.” I adapted this method from the “Questionnaire” used by Frantic Assembly, a UK-based production company and devising troupe. Frantic Assembly often uses a questionnaire to quickly generate ideas on a theme (Graham and Hoggett 190). The draw of the questionnaire to me, and as Frantic Assembly puts it, is because it “gives the performer an immediate input into the creative writing process” (Graham and Hoggett 191). Some of the questions on my own questionnaire asked things like: “Why were you burned?” “Have you ever been betrayed?” “What did your trial and execution look like?” A copy of this questionnaire is available in the Ceremonials section of this portfolio on page 80. The desired effect was to encourage my actors to take creative ownership of the work. I fostered this sense of creative agency by drawing on the idea of the actor-creator, a term used by the Dell’Arte company and the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. The Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre is a theatre based in Blue Lake, California that devises almost all of their performances. The actor-creator has been described by Peter Buckley, former director of the school, as “a way of working and of living” (Buckley 41). The actor-creator is a concept that I explore more in-depth in the essay, Spooking the Ghost in the Rehearsal Room, which I have included on page 60. Here, the actor- creator can be understood as an actor who takes a more central role in creating work. The actor- creator complicates the relationship between playwright, actor, and director because it often blends these categories by allowing actors to take part in the playwrighting, design, and character-creation process.

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In addition to Frantic Assembly and Dell’Arte’s methods, our process, like many others, involved an eclectic mix of games, techniques, and improvisations. Many of them were picked up from our own time as theatre students. For example, one of the first techniques I learned during my undergraduate career was adapted from the Suzuki theatre Shakuhatchi exercise, or, as we called it, the 100 Years’ Sleep. The actor, in a neutral state, goes through a slow-motion exercise in which they wake up from a 100-year slumber, see something they love, walk toward it, watch it dissolve, and then decide to go back to sleep. The original intention of the exercise in class was to help us understand energy, control, imagination, and focus. Over the years, I found it an interesting way to get in touch with the internal life of a character. Because of this, we used the 100 Years’ Sleep during one of the first rehearsals to devise the “Mea Culpa,” a deeply personal section to each character. I asked the ensemble to perform the exercise in character and see what emerged. While much of what we originally composed for the Mea Culpa was scrapped, the 100 Years’ Sleep and other moments created for the Mea Culpa served as important foundational work for each of the characters, even if the generated text no longer appeared in the script. Improvisation for the Mea Culpa also helped to create a few of the tableaus that appeared in the final performance. Figure 1.1 shows a tableau we established in rehearsal after the 100 Years’ Sleep exercise. What we liked about this image—which is the final moment of the Mea Culpa—is that the Acolytes appear united and standing while the Priestess is isolated on the ground, demonstrating that she has not fully worked through her trauma. Figure 1.2, an image from the Mea Culpa in performance, retains the spirit of this isolation even though the blocking had changed. While no longer in a V formation, the Acolytes are united and supporting one another—holding hands in a circle—while the Priestess has wandered off, consumed by her own pain. The conception of this performance moment can be traced directly back to the 100 Years’ Sleep and other movement improvisations on that day.

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1.1 A V formation created in improvisation meant to 1.2 Priestess isolated in isolate the Priestess performance.

This eclectic mix of techniques in devising leads to a certain hierarchical shift that is not common in other forms of theatre. For example, even though the ensemble understood me first as their director from their prior experiences in theatre, and because I was the person who had auditioned them, I emphasized the fluidity of the script and their own ownership of the characters. While I was still making key decisions—as most successful devising processes need some, however vague, form of decision-making—we had many discussions about our interpretation of the characters, built text, and changed the script as a cohesive unit. In this way, the traditional role of the director with a vision was perhaps more accurately a lead deviser with an intuition. There were many days where I would come into rehearsal with no clear plan, instead just with a creative problem or a question: “What do you guys think we should do here?” Through movement improvisation, brainstorming, and other various methods, we would most often generate lots of possible outcomes by the end of the day. It was then up to my own discretion about the needs of the piece to inform where we went next. Because each of my actors drove the creation of their own characters, and the relationship between actor, director, text, and playwright is greatly complicated in devising, I hoped that this process would provide artistic growth and empowerment for my actors as well. I discuss how devising problematizes the hierarchical nature of theatre, and what potential this holds, in Spooking the Ghost in the

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Rehearsal Room. I also asked ensemble members to anonymously complete journal responses that documented their experience so that I could better understand what they felt during the process.4 I discuss the results of these journals in the “Reflection” section of this essay. Actors, and even stage managers, played an active role in the overall development of the performance. Everyone on the team came together to generate a plethora of ideas from design to text to character and more, all of which would have come out very differently if a different set of people had been in the room. In a way, the approach to devising mimicked the ritual format of the play itself: each of the characters contribute something meaningful to the ritual to help the Priestess in her initiation, just as each person on the creative team brought their own inspiration to make the script come alive. As Christine Young describes in her article, “Feminist Pedagogy at Play in the University Rehearsal Room,” one of the biggest challenges of devising is properly documenting what happened in the day so that it can be reproduced (Young 145). She points out how her own stage managers videotaped improvisations, which is something we utilized in our work. Our stage manager was a critical member of our team who took detailed notes and uploaded images, videos, and summaries from each rehearsal onto a shared Google Drive. These became vital for retention due to the length of our process, spanning from October to December, and then to late February for rehearsal and performance. Thorough documentation of things said and done in rehearsal is critical because something generated in one section may be cut out, but could end up as inspiration for another section later on. It also allowed us to continue to progress despite scheduling issues—abridging the fall and spring semesters—that may have been divided by a different performance cast. Or, as it was in the fall, with not all cast members always being present. For example, it was unfeasible to choreograph the entire Lovers’ movement piece in the fall when the cast and performance space would change in the spring. Instead, we improvised to music, adapting another exercise from Frantic Assembly’s method (Graham and Hoggett 89). This was to establish the primary movement and atmosphere without having to fully choreograph. We videotaped each movement improvisation, and, after jotting down notes on the whiteboard, uploaded photos of major tableaus to the Google Drive. Even these reflection notes

4 Miami University IRB case 02912e 31 were written both in the rehearsal report and included as photos. Figure 1.3 documents one of these whiteboard debriefs, in which we improvised to the song “Landfill,” by Daughter. This improvisation established several key images such as the characters of Society moving in to steal a red ribbon between the Priestess and the Lover. It also established the moment with Society holding the ribbon between the Lover and the Priestess, as well as the character of the Lover being regretful and indecisive. Figure 1.4 shows what the moment of Society surrounding the Priestess and the Lover looked like in performance. We used this strategy of music improvisation and reflection multiple times throughout the process, drawing up big concepts on the whiteboard to parse out a lot of information, similar to a process that Joan Schirle refers to as Dell’Arte’s “paper walls” method (Schirle 94). All of these techniques helped us to properly document and distill information so that we could make informed choices about the immediate needs of the piece, as well as to keep the momentum toward rehearsal and production in the spring.

1.3 One of the improvisation “paper walls” debriefs. It established main tableaus, like the Priestess on the ground by herself and the Lovers surrounded by Society.

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1.4 The Lovers surrounded by Society in performance.

Production and Performance – The Independent Artist Series In late January and into February, the official rehearsal process for the performance began. Over the winter term, I sifted through all of the content and polished the final text, some of which just needed to be copied and pasted into the script. Many of the original transitions between moments, such as between the witches’ stories, stayed relatively the same. However, I added words and moved some characters’ lines around to better suit who the characters had become. I then sent this finalized version of the script to my actors, all of whom worked on some element of the performance and design as part of the Independent Artist Series, or IAS. The Independent Artist Series at Miami University is a storefront-style theatre festival designed to give students more creative opportunities. As the Department of Theatre says on its website, the Series provides an outlet for the creative work of students and encourages an experimentation with theatrical form. The series is modeled after the "storefront" theatre movement and is produced entirely by students who serve as directors, designers, technicians, performers, stage managers and marketers (“Department of Theatre”).

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The shows primarily take place in Hiestand 100, a hybrid performance space/classroom equipped with curtains, lights, stage management booth, and a cage to store blocks, tables, chairs, and other props. IAS is supported by the department with a small budget and supervising faculty. In order to receive class credit for the experience, students must take two or more production jobs— any combination of acting, directing, designing, marketing, and other roles. The company-style collaboration inherent in IAS, where multiple shows work as a community to produce a full weekend of theatre, served as another fitting backdrop for devised work. Students acting in Ceremonials took on design aspects of the show in order to satisfy their two-role requirement. And because majority of my ensemble had already been working as designers to a degree, often bringing in visual research that could inform their characters, they were well prepared to take on these roles in the spring. Every actor involved in the fall devising process moved forward to produce and perform in the show, with only one actor changing from a deviser into a stage manager. We cast another actor to fill this space, and this actor also worked on design. As for myself, I shifted from the role of lead deviser into director, but the rapport we had established in the fall made the rehearsal process seamless and intuitive. While I was no longer fluidly guiding activity and exploration as a deviser, I had to focus more on the logistical side of things like making sure specific blocking got accomplished in the day. There were fewer days where I consulted with the group to make major decisions—like how to block a scene— although I certainly did continue to ask their general opinions and consult with them if there was something I really couldn’t solve on my own. On the other end, actors came in with an intimate knowledge of the script and their characters already established. This made my job as a director much easier because I did not have to spend as much time giving acting notes and working through character dynamics with them. Rather than having to spend more time writing and devising, we switched into the more practical design aspects that would go into the final production. In the context of the devising process, this seemed like the next natural step: with the script nailed down, we could now go design and rehearse it in a more formalized manner, putting into use all of the inspiration we gathered in the fall. For each actor who had developed the show to also design and produce it was ideal in the context of devising, where development is hardly ever linear. Design choices grew naturally out discussions we had during the devising process, and there was no one better to design the show than those who had written it. We first began compiling design inspiration in the fall, when we

34 collaborated on brainstorming and sharing website called Milanote. Milanote allows users to collectively brainstorm on an interactive visual board. Users can upload and insert text, images, and video. They can also connect items by lines and dots and organize sections into folders and visual groups. This proved immensely useful for our process. Each actor had their own section of the board where they compiled research for their character and occasionally stored free- writing and other written responses. The board also had sections for research and inspiration for the altar on stage, the Catholic Mass, and visual inspiration for the crown. We developed the board out of our ideals and big concepts, as if we had an infinite budget. From there, we revisited the board in the spring and began to scale back and strategize to fit our IAS budget. Many items for the performance were thrifted, brought in by other actors, or recycled from previous pieces (like Little Flower and Eden). This ended up fostering a communal and even ritualistic atmosphere in the performance. A chalice on the altar was the same chalice that the character of Therese in The Mass of the Little Flower drank from before she spat up blood. Likewise, the base of the crown in Ceremonials, and even the vines on it, was the same that I used in Eden. This was interesting from both a creative and autobiographical standpoint; Ceremonials was the product of the creative inquiries I explored in the first two ritual-theatre performances. As an artist, there was something special about having remnants of those previous performances onstage. Additionally, some of the props were items that I use in my own personal rituals. For example, the tarot deck that the Priestess and Brigette use in her tarot reading was the first tarot deck I ever owned. The dagger that Joan uses multiple times in the performance was my own dagger that is used to direct or to “cut” energy in a ritual. While this was mostly out of thrift, the inclusion of my personal objects, autobiographically, served the idea of this thesis performance as an academic capstone that united my personal, artistic, and spiritual questions with research. In that way, the performance became a personal, academic, and artistic milestone; in another sense, performing the show itself acted like a life marker in the same way that rituals like graduations do. The fact that many of these items were brought in, thrifted, and borrowed from other actors or community members also helped the idea of the ritual performance, for the Priestess, being a community effort. The last thing that contributed to this communal, ritual atmosphere were the small organza bags we gave out to the audience at the end of the performance. Each object in the bag represented a different “gift” from the characters that we had determined in devising. The

35 character of Joan offered pebbles because the actor who played her thought that Joan would resonate strongly with the element of earth. Marguerite offered a quote because of her links to language and to her own book. Kitka offered fabric, similar to the fabric she washed as part of her story, and Brigette offered herbs, which were bagged tea leaves, also because of the connection made in her own story section. Audience members were free to accept or decline the offering, although most did take it. During the distribution, the Priestess explains that the acceptance and response is the audience’s choice. This was a moment of recognition for myself as the writer where, just like in any other play—especially one that deals with a difficult topic like religion—not everyone will be receptive to the message. This was a question I personally grappled with in creating the show; how many Catholics, and my own Catholic family, may misinterpret or be offended by its contents. But, ultimately, I decided that, like the Priestess accepts her identity and does not need the approval of the audience, this gesture was one of choice that others were free to accept or deny. And, as discussed earlier, the gift bags imitated the Eucharistic gifts—bread and wine—given out at communion during Mass. The Eucharist, in Catholic Mass, is thought to be transformational, and it is given out to each person. In that way, the ritual has an immediate personal impact—the object (Eucharist) is transformed, and the audience (congregation) takes part of it with them. Likewise, by distributing these small gift bags, which represented the Priestess’ transformation, the audience could come into a somewhat more immediate, although very small, relationship with the characters and the text. The relationship in this moment was distinct from merely the role of a witness, but it also engaged the audience in a way that did not obligate them to formally participate in a ritual in the performance. The Priestess and the characters (represented by the gift bags) were transformed, and the audience took a part of that with them. The gift bags worked as a little bit of a physical sign that the audience was present for something, and, as the Priestess says, it is something that they can carry with them, discard, or do with as they please, similar to other lessons that people may take with them when they leave the theatre. The four elements traditional to witchcraft (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) were represented by each of the characters and within the gift bags, with the Priestess representing the fifth element, Spirit, which exists at the top of the Wiccan pentagram. The Priestess, as Spirit, unites all of these pieces—the elements, the characters, the crown—at the end. She marries Catholic and pagan aesthetics when she crosses the audience with a pentagram, blessing them “In the name of

36 the Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit.” In a Catholic Mass this gesture would have been a cross “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Roman Missal 671). This blessing was taken from A Ritual in Search of Eden, with an added blessing beforehand that called on the audience to embrace their flaws, their darkness, and to see “that the witch, and the witch within ourselves, is not the mortal enemy.” This line spoke to my artistic thesis driving the piece: that people should not judge or condemn others based on their religious beliefs; that religious scapegoating—or witch trials—of any kind should not exist. This is also why the ending is framed with forgiveness and understanding. It is a reference to the “Sign of Peace” that happens at Mass before communion, where people shake hands and pray for forgiveness. It also portrays this witch, Anna, as one who has overcome violence with peace. Additionally, by having the witches respond to her blessing with “Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia,” the performance demonstrated the crossing of a religious “language barrier” that divided Catholicism/Christianity from witchcraft/paganism and vice versa.

Reflection, Looking Forward I learned many things about myself as an artist and the practice of making theatre during every step of this process. Some of these things I anticipated, while others were new discoveries that emerged from the experience. First, as I had known from previous devising experiences, devising is not necessarily something that can be straight-forwardly taught. The only true way to learn it is by doing it, and this made it an excellent subject for personal creative research. While I learned many strategies for approaching devised work prior to my process, and read about other strategies from books, things often work very differently in the rehearsal room and rely heavily on the chemistry of the ensemble. For example, over the summer of 2018, I attended a three- week theatre intensive at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. I chose to go to this intensive because Dell’Arte devises majority of their shows. I was also drawn to their idea of the actor-creator and I wanted to understand what the term meant to them first-hand. I thought that the context of having trained at Dell’Arte would help me impart a sense of creative agency to my actors because the term had become one that was empowering to me. I was also drawn because of their pedagogical model of the weekly “performance lab.” Each week of the intensive, students split up into groups and devised a short performance based on an open-ended prompt. Because I already knew devising could only be learned by doing, creating a

37 performance with a new group each week was a great way to stretch my skills. Still, I had expected some level of guidance or technique for how to approach the devised work and found myself even getting frustrated when we weren’t given any further instruction. At the time, I greatly enjoyed the workshop, but grew concerned that it was not preparing me for my own process in the fall. This is what truly reinforced that the only way to learn devising is through repetition and experience. You must gain experience in order to understand what works best for you as an artist, as well as knowing how to rise to meet the unique demands of each project. Because ultimately, each devising process will be inherently different based on the needs of the project and the greater ensemble. In that way, even though we did not learn “devising strategies,” the physical work we did in the daytime at the intensive was subtly training us to become better collaborators. One of the main focuses of the workshop was the ability to let go of the ego. First, this was so that we could release prior judgement and to free up our bodies for movement. Next, this moved on to releasing ego in performance and finally, in the last week, mask work. Letting go of ego and expectation is essential to work in mask. As one of our instructors put it, mask makes particular demands of you. It’s not so much about how you want to move, but how the mask needs you to move so that the mask look alive. If you aren’t moving in a way that matches the mask, you are going to look silly, and the mask is going to look dead. Just like mask, ensemble devising makes particular demands of the performer to get outside of their own ego. This is how Dell’Arte uses mask not just as performance, but as pedagogy; as a way to challenge performers to grow as collaborators and as artists. Devising demands that you challenge yourself and let go of control, and in this way, it can be incredibly perilous, but also incredibly rewarding. The work at Dell’Arte—through devising weekly performances, as well as through physical training and mask—prepared me to be a better collaborator in ways that I had not anticipated, but deeply appreciate. From reading and from my own experience, some devising projects can quickly fall apart if there is not a level of organization, agreement, respect, and trust. If the ensemble does not see eye-to-eye on central issues, it is sometimes better to regroup or else the whole production—and many friendships—may be lost in the process. This is not always possible, but fortunately, this never seemed to be a risk in our case. I think it’s both because I prioritized my ensemble’s opinions and energy, and because the actors all got along as people outside of rehearsal. Part of

38 this probably came from the fact that many of them were friends, or at least classmates, beforehand. From the experience of working with them over the course of five months, I could tell that this process only strengthened their bonds to one another. We also did have a predetermined structure for making decisions: me. Although from my perspective, I mostly worked as an editor and curator of work rather than a director or playwright. I relied heavily on the opinions of my ensemble for many decisions because they were the authors of their own characters. I made it a priority to respect and uplift that creative agency. Even though I did my best to rid myself of hierarchy, I do not think it was completely abolished due to the difference in status (me as a graduate and them as undergraduates) and the nature of it as a thesis project, but these parameters may have actually made the whole process run much more smoothly. Students came in with the understanding that this was for a thesis, and thus as much as they were willing to contribute, they were also willing to let go, just as I was willing to complicate my role as the “leader” by constantly throwing focus back to them. Leading the process, I gained confidence in my skills as an artist and a collaborator. I saw how the devising process was giving me creative problem-solving skills and the ability to work with others in a way that is so crucial for success in any field. Going into rehearsal in the spring, where my role shifted from actor/lead deviser to actor/director, I was initially concerned about how I’d be able to rise to meet both roles. I had only directed two things prior to this: a ten-minute play for a directing class and a ten-minute play for young children at a theatre camp. How could I act and direct at the same time? Much to my surprise, this role came incredibly naturally to me, and it probably grew out of the synergy we had established in the fall. Through the process of creating, my ensemble developed a level of trust and commitment that translated not just into rehearsal, but into the actual performance. I learned that it was very doable for me to act and direct at the same time, which piqued my interest more in directing, as well as opened up opportunities for devising and directing in the future. I was blown away by the amount of support I received from my actors, from those who worked on the play as volunteers, and from those who came to see it. Friends and roommates were more than willing to put in extra hours to help me as problems arose, and in that way, the play truly became a community effort. But the performance itself is really when discoveries started to come up that I had not anticipated. The excitement of opening night always ignites performers to go above and beyond, but I had not fully predicted the visceral reality of

39 performing it for a roomful of people. The studio theatre in Hiestand 100 is small and intimate, only seating about forty people. In some cases, I was less than a foot, even inches, away from audience members. The room lighting is such that you can see all audience members’ faces. This intimacy alone would have been enough to spark a powerful performance (or absolutely terrify me as it has in the past), but this was doubled by the fact that these were the faces of friends, family, teachers, and students from my own community. Because the whole piece was so personal to me, based on my own autobiography, it became somewhat confessional. I found myself feeling the presence of my parents or closest friends, and it was as if I was telling them something for the first time. It informed the way I said the lines and I made new discoveries about the story and the characters the entire way through. I truly experienced firsthand the living and mutual relationship between actor and audience, and I remember coming home that night feeling as if it was the most honest performance I had given in my life. And, even though it was personal and confessional, I never felt that I broke character or lost control, which was another problem I had in the past: fluctuating between not emoting enough and letting emotion overwhelm me. I credit the performance that I gave to the support I had from my cast and my community as well as to my own work on the project. Being surrounded by friends and family, I also realized how much more like a coming- of-age ritual this really was. Rituals happen within the community, and there mine was, right in front of me. I had already known that this piece was an initiation ritual for the Priestess. She finds herself lost, but through the journey of telling her story, and with the help other witches who tell their stories, she is finally welcomed as a member of the coven. What I had not accounted for was how this format would literally mirror my experience in performance: coming before an audience to tell a story, based loosely on my own life, with the support of others who told the stories they created. Combined with the props from previous performances that helped conceive the play, and my own ritual objects, the crowning became like an initiation for me as well as for the Priestess. For me, it was the culmination of my college experience (because I am a 4+1, so I have been studying at Miami University to get both an undergraduate and graduate degree in five years) and in my identity as a witch. In performance, standing on the pillar, preparing to be burned in the Inferno scene, it occurred to me how each of these witches are chanting to initiate the Priestess into the coven. They call up names of the past, saying “So Mote it Be” when the Priestess declares herself a witch. The words are commonly used in witchcraft

40 at the end of a spell to help bring the desired effect into existence. This had been a thought of mine, although maybe not fully realized, that, in calling herself a witch, both the Priestess (and myself) enter into that long line of history. Thus, in that moment, the characters were speaking that entrance into being. After the show, I went home and reflected not only on my performance, but also on how incredible it was to share that moment with others. It would be an understatement to say that I felt proud, blessed, and accomplished that evening. I felt changed after performing this play, perhaps in a way that I could not fully describe, but that is, after all, exactly what rituals do: transport and transform. This embodied experience—as performer to the audience, as myself to the community, and as a witch to the history of witches—taught me valuable things about myself, my identity, and my work as an artist in ways that I believe I will continue to unpack as I move forward. Many audience members—friends, family, and professors who had seen me through my whole time here—came up to me afterward, teary-eyed, to congratulate me. I had noticed several people crying during the performance, and even during our preview nights, which I took to mean that the message was resonating with them deeply. One person approached me and told me how they felt that, through the whole performance, the spirit of our lost professor and friend, Dr. Paul Jackson, was in the room with us, and that he could tell Dr. J was incredibly proud. I was deeply moved in that moment to not only have participated in the culmination of my own education and identity, but also to have brought together a community (my ensemble, my friends, my professors, and my family) that included those living and dead. It was like how in the Mass, Catholics believe that all of the saints, their ancestors, and their predecessors are with them as they celebrate. This is true of many other types of rituals as well, not limited to Catholicism. In a way, this performance had done the same. My cast even surprised me after the first run with giving me a gift, just as I had given them gifts and thank-you notes before our final dress. It was a ritual, a play, a performance, and a celebration that was steeped in history, meaning, and community. The whole experience—from creation to performance—had been incredibly empowering for me. My goal was that it had been for my cast as well. As I reviewed journals from the devising experience, I was pleased to find evidence this was true. One actor wrote that while she was nervous about coming into the process, she felt free to take risks and found she was much more capable of thinking in the “big picture” as an artist than she had felt before. She felt like

41 she had been challenged, but also that her opinions were respected, and, most importantly to me, she wrote that “this was as much my script as it was Rachel’s.” When asked if she felt that the devising process offered a sense of agency, she responded, “In traditional rehearsals, you can make creative choices as long as it does not infringe on the director’s vision. In a lot of ways, I felt like I was my own director.” This spoke to the tension between actor, playwright, and director that I wrote about in Spooking the Ghost in the Rehearsal Room, and that I hoped to complicate by ensemble devising. In that way, it appeared I was successful. Still another actor spoke to this complication in hierarchy, even though, as I had mentioned earlier, there was a difference in status: Like in every rehearsal, the space cultivated is unique in the sense that while there is a head devisor, it truly also feels like it is my script, and everyone's script. This show would not work if we were not given the freedom to create our characters, and I feel like the rehearsal process has been more than effective in that regard.

Other similar threads included speaking to how they felt free to take risks, fail, and try again, or, as one actor put it, “unabashedly put ideas out in the open to brainstorm, even if they weren't ideas we would continue on with.” Consistently, when asked if there was anything they felt that could be improved from rehearsal or the process, many put “no issues” or “N/A,” speaking to the whole sense of rapport we had garnered through the process. This could be a matter of status and their close relationship to me (not wanting to hurt my feelings, etc), but even in leading them, the only real issues I felt that came up were getting off-topic, which is bound to happen in devising. While this sample size is small, as the cast is, I was not actually interested in setting out to prove that ensemble devising is somehow a more empowering method of theatre. Sample size was not as relevant as the content of the responses themselves. I was interested in making a piece about empowerment that could also empower the actors involved in its creation. While there is no real way to quantify the extent of empowerment—for example, what they took from this experience and how it might affect their choices later down the road—it would appear that this had been a successful endeavor, and I do hope it stays with my actors for years to come. Of course, there is always room to improve, and there are several changes I would make to this piece. First, a few people said to me that they were confused about the character of the Lover/Elijah. Some suggested I eliminate him entirely. While I understand the idea, the inclusion of him is important to me because I wanted to emphasize how the Priestess is pulled between the Church and her partner, both of which represent God to her. This is something I had

42 an inkling of from experience myself as a Catholic, but was reinforced after reading The Catholic Imagination. It notes that many Catholics tend to embrace a “God as spouse” model in which romantic love is a hint of divine love (Greeley 85). I do think, however, that I might rework the Lovers piece and think about how it fits into the ending, if at all. It is still important to me that there is a tangible moment of reconciliation between the Priestess and someone who had wronged her, but it might be framed differently. There was much more time at the end to pass out gifts than I had initially thought, so I would rewrite the ending speeches, as I had written them quickly and they are a bit repetitive. While repetitive speech is a hallmark of many rituals, I think there is a way to make it fresh for an audience. Continuing to clarify the Priestess’ circumstances and her need for the ritual, especially at the beginning before the Mea Culpa, is also important, and I’d like to rework how the audience fits in. For example, I note the audience several times at the beginning of the play, but never mention them again until the end. I want to further integrate and explore the audience as a character or a witness into the script. Perhaps one of my biggest future considerations is how my ensemble fits in now that the script is devised and the performance is over. Looking toward the future, I may submit it to festivals, but, because my actors are also authors in the script, I told them that they would have priority casting if it was ever performed elsewhere. These are, after all, their characters as much as they are mine, and it would feel wrong for me to take the script and submit it without their continued involvement. I also think part of the reason the piece works so well is because these actors do have personal investment in each of these characters, having brought them from concept to fully fleshed out character. Would another actor, who had not been there for the conception, be able to find the same personal and creative links that added so much to the original performance? The devising process also brought us closer to the script and to each other, which fostered a real sense of ensemble, making the whole performance feel safe and genuine. That kind of ensemble support is vital in a play that deals with heavy topics like this. How could I take a piece that is so specific to the people who had written it and translate it to other actors and audiences while still retaining the same level of commitment that was so integral to the heart of the piece? While I do think that the performance—and the script itself—is entirely unique to those who made it, I did briefly consider a plan if I were ever to expand this project. Still, it is highly speculative, as, I have mentioned above, I feel that the script belongs just as much to my

43 ensemble as it does to me. Therefore, if I ever do move forward with the script, I will start with a fluid skeleton, as I have before. There would still be the ensemble of Acolytes 1, 2, 3, and 4, but instead of having set personas like how Acolyte 2 corresponds to Joan of Arc, I would develop a repertoire of devised characters that can be swapped out to fit the needs of the new ensemble. The skeleton would stay relatively the same, but script and moments in devising would be free to shift, making it so that future casts can still be part of the devising process. New actors could even devise characters of their own to add to this repertoire, and as the repertoire grows, actors (or future directors?) could select which characters they believe work best for their piece, and who they personally resonate with. In this way, the script is constantly alive under the ownership of those who perform it. Although, since this piece is so specific and intimate to me—as well as to those who wrote it—this devising concept may be better suited to another similarly-structured work later down the road, rather than to Ceremonials.

Conclusion Overall, this process opened up many new insights for me. Not only did I feel the full extent of the living relationship between audience and actor, but I also came to a better understanding of how devising itself is a living work. The script, from beginning to end, was fluid, and this is part of what made the show so successful. This is why I want to keep its life moving forward if I was to develop the script further. While, ultimately, every piece of theatre is unique to those who create it, I think that the script of Ceremonials ended up taking this to a new level. This likely had to do with the nature of ritual and my method of combining it with devised theatre. Ritual speaks to the needs of the ritual-makers: in this case, the actors behind each of the witches, just as devising often speaks to the needs of the ensemble or community. In the beginning, I set out to speak against what I saw as religious injustice. I sought to empower myself by reclaiming the identity of the witch and to empower others through the devising process. In reflecting on that journey in this portfolio, I believe I was successful in all of these things. My initial question consisted of two parts: how can the identity of the witch be used as a tool of empowerment—and how can I blend ritual and theatre to tell this story of empowerment? In exploring this question creatively and in research, I came to the conclusion that the identity of the witch is not only powerful because of its potential to be reclaimed as a marginalized identity,

44 but also because it is a broad signifier that ties those who bear it back to a practice and a history. This practice is one of ritual; the ability to transport and transform the self in a performative manner where identity itself can be reckoned with. Witchcraft, and the identity of the witch, is more closely an affiliation than it is a hierarchical religious order. Because of this, it gives each person who identifies with it a sense of agency in their spiritual practice or in other parts of life. Personally, the identity of the witch was empowering to me because it connected me back to the realm of ritual and religious freedom—the ability to lead my own personal rituals in a way that the Catholic Church would not allow. While trying to use the ritual structure of the Mass to tell a theatrical narrative—even to weave the stories of five different characters together—proved challenging, the structure ultimately informed the movement of the performance and the devising process. The play itself landed more in the realm of theatre than ritual, but its more ritualistic elements made it naturally depart from realism and linear plot structure. From personal experience devising and performing in the show, along with the reception of the play from audience members, I believe that the ritual structure allowed performers and audience members to connect to the characters and to the text in a unique way that deepened their experience overall. This was especially true from the devising standpoint. The play was specific to those who had performed it, both because of the nature of the devised process, and also because the structure—in which every character contributed something unique to the ritual—necessitated that the actors bring life to their characters in their own way. Experimenting with ritual formats, and how to combine them with theatre, is still a subject I am very interested in that I do not believe I have perfected. However, the development of Ceremonials was a satisfying first step on this journey. I may revisit the Mass format in performance again, albeit not with this script, because I think the Mass—and ritual as a whole—is an interesting, nonlinear container for a story. Trauma, memory, healing, and empowerment are all nonlinear, and these were the starting places of my script. They are still topics I want to explore, and after performing Ceremonials, I think that ritual lends itself very well to these subjects. This is especially true because ritual has the potential to transform its participants. Witnessing a character’s full transformation from trauma to empowerment could be very impactful to an audience. The witch as a traumatized figure is not something that I had time to fully unpack in this inquiry, but I knew that my own journey had started from a place of trauma and had led to eventual empowerment. Empowerment was the main focus of

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Ceremonials rather than trauma itself. In future work, not only do I want to explore ritual formats, but I want to specifically look into the witch’s relationship with trauma, scapegoating, oppression, and marginalization. Religiously-fueled violence, intolerance, and scapegoating are all issues that greatly matter to me personally, and I believe that there is a lot of work still to be done in raising awareness for these issues. Ceremonials was a small stepping stone on that journey, portraying the Priestess as an eventually-empowered victim of religious violence. It hoped to cross a religious language barrier by combining the language and aesthetics of Catholicism with witchcraft and paganism to communicate something universal about belief. Overall, Ceremonials was a successful first exploration of what it means to tell a theatrical narrative in a ritualistic way, or to portray the transformative power of ritual onstage. It brought me to a deeper understanding of my own practices, both artistic and spiritual. It also gave an opportunity for student performers to write and create in a way that appeared to be very beneficial to them. Perhaps most of all, the ritual format of the performance seemed to carry over into real life: it represented a significant milestone in my own academic and artistic career as well as in my personal identity. The process affected me as a person and as an artist; I believe it did for my cast in some way as well. And while I may not be able to sum all of that up immediately, I believe it is a lesson that I will continue to unravel as I move forward in my work for years to come.

Works Cited Aston, Elaine. Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook. London; New York: Routledge, 1999.

Brown, Rich. “An Approach to Auditions for Devised Theatre,” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, July 2016, 249-254.

Buckley, Peter. “Creativity and the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre,” Theatre Topics, vol. 15, no. 1, Mar 2005, 41-47.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 2006.

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Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.

Catholic Online. “St. Therese of Lisieux - Saints & Angels.” Catholic Online, https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105

Driver, Tom F. Liberating Rites: Understanding the Transformative Power of Ritual. BookSurge, 2006.

“Department of Theatre.” Miami University | CCA, http://miamioh.edu/cca/academics/departments/theatre/production-season/index.html

Edelson, Mary Beth. “See For Yourself: Women’s Spirituality in Holistic Art.” The Politics of Women’s Spirituality: Essays on the Rise of Spiritual Power within the Feminist Movement, edited by Charlene Spretnak. Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Books, 1982, 1982.

“From A Book about Söder, Per Anders Fogelström, 1953 .” Södermalm i Tid Och Rum. Stockholm, https://web.archive.org/web/20100515055530/http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/sodermalm/ historia/enbokomsoder.html

Graham, Scott, and Steven Hoggett. The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2014.

Greeley, Andrew M. The Catholic Imagination. University of California Press, 2001.

Hughes, Michael M. “A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him.” Extra Newsfeed, 17 Feb. 2017, www.extranewsfeed.com/a-spell-to-bind-donald-trump-and-all-those-who-abet-him- february-24th-mass-ritual-51f3d94f62f4.

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Jewish Women's Archive. “‘Apple Sauce for Eve’ by Marge Piercy, 1999.” https://jwa.org/media/apple-sauce-for-eve-by-marge-piercy

Lisieux, Therese. The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire D'une Âme): The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux With Additional Writings and Sayings of St. Thérèse. Translated by Thomas Taylor, Project Gutenberg, 2005. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16772/pg16772- images.html

Roman Missal Study Edition. Liturgical Press, 2012.

Schechner, Richard. Between Theater & Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985. Electronic Resource.

Schirle, Joan. “Potholes in the Road to Devising,” Theatre Topics, vol. 15, no. 1, Mar 2005, 91- 102.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011.

“The Mirror of Simple Souls.” L'osservatore Romano, 2 Nov. 2012, http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/the-mirror-of-simple-souls

Vale, Malcolm G.A., and Yvonne Lanhers. “Saint Joan of Arc.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Feb. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc

Van Fossan, Dolly. “Feminist Witchcraft: A Radical Woman’s Religion.” Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa, vol. 36, no. 2, Fall 2012, pp. 71–85.

Watkins, Beth. “Working From Scratch: The Pedagogic Value of Undergraduate Devising,” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, Jul 2016, 169-182.

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Weinstein, Adva. “How Working Together Works,” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, July 2016, 155-168.

“Witches Cast 'Mass Spell' Against Donald Trump.” BBC News, BBC, 25 Feb. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39090334.

Young, Christine. “Feminist Pedagogy at Play in the Rehearsal Room,” Theatre Topics, vol. 22, no. 2, Sep 2012, 137-148.

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Production Photos A Ritual in Search of Eden (Eve, After the Garden)

2.1 The Woman’s headpiece with the altar setting. The headpiece she is wearing fits incorrectly, demonstrating how she feels she cannot “fit” anywhere. The headpiece will later become the base of the crown.

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2.2 The Woman’s witch confession, posed as if she is tied to a stake. The hanging pieces behind the Woman are part of two opposing set pieces (a set of hanging flowers and a set of hanging sticks) meant to embody her opposing natures. The “witch trial” is positioned near these sticks both to evoke sticks for burning and the structure of patriarchal religion established earlier via the Priest mask.

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2.3 The Woman raises the Priest mask, evoking the imagery of the Catholic Mass. This gesture is repeated with each of the objects in the crown and in the crown’s completion.

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2.4 The Woman transformed into the Priestess. She now steps out from the altar with the completed crown, built with shards of the broken Priest mask and the Eve flowers.

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2.5 and 2.6 The outstretched arms of the Priestess. This gesture demonstrated how the Priestess exists comfortably at the crossroads between these two opposing elements, bringing them together in her person.

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Ceremonials

3.1 The outstretched arm of the Priestess in Ceremonials. This grew out of the transformation of the Woman at the end of A Ritual in Search of Eden.

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3.2 The destruction scene in the Inferno. After scattering and destroying things from the altar, the Priestess and the Acolytes collapse. When the Priestess transforms, the Acolytes wake up, and together, they clean and rearrange the altar. Some items were incorporated into the Priestess’ headpiece. This is the moment of destruction and re-creation that was first born in A Ritual in Search of Eden.

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3.3 The Acolytes surround the Priestess as she is initiated as a witch. She was given a colored scarf of her own, showing her unity with the Acolytes. The crown was made from flowers on the set and antlers given to her by the character of Joan. The antlers were meant to evoke pagan imagery, such as reference to the Horned God, so that the end of the show married Catholic language and pagan aesthetics.

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3.4 and 3.5 The burning of Marguerite Porete (3.4) and the burning of the Priestess (3.5). Physical gesture and lighting created the visual effect of burning. The physical language of bodies swaying and hands moving like fire was first established in Marguerite Porete’s scene, then mirrored again in the Priestess’ burning. These gestures were established in devising.

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3.6 The character of Marguerite passes out one of the gift bags. The bags were made with an offering representing each character; gifts with meanings we had established during the devising process. They contained a piece of fabric, some pebbles, tea leaves, and a quote from a moment in the show.

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Rachel Brandenburg Lisa McLaughlin WGS 601 December 8th, 2018

Spooking the Ghost in the Rehearsal Room: Improvisation and Collective Creation Toward a More Feminist and Inclusive Theatre

Theatre is an inherently collaborative art form. At least, that is what most practitioners of theatre like to say. After all, what could not be seen as inherently collaborative about groups of actors, directors, designers, stage managers, and run crew all devoting countless hours (with Equity-standard breaks) toward completing tech for one show? Or what about the numerous meetings with production and stage managers, set, lighting, sound, and costume designers, with the directors, all in attempt to produce a unified vision? Yes, theatre may be a collective effort in that sense, but anyone who has spent any amount of time in theatre at any level, whether that be at the high school or community theatre, all the way up to the Broadway, knows that there is a certain hierarchy that comes with making a work of theatre. There are a particular set of rules and assumptions about the way that theatre operates. Everyone has heard stories of the “overpowering director,” one who stands onstage with actors and tells them directly how to move and speak. Or what about the “uncompromising director,” one whom designers and crew dread working with because of their refusal to let any practical aspect of design squander their ultimate artistic vision? Ask anyone in the industry about “the worst director” they ever had, and the floodgates will rush open with tiny anecdotes and stories, often involving destroyed set models, scrapped plans, and lots and lots of ruined lace. To be sure, there is an important reason that theatre operates this way. If there was no one to turn to with a unified vision and artistic plan, if there was no one to make the final decisions on what gets put onstage, actors and designers would often find themselves squabbling with each other over what the character would really wear or what that vague final scene really means. A director makes sure what is important to be communicated about all of the elements onstage actually gets conveyed to the audience, and that designers 60 don’t spend all of their time and money making models and mockups that don’t work with the final piece. The nature of theatre also lends itself to this hierarchy. Not only is the role of a director necessary—often even in ensemble-devised pieces—to help unify choices of both acting and design, but by simply what theatre is: putting to life the written work of another human being, the playwright. Often, especially in more realistic style dramas, there is this notion of the primacy of the text. There is a certain level of moral (and even legal) obligation that a company takes on when deciding to produce a playwright’s script. It is, first and foremost, the playwright’s work. Without the playwright, there would be no text, no order, no play. Actors, directors, dramaturgs, and designers, all spend months or even years of a rehearsal process flipping through the script, marking it out, and trying to understand it. Actors have a peculiarly situated relationship with the text, one that is embodied rather than cognitive, and therefore enter a unique personal relationship with this textual primacy in a way that other practitioners do not. While directors, dramaturgs, and designers often have to ask themselves, “what did the playwright mean,” and do a fair amount of interpretation or analysis of the text, their work comes through renderings, models, and mockups that rise to meet that interpretation. Meanwhile, actors must work to model their speech, their breath, their movement, gestures, and even the very words that they speak to fit the format of the text, and, over time, this may alter their sense of agency within it. After interpreting for themselves what the text (and thus, the playwright) means, they work closely with the director, yet another filter of power, to ensure that their choices match the choices of the designers, who dictate the clothing that the embodied actor will wear and what environment the actor will exist in, all circling around the playwright’s meaning and the director’s vision. The playwright, then, quickly becomes like a “ghost in the rehearsal room,” with actors, designers, and dramaturgs all ouija-boarding off of one another while the director acts as a sort of spiritual medium, conducting the séance of the play. This is not to discredit the often important and difficult work that more traditionally- modeled theatres do, but over time, I argue, from my own experience, that if actors are not free to exercise their own hand in the development of creative work, they may begin to 61 view themselves as powerless and without creative control over their own work. Collective creation and emphasis on process rather than product may be important and necessary ways to remedy this. As a person who grew up in theatre as an actor, my concern has always been with the actor’s relationship to the primacy of the text. Like many other practitioners of theatre, I had my share of directorial horror stories, and I spent countless hours asking myself: “What does the playwright mean? Am I doing this correctly? Will the director cast me if I say it like that?” I often felt beholden not just to the will of the director, but to the ghost of the playwright, both of whom I felt hovered over me and my choices in the rehearsal room. I deeply valued the training and exercises I went over in my acting classes—which often had to do with freedom, movement, impulse, and improvisation—but often felt constrained to apply them in performance. There is little room for impulse while the director and choreographer try to organize fourteen people in a tiny-black box space. There is little room for freedom and improvisation in a corset and rehearsal skirt. Once at a rehearsal, I complained that we never did any warm-ups together. I was told that, “In Equity theatres, they just expect you to come prepared. Do warm-ups before rehearsal, and show up ready to work.” But what I yearned for was not the warm-up itself, but the process of coming together collaboratively with a cast and an ensemble. All of this work of discovery, interpretation, and character movement done with a group of people in my acting classes is expected to be done by the actor alone on their own time, sometimes to the dismay of their fellow cast members, who may have come with a different interpretation of the characters. Rehearsal periods are often six weeks or less. Time is strained, directors have a lot to get through, and too often the show must go on, much to the detriment of process and experimentation. While this model has worked to produce great theatre for years, over time, it can begin to stifle and discourage artists who are hungry for a new way of rehearsing. Must process always be sacrificed for the sake of the show? Must the playwright themselves always linger as a specter in the rehearsal room? The first time I felt resonance between my training and my performance work was when I ensemble devised a small piece taken to a regional theatre festival. Although my first and not a perfect process, devising the piece—and the workshops I took on ensemble 62 devising while there—opened up new possibilities for me in terms of what it meant to be a performer. Process and product could coincide. What was more: there were no ghosts in the rehearsal room that I, and the other artists, felt that we had to interpret for. Decisions about our characters and the production were made only by us, a collective group of artists who all acted as playwrights, actors, designers, costumers, dramaturgs, and stage managers interchangeably. The process felt democratic, unrestrained, and, considering our team was comprised of all women writing a subject about women, even feminist. I began to see ensemble devising as a bold and important way to shatter these often limiting methods and hierarchies of doing theatre. It was then that I set out to ensemble devise my own piece about feminine empowerment, in the hopes that it would lead myself, and my artists, to a better sense of artistic agency and freedom. As it turns out, other women before me had the same idea. Ensemble devising had actually been going on for decades, and came to a particular rise during the women’s movement of the 1960s and 70s. During that time, women were rising up against male- dominated spaces, raising their consciousnesses, and reclaiming their own bodies. As Elaine Aston describes in Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook, women developed consciousness-raising (CR) groups to explore what it means and feels like to be a woman. Having been excluded from mainstream (read: patriarchal, male-dominated) theatre, women in the Liberation Movement sought out spaces to talk about their own interests, which were often “low-priority in mixed companies – even socialist ones” (Aston 24). These groups were a way for women to cultivate confidence in themselves and their creative ability, something they did not always feel afforded in male spaces. Many of these groups were organized democratically or non-hierarchically, with many women taking on responsibility in accordance with their interests and abilities. This model of company organization often complemented the type of work that these women were interested in doing: work that spoke to their lived experience as well as relevant social and political concerns. Aston’s book proves a vital and succinct resource for those looking to run a theatrical project with feminist political concerns, both in practice and in content. She offers some techniques for approaching scripted work as well as unscripted, mapping out devising methods to bolster confidence in the body and in speech, to discover text, and to 63 create new work. Some of these methods, such as the “Themed Warm-Up,” (Aston 144) and the “Elemental Objects Exercise” (Aston 147) were used, in an adapted form, by me and my ensemble to generate ideas about character, relationship, and text. Our rehearsal process often involved a fair amount of eclecticism—drawing from and adapting exercises from our own theatre classes, workshops, other rehearsal or experiences, freewriting, improvisation, and object work. One example was the use of the 100 Years’ Sleep, an acting exercise adapted from Suzuki theatre training, which is used in one of the first acting classes that majors take here. In the exercise, the performer imagines that they have been asleep for 100 years. They wake up in a changed atmosphere and see something that they love still waiting for them. Slowly, they approach it, but when they reach it, it changes or vanishes, and, experiencing the loss, the actor decides to turn away and go back to sleep. This exercise, usually performed without character and just as the neutral actor exploring space, was used by my ensemble early on in the process, in character, to better understand our characters, their thought process, and their desires. It was used as an entry point to develop a portion of the script we referred to as the “Mea Culpa”—based on the lines “through my most grievous fault,” from the Catholic Mass—to explore what each of these characters (witches who had been burned at the stake) valued and, ultimately, what condemned them to die. Another example of this playful eclecticism adapted for our process was a game I was taught by a Dell’Arte International-trained actor referred to as the “towel game.” The premise of the game is simple: two people face off against one another to try to get the object (in this case, a towel) from the center of the room. While at first it is just about the objective, actors are encouraged to view their opponent more as a scene partner, spending time to play in the space and develop a relationship to one another before rushing for the object. In an adapted form, we began to work toward our characters, or had the object represent different things—I would give them prompts such as, “The towel is a baby,” “The towel is a suitcase with a million dollars,” “The towel is a knife,” as an attempt to help them explore and create character physically on impulse, rather than cognitively and from text. “Objects” that the towel became were often based on theme. What struck me about this game in particular was its ability to get actors in immediate and clearly-defined spatial relationship with each other, yet also opening up doors of possibility for improvisation. 64

The first time I played it, I was in a roomful of strangers, and I was amazed how quickly the game evolved from simply being a game, to slowly becoming a series of tiny stories being told about two characters vying for the same object. What’s more, these improvisations relied on no text at all—actors did not speak—and only used their body language and physicality to convey character, relationship, and meaning. It embodies a sense of creativity, freedom, and purpose, allowing the work to emerge naturally from the actor and the body, which is exactly what the Dell’Arte company seeks to do. The Dell’Arte company, and the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre is a small-but-mighty theatre located in the remote and somewhat isolated community of Blue Lake, California. As Joan Schirle describes in her Theatre Topics article, “Potholes in the Road to Devising,” Dell’Arte is an “artist-managed, actor-centered company in which eighty percent of the work is devised” (Schirle 93). While the word “Dell’arte” immediately conjures up the image of commedia dell’arte, a classical theatre style that makes use of mask and stock characters, and indeed, Dell’Arte does do commedia, it is far from the only work there. As I learned this past year at their summer theatre intensive, they use mask as a pedagogical tool because it makes demands of the actor—requiring them to adjust their physicality, be curious, and adapt in new ways. This comes from one of the central concepts that drives the work in their company: the idea of the actor-creator. Peter Buckley, former director of the Dell’Arte school, explains that while the concept of actor- creator locates the actor as a central part of the creative work, he warns that it should not be misunderstood: Some have taken it to mean moving from a theatre in which the director or the playwright is God to one in which the actor is God. In actuality, it is neither and both. What the concept of Actor/Creator truly calls for is theatre artists with the courage to continuously define the creative process and to accept full responsibility for their work. It is a way of working and of living that goes beyond the rehearsal hall, the studio, and the stage (Buckley 41).

There are a couple important things to note in this passage. First is the assumption that Buckley is making about the starting point of theatre being one where “the director or the playwright is God,” a sentiment that I have echoed earlier in this essay. Second is that the actor-creator is one who is continuously defining and taking ownership of their creative process. It is not just a way of working, but a way of “living,” which I take to mean that it is

65 an identity that comes with a certain set of values about creation and artistic ownership. The actor-creator is a way of thinking of oneself as an active agent in the creative process. Dell’Arte uses both mask and devising, frequently through “Performance Labs,” weekly assigned performance prompts with an open question, as pedagogical tools to open up this mode of thinking. This speaks to both the potential of physical theatre, which is often devised, and to the broader potential of devising as a whole, as a way to free and empower actors to take control of their artistic work. Many others have written about the pedagogical benefits of devised work in a university setting. Beth Watkins, professor at Allegheny College, writes that she is drawn to the devising process both for the “challenge of developing a collaborative ensemble as a mode of teaching” as well as the idea of “empowering students by encouraging them to draw on the interdisciplinary research training of a liberal arts curriculum” (Watkins 169). Watkins writes how she sees that devising has a strong nature and emphasis in creative problem solving and even notes its potential for self-empowerment. She recalled that students who had participated in her own devising project, Playing Dirty, were more apt to start devising projects of their own (Watkins 177). Christine Young also wrote about the pedagogical benefits of devised theatre from a feminist perspective. She conceived and directed a piece called DUST…a play about the EVE in all of us, that was devised and performed by students in the University of San Francisco’s Performing Arts and Social Justice Program. In her article, “Feminist Pedagogy at Play in the Rehearsal Room,” she too bemoans the notion that the director must rule with an iron fist, or, in her case, a “machete,” and observes devised theatre’s ability to shift this paradigm. Being able to cast as an ensemble, rather than for specific roles, opened up opportunities for actors who had otherwise not been cast in department shows. As she describes, her only criteria for casting were “playfulness, generosity, and curiosity” as well as “general enthusiasm for the project.” She cast every actor that met that criteria, and ended up with an ensemble of twelve, “half of whom had never performed in a department main-stage production before” (Young 140). This lack of prior experience and opportunity, as she noticed, had a detrimental effect on the performer’s sense of agency and self-esteem. She noted that students experienced a lot of “product over process” anxiety that she attempted to diffuse by having guest artists and multiple feedback sessions. She also 66 neatly organized her rehearsals into “Playtime,” and “Buildtime,” allowing for exploration of the concepts and then refinement, finally arriving at rehearsal time leading up to the show. A “spirit of feminist inquiry” was rooted both in the process and in the show’s content, combining subject with practice/praxis (Young 144). Students were actively involved in many aspects of the production and required to take ownership of their work in a new way—partly because there was no script to go off of from the beginning. Students documented their own work so that it would be reproducible and collaborated to create the scenes and text. While she did explain that some of the actors voiced their concerns about how open she was to their feedback about the show (probably due to her nature as lead, professor, and director) there was a noticeable shift in the actors’ confidence level and perception of their part in the work. The ability to step into the unknown, without a script, but just a question, proved a valuable tool for empowering actors to view themselves and their role in a new way. This is a lesson that I hoped to impart both to myself and to my own actors in my process. While, due to the nature of the piece as a thesis, I would be starting with a “script”—more of a rough and highly-malleable outline—I did not want the text’s primacy to be internalized by my actors the way it is in other traditional theatre processes. I emphasized the collaborative nature of the piece from the get-go, and prioritized their creative ownership of their characters, giving them each a day where they led rehearsal to tell their character’s story in any way they saw fit. Like all devising processes, it frequently required them to wear many hats, and, as such, they often had significant input in costuming, design, and even casting choices that will go in to the final production. In order to both gauge how successfully the rehearsal process had been in opening up insights or empowering my actors, as well as understand how I can adapt and revise my own devising process going forward, I had my actors anonymously complete journal prompts that asked about rehearsal and their experience in it. Two of the journals were given after rehearsal days that were process-heavy and ended with the development of text that will appear in the final show. Those two journals were comprised of only five questions that ask things like, “How were you challenged in rehearsal today? What went well? What did not go as well or could be improved?” and were designed to help me see how they were receiving the process, if the exercises were opening up any new creative 67 insights, or even, ideally, bolstering their own voice or confidence level as artists. The final journal, which will have just been completed by the time I submit this paper, asks questions about their experience of the devising process as a whole and whether or not the process shifted their perception of themselves as artists, or about their perception of their ability to use process to generate work. My goal is that, even if they do not walk out of the rehearsal room with an impassioned vigor to become a devising artist (the way I did), I hope that they walk away with a sense of control over their work and their process that may stay with them for years to come. I hope it encourages them to not wait to be cast in a role to consider themselves a theatre maker (the curse of all actors), but rather to consider themselves active creators in the present moment, allowing them to go out and produce work of their own if they are not being cast in roles. Upon a preliminary review of a few of the journals post-rehearsal, I was elated to find that one actor had written that they felt that some things they wouldn’t normally say out loud or suggest had been not only said in rehearsal, but actively accepted and utilized by the group. While I only have four actors, and only some of them regularly completed the journals, even having small breakthrough moments like this, to me, counts as measurable success in this project. Giving actors a space to voice opinions they might not normally, or to take risks, ask questions, and explore, is exactly what I hoped to achieve in this process. While it is impossible to predict or truly quantify what this experience may mean for them, at the very least, I hope that the review of the rest of the journals will give a sense that this process, if anything else, provided a positive experience for my actors—all relatively young and new to the campus—in which they began to develop creative problem-solving and even cultivate some artistic self-confidence. Freeing up actors from the constraints of a predefined script, thus unchaining them from the ghosts in the rehearsal room, is a critical and effective tool in this process. Devising might not always be explicitly feminist, but it always complicates the relationship between the actor and the source of the creative work, and that is something that is absolutely crucial in building a true sense of actor-creator agency, even if only incrementally. Even this small shift of perception, over time, can help build a more democratic, vibrant, involved, and yes, even feminist theatre community. As I have said before and throughout the piece, “hierarchical” theatre will always probably exist, and definitely has 68 its merit, but certainly can reek of white patriarchy at its worst and chain artists to a system and rob them of opportunity even at its best. We speak all the time for the need for more diverse and compelling stories to be told, for our theatre to become more accessible, for voices of marginalized groups to be brought front and center. How much more innovative would the industry be, how many more stories could we tell—unique to the artists, audiences, and performers—if devised work, which has often spoken to these very needs and has been historically developed to meet those needs, was more mainstream? What would our nation look like if every big theatre had a devised work as part of their season? This line of questioning is certainly ambitious and idealistic, but both timely and necessary when our political fabric is fraying, and artists, as well as people across the nation, are asking themselves how to put bread on the table. Even before the new report by the Federal Reserve that concluded Millennials have less wealth than previous generations, we witnessed the 2016 election where economic inequality, women’s rights, race, and immigration issues were all center-stage. As a Millennial on the cusp of Generation Z, which has already been regarded as fervently idealistic and political (the Parkland Shooting survivors), part of a generation that, according to Derek Thompson writing for The Atlantic, are economic “scapegoats” that have actually been punished by the US economy for trying to follow the American dream—this is the context in which I came of age and the context in which I make my art. It is time for us to revolutionize the entire system, both economically and artistically, and that starts with the way we view ourselves as artists. Devised theatre, and the idea of the actor-creator, are some of the ways in which we can do so. Visual artists do not wait to pick up their brushes and paint—they paint when they want to work, when they are inspired, or when they have something to say. Why then do actors often feel they must be “given” a role to do theatre? I have argued that part of it stems from the nature of theatre—the ghosts of the playwright and the director in the rehearsal room—as well as the nature of the actor herself, as one who embodies the text, vision, and clothing choices of others. These elements add up to create the ever-present hierarchy in traditional theatre. While this model is not perfect, and often does not work solely top-down from playwright to director to designer to actor, as every rehearsal and 69 director is unique, in its most basic form, it operates as such. Ensemble devising, without a script, or even with just a rough sketch of a script, problematizes this hierarchical relationship between actors and directors and text. It rids the performer of two primary ghosts that hover over them in the rehearsal room, freeing them of the need to interpret or guess what the text may mean, and allows them simply to speak, to create, and to be. Historically and in the current moment, devising is a critical tool in an arsenal of praxis and pedagogy that can be implemented in restructuring the way we think about and do theatre. Hierarchical theatre may never go away, nor do I believe it should, but the externalized, as well as internalized, view of actors and artists as incapable, constantly unemployed, and always seeking the external validation of “Big Daddy” or the ghosts in the rehearsal room, absolutely must.

Works Cited

Aston, Elaine. Feminist Theatre Practice : A Handbook. London; New York: Routledge, 1999, 1999.

Buckley, Peter. “Creativity and the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre,” Theatre Topics, vol. 15, no. 1, Mar 2005, 41-47.

Schirle, Joan. “Potholes in the Road to Devising,” Theatre Topics, vol. 15, no. 1, Mar 2005, 91-102.

Thompson, Derek. “Millennials Didn't Kill the Economy. The Economy Killed Millennials.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 6 Dec. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/stop-blaming-millennials-killing- economy/577408/?utm_term=2018-12-06T11%3A00%3A44&utm_campaign=the- atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=edit- promo&fbclid=IwAR2F-zdpf- ZlPYbhq8TfuU2ieEle5BUdKzSz3EV7LQzopGdL4OX_zKg.

Watkins, Beth. “Working From Scratch: The Pedagogic Value of Undergraduate Devising,” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, Jul 2016, 169-182.

Young, Christine. “Feminist Pedagogy at Play in the Rehearsal Room,” Theatre Topics, vol. 22, no. 2, Sep 2012, 137-148.

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Early Ritual Experiments: Digital Archive

A digital archive has been compiled of all artistic projects used to develop Ceremonials. The entire archive can be accessed at https://rlynnbrandenburg.wixsite.com/thesisarchive

Photos and scripts for The Mass of the Little Flower can be viewed at https://rlynnbrandenburg.wixsite.com/thesisarchive/the-mass-of-the-little-flower

Photos and scripts for A Ritual in Search of Eden can be viewed at https://rlynnbrandenburg.wixsite.com/thesisarchive/eve-after-the-garden

Production photos from Ceremonials are also available at https://rlynnbrandenburg.wixsite.com/thesisarchive/ceremonials

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Ceremonials

Dramaturgical Breakdown p. 73 “Witchy Questionnaire” p. 80 Devising Bullet Points p. 82 Completed Script p. 91

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Ceremonials: Dramaturgical Breakdown Roman Missal vs. My Use All quotes and references to page numbers in this section are taken from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, cited in the Annotated Bibliography at the end of this portfolio.

The Introductory Rite

Meaning According to the Roman Missal My Use/Meaning “The rites that precede the Liturgy of the Word… To bring the audience and ensemble together, have the character of a beginning, an introduction, introduce the nature/character of the ensemble, “the and a preparation. Their purpose is to ensure that coven,” and introduce the character of the priestess the faithful, who come together as one, establish and her conflict, and the reason for needing to tell communion and dispose themselves properly to this story to an audience. The Priestess needs the listen to the Word of God and to celebrate the audience and her coven to begin the Eucharist worthily.” –p. 21 healing/empowerment process.

Part Liturgical Meaning My Use The Entrance “When the people are gathered Coven ensemble will be out with and the Priest enters with the the audience in the beginning, Deacon and ministers, the kind of like ushers welcoming Entrance Chant begins. Its people into the space to make the purpose is to open the audience more present. Chanting celebration, foster the unity of or singing may be used to those who have been gathered, introduce the Priestess character, introduce their thoughts to the reason for gathering, and mystery of the liturgical time or conflict. festivity, and accompany the procession of the Priest and ministers.” p.22 Reverence to Altar / Greeting “When they have arrived at the This is similar to “drawing the of Assembled People sanctuary, the Priest, Deacon, circle” done in many pagan and and ministers reverence the altar witchcraft rituals to prepare the with a profound bow…By this space. Greeting the people is greeting and the people’s also direct address—makes them response the mystery of the aware they are watching a play. Church gathered together is made manifest.” –p.22 The Penitential Act General confession prayer made Introduction of the conflict – to confess sins and prepare for mainly, shame/guilt, being the celebration. blamed for/ridiculed for being a witch. Coven takes part in this and adds to the story. The Kyrie, Eleison “a chant by which the faithful “Lord, have mercy” is asking acclaim the Lord and implore his God for forgiveness for sins in mercy” p.23 the context of just having confessed them. Here, the coven provides comfort for one another. It also can be used to express

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doubt or fear the Priestess still holds onto—is she really bad and evil for being a witch? She still needs to call on God. The Gloria in Excelsis “The Gloria in excelsis (Glory to Introduce more of the story – the God in the highest) is a most good side. Feeling the ancient and venerable hymn by “immanence” of the divine and which the Church, gathered in hearing spirits/voices. Doing the Holy Spirit, glorifies and “witchy” things intuitively that entreats God the Father and the end up getting the priestess in Lamb.” –p.23 trouble. The Collect “Next the Priest calls upon the In witchcraft, setting intentions is people to pray and everybody, very important, it is the together with the Priest, observes beginning of magic. Here, the a brief silence so that they may intention is that we may tell these become aware of being in God’s stories so that I may find strength presence and may call to mind and healing to be my own their intentions. Then the Priest spiritual leader. This is pronounces the prayer usually somewhat of a self-initiation, called the “Collect” and through coming of age ritual into my own which the character of the religion. celebration finds expression.” p.24

The Liturgy of the Word

Meaning According to the Roman Missal My Meaning/Use “The main part of the Liturgy of the Word is made The telling of other stories of witches and saints is up of the readings from Sacred Scripture together a way to access and introduce my own (the with the chants occurring between them. As for the Priestess’s) for the purpose of healing and Homily, the Profession of Faith, and the Universal empowerment. The coven/ensemble will assist in Prayer, they develop and conclude it. For in the doing this. Like the Missal says, it is about the readings, as explained by the Homily, God speaks “mystery of redemption and salvation,” which, as to his people, opening up to them the mystery of explained by Greeley, can come in the Catholic redemption and salvation, and offering spiritual view through average, everyday people (even nourishment; and Christ himself is present through people with undesirable and unexpected qualities). his word in the midst of the faithful. By silence and by singing, the people make this divine word Monologues/pieces will be featured from Joan of their own, and affirm their adherence to it by means Arc and Marguerite Porete—others TBA. Priestess of the Profession of Faith; finally, having been will give her story last—as part of the nourished by the divine word, the people pour out Gospel/Homily section. their petitions by means of the Universal Prayer of the needs of the whole Church and for the salvation of the whole world.” p. 25

Part Liturgical Meaning My Use The Biblical Readings “In the readings, the table of Stories from Joan of Arc, God’s Word is spread before the Marguerite Porete and other 74

faithful, and the treasures of the saints/witches/biblical figures are Bible are opened to them…The presented by the ensemble. Each function of proclaiming the represents an aspect of our own readings is by tradition not stories and an aspect of my story. presidential but ministerial” p. 26 They are like offerings of empathy and strength to vitalize the Priestess to tell her story and begin the healing journey. The Responsorial Psalm “After the First Reading follows Psalms/responses may not just be the Responsorial Psalm, which is songs but also movement pieces. an integral part of the Liturgy of These will visually demonstrate the Word and which has great to the audience that the stories liturgical and pastoral are offerings by each member of importance, since it fosters the ensemble to help uplift the meditation of the word of God. Priestess. She, in turn, is helping The Responsorial Psalm should uplift them to tell these stories as correspond to each reading and well. should usually be taken from the Lectionary.” p. 27 The Acclamation before the “After the reading that Introduction of the Priestess Gospel immediately precedes the story, then the Gospel (the telling Gospel, the Alleluia or another of the Priestess story). This chant laid down by the rubrics is should bring the coven together sung, as the liturgical time into unity, each of their stories requires. An acclamation of this kind of being woven and brought kind constitutes a rite or act in together. The coven ensemble itself, by which the gathering of stands in support of her or offers the faithful welcomes and greets her any form of support that she the Lord who is about to speak to may need in this emotional time. them in the Gospel and profess their faith by means of the chant.” p. 27 The Homily The Homily “should be an This is the Priestess’ time to explanation of some aspect of the explain herself—probably readings from Sacred Scripture combined with the gospel or of another text from the reading. An explanation that she Ordinary or the Proper of the needs the audience, too. This is Mass of the day and should take part of the trauma/healing into account both the mystery process—coming forward, being celebrated and the telling/reliving the story. particular needs of the listeners.” P. 28 The Profession of Faith “The purpose of the Creed or In A Ritual in Search of Eden, Profession of Faith is that the this was the witchcraft whole gathered people may trial/confession of being a witch. respond to the Word of God We are going for a similar vibe proclaimed in the readings taken here. This is a declaration of the from Sacred Scripture and journey the priestess has been on explained in the Homily and that (metaphorically a burned witch, they may also honor and confess resurrected). This is taking

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the great mysteries of faith” p. 29 everything we have just learned from these other stories to heart and declaring who we are, embracing it fully. It is a manifesto of who we are. The Universal Prayer “In the Universal Prayer, or Baptismal Priesthood is an Prayer of the Faithful, the people important concept for me – it is respond in some sense to the part of the reason I was able to Word of God which they have view myself as a priest capable received in faith and, exercising of administering my own rituals the office of their baptismal to myself. Priesthood, offer prayers to God for the salvation of all.” p. 30 Here, the ensemble members will offer up each of their intentions before the breaking and building ceremony that is about to happen.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

Meaning According to the Roman Missal My Meaning and Use “At the Last Supper Christ instituted the Paschal The Eucharist is a re-enactment of an important Sacrifice and banquet, by which the Sacrifice of the founding event. It is the foundation of the Catholic Cross is continuously made present in the Church practice. Our re-enactment will destroy one whenever the Priest, representing Christ the Lord, structure built around us—representing all of the carries out what the Lord himself did and handed things brought up in the stories—especially the over to his disciples to be done in his memory.” idea of confinement and patriarchy—and rebuild p.31 them so that we come together in unity, like communion.

Part Liturgical Meaning My Use Preparation of the Gifts “At the beginning of the Liturgy All of the “offerings” from the of the Eucharist the gifts which readings may be brought forward will become Christ’s Body and at this time. We will Blood are brought to the altar” construct/weave the structure or Roman Missal p. 31 add to a structure that is already present onstage. (An altar? A tower/towers? Something reminiscent of a castle?)

This is the beginning of the re- enactment. It is an offering of gifts from the people (bread and wine) that used to be brought from homes in the community. Now it is symbolic/representative, but money and other gifts are still 76

sometimes offered.

Singing usually happens during this bit as well, so we may sing or chant something for the creation/weaving of a structure or crown. Prayer over the Offerings “Once the offerings have been May be combined with the placed on the altar and the weaving. This will probably accompanying rites completed, conclude the weaving, leaving a by means of the invitation to pray space for the Priestess to speak with the Priest and by means of and bless the gifts, setting the the Prayer over the Offerings, the intention outward for the Preparation of the Gifts is audience to understand what is concluded and preparation made about to occur. for the Eucharistic Prayer.” p.33

Prayer over the gifts, Priest blesses them and prepares them for becoming the body and blood of Christ. The Eucharistic Prayer The “center and high point of the A prayer will be constructed that entire celebration.” “The whole tells my own story of death and congregation joins with Christ in rebirth/salvation. That is mainly, confessing the great deeds of going from disempowered and God and in offering the victimized to fully empowered Sacrifice.” p.33 “witch.” This could involve telling a fictionalized account of This is the center/high point of my own “witch burning.” the Mass. Everyone recalls the Wherever the breaking is story of the Last Supper and mentioned in the text is where Christ’s death—it is a story of the breaking will happen. death/life/sacrifice.

Parts: 1. thanksgiving 2. acclamation (Holy, Holy, Holy) – this is a really holy thing we are saying 3. epiclesis – Church calls on the Holy Spirit to help consecrate the gifts to become the body and blood 4. institution narrative and Consecration – the literal retelling of the Last Supper and then the prayer for consecration 5. anamnesis – church recalls the passion, death, and resurrection 6. oblation – church offers the sacrifice (bread and wine) to the 77

father and begins to learn how to offer their whole selves 7. intercessions – calling in remembrance the living and the dead 8. concluding doxology – the conclusion of the prayer, amens p.33-34 The Communion Rite “Since the celebration of the Communion is a coming together Eucharist is the Paschal Banquet, and a sharing, it is a feast that it is desirable that in accordance cannot happen without something with the Lord’s command his being broken and sacrificed—in Body and Blood should be the traditional sense, the bread received as spiritual food by and the wine. Here, we will those of the faithful who are break part of the structure built properly disposed” p. 35 around us that we have been building/creating throughout the piece. The Lord’s Prayer “In the Lord’s Prayer a petition is This may be excluded – a similar made for daily bread, which for gesture of union or intention may Christians means principally the be expressed. Purification from Eucharistic Bread, and entreating sin? Perhaps to emphasize that also purification from sin” p. 35 this is not done in evil or in hatred but rather out of need and Brings the community together in out of love. unity – we join hands here – and also pray a prayer found in the Bible, instituted also by Jesus. The Rite of Peace “There follows the Rite of Peace, This may involve going out into by which the Church entreats the audience? The ensemble peace and unity for herself and speaking to or interacting with for the whole human family, and the audience? Perhaps audience the faithful express to each other members are given pieces of their ecclesial communion and paper for intentions representing mutual charity before burdens that can be offered up communicating in the and destroyed with the rest of it. Sacrament” p. 35 The Fraction of the Bread “The Priest breaks the The breaking occurs, creation of Eucharistic Bread…the gesture the new crown/structure that the of breaking bread, done by Christ Priestess can step into and at the Last Supper, which in assume begins. apostolic times gave the entire Eucharistic Action its name, signifies that the many faithful are made one body (1 Cor 10:17) by receiving Communion from the one Bread of Life” p. 36

The Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is also sung here.

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Communion People gather and accept the The new creation and assuming bread and wine that was just of the crown will begin. A blessed by the prayer. The priest prayer will be said by the prays over it and others pray Priestess for assuming her new silently. A prayer after role. communion also takes place.

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The Witchy Questionnaire……………………………………….

Your Trial 1. Why were you burned? What crime did you commit? This can be something other than your “canon” crime.

2. How were you caught? What finally made the town suspicious of your misdeeds?

3. Describe the day of your trial and execution. Was it fair? Were there only a few people? Did the whole town show up? Screaming and shouting?

4. Is there anyone you hate? Have you ever been betrayed? Sought revenge?

5. Did you consider yourself a witch before you were accused? Why or why not?

Your Practice 6. What does your altar look like? Clean? Messy? What sort of tools or mementos?

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7. Divination - How do you get the secrets of the universe? Tarot cards? Tea leaves? Runes? The stars? Something else? Talk about your process.

8. Nature - what element or elements do you connect with most? Where could you be found if you were to spend a day outside?

9. Familiar - Do you have one? More than one? If so, what are they? What do they do for you?

10. Would you ever really practice “baneful” magic? Hexing, cursing, etc. Under what circumstances?

11. What does your day to day life as a witch look like? Brewing potions, playing music? How do you connect to spirit? What about your ideal ritual layout?

12. Why did you join the coven? What do you bring the group?

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Ceremonials – A Ritual Play Devising Bullet Points/Outline

Setting: A ritual circle in the modern day. Since it is a ritual, however, it is a bit liminal, a bit outside of time. It is dressed with both Catholic and pagan elements. Visually mimics both nature and a church. Candles and a magnificent, meticulously-constructed altar are center.

Characters: The High Priestess / Anna – the leader of the ceremony. While she has everything organized, she is also the one in the most need. This initiation is for her. Her “witch” self, Anna, is a young girl with special gifts who was ridiculed and eventually killed for her heresy. She harbors resentment and conflicted feelings toward the people in her past life that she needs to overcome before she can be initiated into the circle. She also is afraid she is in the wrong, even now. Religious language is her security blanket.

Acolyte 1 / Marguerite – a witch in the circle who also holds the persona of/portrays the story of Marguerite Porete, who was killed for writing a heretical book about divine love. She carries the book everywhere, can’t stop writing, thinking in stories – and loves love.

Acolyte 2 / Joan of Arc – another witch in the circle who holds the persona of and portrays the story of Joan of Arc. Like Anna, she heard voices from God that led her to do things that people thought were heretical. She was sentenced to death for trying to defend herself.

Acolyte 3 / a witch – tba (may be a historic witch)

Acolyte 4 / another witch – tba (may be completely devised)

Text: Italicized text is quoted from the Roman Missal.

[text in brackets with a strikethrough] is text omitted from the quoted text.

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***things starred like this*** are things to devise.

SCENE: A WITCHES’ CIRCLE.

Candles are lit. An altar has been meticulously set, placed there by the priestess. During the pre- show, each of the ACOLYTES mills about the space, ushering in guests, making them feel welcome, but also getting into their own ritual space. This might mean humming, singing, doing a warmup or two. As showtime approaches, they withdraw more and more into the center, away from the people they’ve been greeting.

I. THE INTRODUCTORY RITE

When everyone is seated, the ACOLYTES gather and draw the circle. They begin to sing the opening chant, almost as if they are summoning the PRIESTESS. The PRIESTESS enters and sees them. She smiles – she has waited her whole life to say these words.

PRIESTESS. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

ACOLYTES. And with your spirit.

PRIESTESS. (to the audience) And so it begins. Welcome to our liturgy, and to our circle. We have some very important work to do today.

***The ACOLYTES and the PRIESTESS exchange greeting with one another, this may be hugs/kisses, exchanging gifts/flowers etc. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” “welcome, sister” or some variation is used with each one. Then maybe, “The grace of my heart,” “ The grace of my hands” “The grace of my left shoe.” Etc. It can and should be humorous as well as reverent. What would each one of these women give to one another to start the circle?***

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Penitential Rite. ALL. I confess to almighty God, and you, my [brothers and] sisters, that I have greatly sinned. In my thoughts and in my words In what I have done, and what I have failed to do. Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault…

***what is her problem, how do we solve this problem… who are these people and what do we (the characters) hope to get by doing this and trying to solve this problem?****

***At this point, the formal air of the ritual begins to fully break down for the first time. As the ACOLYTES and the PRIESTESS strike their chests in “Through my fault,” it goes a bit deeper. It hurts them a bit more. They begin to sink and grieve and remember the various sins they were burned for that they are about to bring forward. It is painful, but it is also cleansing and cathartic. It also helps introduce our audience to the characters and the main conflict of the story – the Priestess’ journey.***

***this section should incorporate the sins of the other witches so that we begin to realize these are all burned heretics***

PRIESTESS. Therefore I ask [Blessed Mary ever-virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and] you my sisters, to pray for me to the lord our god.

Gloria. PRIESTESS. …we forgot the Gloria. ACOLYTE 3. That doesn’t matter. PRIESTESS. Can we start over? ACOLYTE 2. Just do it now. PRIESTESS. No, I really think— ACOLYTE 1. Just tell us what it is.

The PRIESTESS considers this, finally, agrees.

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PRIESTESS. Alright. I’ll tell you the Gloria. It’s a bit too late for the original, so I’ll show you mine. We’ll make up our own.

Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to people of good will We praise you We bless you We adore you We glorify you We give you thanks for your great glory

***They gather around the PRIESTESS. They begin to follow her and sing, chant. This is when the beginning of the story may be told. Details the beginning of her life, the happy times – “We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, Gloria,” seeing the divine in everything.

She starts out as a young girl, hearing voices. There is something odd about her, but she doesn’t know its odd. People begin to watch her in suspicion “be careful with that one.” Start to keep her in line. She falls in love with it and does as she is told. Each witch perhaps also adds their own Gloria? What do we WISH the Gloria was? It is kind of staunch and dry right now ****

II. LITURGY OF THE WORD

MARGUERITE PORETE (By this time, this reading has caught the attention of the other coven members. Acolyte 1 crosses to them. She becomes Marguerite).

MARGUERITE. I know what it’s like to be in love that way. ACOLYTE 3. In love! ACOLYTE 4. In love! MARGUERITE. And I know exactly how it ends. (reveals or hands a card to the PRIESTESS). ACOLYTE 2. (a declaration, now it’s time). A reading!

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MARGURITE. (revealing her book). From the Book of Marguerite. Or, as its full title remains, The Mirror of Simple Souls who are Annihilated and Remain Only in Will and Desire of Love. ACOLYTE 3. What a mouthful. MARGUERITE. By Marguerite Porete.

****EACH OF THESE STORIES are an offering to the priestess, to the circle so that the priestess has the strength to tell their story. Maybe there is an offering basket, or they add different items to the altar.*****

***At this point, Marguerite tells her story in whatever way she sees fit. Points to be hit: • She wrote in Old French rather than Latin which was a HUGE no-no from the Catholic church because Latin is the official language of the church and holy writings. She wrote this way probably so it would be more accessible to the average person. • Wrote in allegories about union with god in a way that was romantic and erotic (relationship with God is like a relationship with a spouse) AND in total unity with God, there is no distinction between your will and the will of God (this is what got dicey and heretical, among other things. That someone can be in full union and indistinct from God like this and “know his will” • This led to the HERESY OF THE FREE SPIRIT, which general beliefs were, among other things, that we need only ourselves to talk to God. o Her book influenced these heretics even after she was burned and the book condemned as heresy • I picture her as a book nerd, but idk. • Maybe at the trial this is the place where we have “Do you reject Satan? And all his works? And all his empty promises?” as part of the trial with the dagger?

MARGUERITE. The Heresy of the Free Spirit. (turning to the Priestess). We do not need anyone but ourselves to communicate with God.

JOAN OF ARC (PRIESTESS hands the dagger to ACOLYTE 2. She begins her transformation into Joan).

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JOAN. I hear the voices too. But let me tell you what happened to me. After I finally got through all of that—finally getting them to believe the voices were true—I still was burned to death. For trying to defend myself. Specifically, for crossdressing.

A reading: From the Book of Joan.

***JOAN TELLS HER STORY. MAYBE THIS IS SET UP AS A MORE TRADITIONAL TRIAL? OTHER MEMBERS PLAY A ROLE??***

JOAN OF ARC: • Peasant girl who received visions of St. Michael the Archangel, St. Margaret of Antioch, and St. Catherine of Siena, instructing her to support the king in the hundred years’ war, recovering her home country of France from England. • She was captured by allies of the English and put on trial by a pro-English bishop. • She heavily resisted many of these charges and provided convincing arguments for each one – it was hard to convict her, until she continued to wear male dress in order to protect herself from attack • It was the cross-dressing after she said that she would wear a dress again that got her burned. 25 years later, she was declared innocent and a martyr.

JOAN. I was just trying to defend myself. I was doing what was right. In spite of all the odds.

(All gather together, maybe begin holding hands, repeating affirmations to one another, in some kind of order like this):

ACOLYTES 3 AND 4 (Beat. Priestess is facing ACOLYTE 3. This should be gentler than the last section.) PRIESTESS. Tell us your story, witch. You’re one of us now. Do you rise? ACOLYTE 3. I rise.

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MARGUERITE. Why were you burned? ACOLYTE 3. Speaking the truth. JOAN. Why were you burned? ACOLYTE 4. Helping others.

***Acolyte 3 is perhaps one of the “Good Witches” and this can tie into the Priestess: “I was a good witch.” (Perhaps tie in to William Perkins’ A Discourse on the Damned Art of Witchcraft) Maybe we also play with the Malleus Maleficarum? Go through it like a checklist, read it and laugh at it, then put ourselves on trial and “Execute” ourselves – this becomes a breaking point? Then we put the other men on trial, begin to break the altar and rebuild our crowns. Maybe this happens with a long rope or piece of fabric we can all use or dance around.

***3 and 4 are INSPIRED by Anna (4) and Brita (3) Zippel and may go together. Anna was a well-off and made medicines, but they worked so well people began to suspect she conspired with the devil. Brita was poorer and not necessarily well-behaved. At the trial, Anna maintained her innocence and dignity. Brita fought. At the execution, Anna seemed to have given up all hope, Brita still fought. The Brita/Anna dichotomy can inspire some of the accusations and trial- like fighting again – I want their differences to show how different people handle being accused and how often it’s useless either way – whether you behave or whether you misbehave. Brita is definitely on the side of “I might as well misbehave.” These do not have to be historic depictions and are more free, just like with Joan and Marguerite. We won’t give then Brita/Anna names probably.

QUESTIONS – who will be saved and who is burned? What is the distinction between a sinner and a saint? We don’t know. These saints received visions and had gifts and are venerated. We are tossed aside and forgotten? What is the difference? Who decides? Who decides? -the men decide

III. LITURGY OF THE TRIAL

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The story of the Priestess’ life is told, ending with the separation and betrayal by the LOVER, leading to her trial.

ALL (except Priestess). Thanks be to God.

LOVERS’ MOVEMENT PIECE ***perhaps have a movement piece here where the pieces of the altar become to break apart and become undone. Potential song: “Landfill” by Daughter. Either way, there is a movement piece with music where she mourns, feels her world and her reality being torn from her, tries to chase it back with no avail. Slowly, she begins to reconcile herself with the idea of her darkness, her imperfection, and her being “a witch.”****

IV. THE LITURGY OF THE BURNING

THE INFERNO ***The carefully-building tension of this scene explodes into full chaos as the PRIESTESS erupts into flames (I’m thinking flame-colored fabric). This is a purging, an exorcism, and a release. Each of the acolytes contributes something to this raging inferno. It devastates the altar and the scenery as it has been arranged.

Things to consider: • This is a human sacrificial offering, essentially. Saying “We raise it up” or “I raise myself up,” “I raise it up” or something similar will help clarify this moment. It is important the Priestess says these things, as well as the Acolytes. • The Priestess is establishing her new form by burning away all of the old things left over, kind of like a phoenix. She is not dying in this moment. To some extent, she knows she won’t die. She is achieving transformation. • Each of the women—persecuted and killed heretics—has experienced a similar thing. In a way, this is the Priestess’ rite of passage. They are initiating her fully into the circle, at the same time as she offers herself up and initiates herself.

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• Chaos. It’s chaotic. It’s the years of destruction that these women have wished on those who wronged them, unleashed.

Each of the ACOLYTES eventually succumbs in this scene as the fire dies down. The PRIESTESS is reduced to ashes (metaphorically, of course. How do I physicalize being a pile of ash?)*****

(This is leading to her transformation and coronation – calling herself a witch, embracing that role bc it means she can be a priest and accept her own destiny. She can forgive him. She can forgive herself. She can let go and be free and not be controlled by her fears and the past. I will not let the past control me anymore).

V. COMMUNION ***The PRIESTESS and the ACOLYTES begin to reconstruct the altar and the stage. Out of it, they make a magnificent garb for the PRIESTESS – a crown with different elements from the stories. Each takes on and wears their own special article. Each welcomes each other back into the circle, extending peace to one another. PRIESTESS raises her crown***

PRIESTESS. Thank you, sisters*. (To the coven and the audience). And I welcome you, too, to the end of the play. I do not harbor anything against those who held things against me. Or, if I did, I wish to rise above it. So not because I’m defeated, but because I am free, I extend my own peace to you.

***ACOLYTES distribute some kind of offering to the audience – a tiny favor or a small fake flower***

***each of the acolytes adds or contributes something that will also put a nice button on their own arcs/journeys, as characters, as people, etc… to be devised*****

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Ceremonials – A Ritual Play Script

Setting: A ritual circle in the modern day. Since it is a ritual, however, it is a bit liminal, a bit outside of time. It is dressed with both Catholic and pagan elements. Visually mimics both nature and a church. Candles and a magnificent, meticulously-constructed altar are center.

Characters: The High Priestess/Anna – the leader of the ceremony. While she has everything organized, she is also the one in the most need. This initiation is for her. She harbors conflicted feelings toward the people in her past life that she needs to overcome before she can be initiated into the circle. She is still afraid she is in the wrong. Religious language is her security blanket.

Acolyte 1/Marguerite – a witch in the circle who also holds the persona of/portrays the story of Marguerite Porete, who was killed for writing a heretical book about divine love. She carries the book everywhere, can’t stop writing, thinking in stories – and loves love.

Acolyte 2/Joan of Arc – another witch in the circle who holds the persona of and portrays the story of Joan of Arc. Like Anna, she heard voices from God that led her to do things that people thought were heretical. She was sentenced to death for trying to defend herself.

Acolyte 3/Kitka of Sibiu – a young soul and has been through pain, but tries to carry herself with dignity and hold fast to her own truths. She wants to make sure everyone around her is happy, but is not too willing to please to hold her ground. Very close to Brigette, but loves all the women of her coven very much. She can understand where Anna is coming from, but tries to help Anna see what is best for her.

Acolyte 4/Brigette Ardelean – She was a healer in the 15th century in the Slavic regions near Romania. She is fiercely protective of people she considers to be her friends. She loves herbs and tea. She was a founder of this particular coven.

91 Notes on the Language: Text: Italicized text is quoted from the Roman Missal or other Catholic rites and prayers. [Text in brackets] is added [text in brackets with a strikethrough] is text omitted from the quoted text.

SCENE: A WITCHES’ CIRCLE. Preshow. Candles are lit. An altar has been meticulously set, placed there by the PRIESTESS. During the pre-show, each of the ACOLYTES mills about the space, ushering in guests, making them feel welcome, but also getting into their own ritual space. This might mean humming, singing, arranging some flowers or meditating. As showtime approaches, they withdraw more and more into the center, away from the people they’ve been greeting.

THE OPENING CHANT. When everyone is seated, the ACOLYTES gather and draw the circle. They sing the opening chant, almost as if they are summoning the PRIESTESS. ACOLYTE 4 begins the song.

ACOLYTE 4. (Repeating as many times as needed) Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna... ACOLYTE 2. (Joining in) Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna... ACOLYTE 1. (Joining) Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna... ACOLYTE 3. (Joining) Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna...

The four ACOLYTES begin to circle one another, growing faster, consecrating the space. They call out new names, significant to the PRIESTESS and each other. While one is calling out names, the other three sustain the chant.

ACOLYTE 4. Morrigan. ACOLYTE 3. Persephone.

92 ACOLYTE 4. St. Theresa Little Flower. ACOLYTE 2. St. Catherine of Siena. ACOLYTE 4. Lilith. ACOLYTE 3. Our Lady, Star of the Sea. ACOLYTE 2. Aphrodite. ACOLYTE 3. Mary Magdalene. ACOLYTE 2. Nwt. ACOLYTE 4. St. Perpetua. ACOLYTE 2. Eve.

As each of the ACOLYTE’S names is called, they exit the chant, center themselves, and find their place, waiting for the PRIESTESS.

ACOLYTE 4. Joan of Arc. ACOLYTE 3. Brigette Ardelean. ACOLYTE 4. Kitka of Sibiu ACOLYTE 2. Marguerite Porete ACOLYTE 1. Anna

By this time, the PRIESTESS has arrived. Everyone takes each other in. The PRIESTESS smiles – she has waited her whole life to say these words.

I. THE INTRODUCTORY RITE PRIESTESS. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. ACOLYTES. And with your spirit. PRIESTESS. (To the audience) And so it begins. Welcome to our liturgy, and to our circle. We have some very important work to do today. (To the ACOLYTES). Hello, my sisters. Thank you for allowing me to join you. We’ll begin by taking a moment to greet each other.

93 THE GRACE OF… ACOLYTE 4. (To PRIESTESS) Blessed Be and Merry Meet, my sister! Are you ready? PRIESTESS. Blessed be. I think I am. (To 2) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, my sister. ACOLYTE 2. And with you. (To 1) The grace of this fine day be with you. ACOLYTE 1. The grace of my love be with you, (To 3) and you. ACOLYTE 3. The grace of clean laundry be with you (to PRIESTESS) and you. PRIESTESS. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. ACOLYTE 4. And the grace of my hair. ACOLYTE 2. The grace of trumpets ACOLYTE 3. And angels ACOLYTE 1. And freedom ACOLYTE 2. And a warm cup of tea ACOLYTE 3. The grace of flower that blooms in the snow ACOLYTE 2. Be with you. PRIESTESS. And the grace of— ACOLYTE 4. My hair, my foot, the goddess, and fire. All the things that are beautiful in your soul, be with you. PRIESTESS. (Hesitates at fire) The grace of—our sisterhood be with you all. ALL. And also with you.

THE PENITENTIAL RITE. ACOLYTE 4. Shall we begin now, my child? ACOLYTE 3. That was a beautiful prayer. PRIESTESS. Yes. I want to begin with the Mass. ACOLYTE 1. The Mass? ACOLYTE 3. The Mass… ACOLYTE 2. I remember that… ACOLYTE 1. Are you sure that’s what you want? PRIESTESS. Yes. (Beat). I really think we should.

94 ACOLYTE 2. But aren’t you here because that’s what you’re running away from? Because the Church—they accused you. ACOLYTE 1. Why would you want to go back? PRIESTESS. I never got to hold one of my own.

Beat. All the ACOLYTES acknowledge this – it’s because she’s a woman.

ACOLYTE 4. Well, alright then. Tell us how it goes. PRIESTESS. We’ll start by cleansing our sins— ACOLYTE 3. Sins… ACOLYTE 2. Sins. ACOLYTE 1. Oh I remember sin. PRIESTESS. Yes. Please. Let’s do that first. Sins. You know. Negative energy. Cleansing the space. All of that stuff.

ACOLYTE 4 gives the PRIESTESS a knowing look, and, in spite of the other ACOLYTE’s hesitations, ushers her in to proceed. They gather, join hands, to begin the Penitential Rite. PRIESTESS assumes another dignified stance.

MEA CULPA. PRIESTESS.[Brothers and] Sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate these sacred mysteries.

At the words, all of the ACOLYTES, led by the PRIESTESS, begin to move, slowly, then gradually build as ACOLYTE 4 begins to object.

ALL. I confess to almighty God, and you, my [brothers and] sisters, that I have greatly sinned. In my thoughts and in my words In what I have done, and what I have failed to do. Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault… ACOLYTE 4. No!

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The PRIESTESS and the other ACOLYTES continue to repeat “Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault,” at the lead of the PRIESTESS. ACOLYTE 1 begins to object to ACOLYTE 4.

ACOLYTE 4. It’s not your fault. ACOLYTE 1. Then who’s at fault? ACOLYTE 4. It’s not your fault. ACOLYTE 1. Then who’s at fault? ACOLYTE 4. It’s not anyone’s fault— ACOLYTE 1. Then who— PRIESTESS. (Breaking them off) It’s my fault. I’m the one who did this. That’s the only explanation I have. That’s the only one I can give myself. Where did they go? What was I doing wrong? There must have been something sick, and twisted, and wicked within me in my terrible and most grievous fault— ACOLYTE 4. You are good. You are holy. PRIESTESS. I thought I was good. ACOLYTE 4. You were living your truth. (To 1) And you? ACOLYTE 1. I was loving God. ACOLYTE 2. I was serving my country. ACOLYTE 3. I was a kindred spirit, tied to no evil. ACOLYTE 4. I was a healer. And you? PRIESTESS. I was—living my truth. ACOLYTE 3. But what is the truth when they damn us for lies?

At this, ACOLYTES 1, 2, and 3, as well as the PRIESTESS retreat back inward to themselves. Repeating things such as “They lied” “they damned me for lies” “My heart, my heart” “My fault – who’s fault? My fault, who’s fault?” “It was my fault, it was my most grievous fault, I lied, I lied, I lied…” They really let loose, scatter out of frustration. ACOLYTE 4 attempts to usher them back in.

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ACOLYTE 4. We all know what are own truths are. And are these what they call sins? Lies? I was saving lives, and I was good at it. (To 3) What was your sin? ACOLYTE 3. Being a woman. (To 2) What was yours? ACOLYTE 2. Destroying the peace. What was yours? (To 1) ACOLYTE 1. Writing in French (To PRIESTESS) What was yours?

They all turn to look at her.

PRIESTESS. I don’t know. ACOLYTE 1. Or do you not want to admit it? PRIESTESS. Whatever it was, it was my fault. I know that. I’m the one who snuck out, I disobeyed. I broke the rules. Do you see that? Even by being here with you today. It’s all not allowed. And if I hadn’t disobeyed, I’d still be there. I’d be safe and happy and warm. I’d have a husband and a church and a family who loves me. But for some reason I lost it all. So it was my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault… ACOLYTES. You are holy. You are divine. PRIESTESS. I did this. ACOLYTES. You are not to blame, there is no blame. PRIESTESS. I’m in the wrong. And I’ll never know. I will never know what I truly did wrong.

Throughout the PRIESTESS’ monologue below, each of the ACOLYTES beings to turn to each other, blessing, embracing, and encouraging one another, saying these words.

ACOLYTE 4. My sin was healing. ACOLYTE 1. My sin was knowing. ACOLYTE 2. My sin was listening. ACOLYTE 3. My sin was obeying. ACOLYTE 4. My sin was loving. My sin was caring for women. My sin was independence. My sin was creation. PRIESTESS. I’m in the wrong, I’m in the wrong… why couldn’t I just obey?

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Why couldn’t I stay put there in the castles that they made? I was perfect. Why can’t I be perfect? I want to be good. I’m not a witch. I’m good. I’m good…

ALL. (Except PRIESTESS) My sin was nothing.

All stare once again at the PRIESTESS. ACOLYTE 4 perhaps approaches.

ACOLYTE 4. You are not broken. PRIESTESS. Therefore I ask Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, All the angels and saints, And you my [brothers and] sisters, To pray for me to the Lord Our God. ACOLYTE 2. (Exasperated sarcasm) Lord, have mercy. PRIESTESS. (Not at all sarcastic) Christ, have mercy. ACOLYTE 1. (And maybe others) Lord have mercy. ACOLYTE 4. Anna. PRIESTESS. I— ACOLYTE 3. We were all good witches. PRIESTESS. I’m sorry— ACOLYTE 4. You have nothing to apologize for. That is my point. PRIESTESS. I just—I’m sorry. ACOLYTE 4. We want to help you heal. But this is not the way to do it. PRIESTESS. (Gathering herself) I’m sorry. I didn’t realize— Okay. Um. Wow. Okay. That was—um, what’s next? ACOLYTE 1. We all tell our stories. PRIESTESS. No we um, dedicate the space. Dedicate the space. We need to pray. ACOLYTE 1. We need to know the story, there’s an audience waiting. ACOLYTE 3. Let her pray.

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They all gather in the next position.

THE COLLECT. PRIESTESS. Almighty God, [Today we commemorate a very special day. Many days. All of them actually. But today, of all days, I come to you, and I come before this coven to tell a story. And to offer a prayer. A prayer of myself. If the mass is the place where we are supposed to celebrate Jesus’ life, and we are all supposed to live as Jesus did, then perhaps, if you may, every day in life is a bit holy. Each moment, a chance to be divine. Even if that moment is a sin. (She might look to her ensemble at this moment). Or not a sin. Or—nevermind.

May we see beauty in imperfection. May we see that darkness is also light. Grant me the power to speak truth into the words that I’ve never been allowed to speak before. (She again looks to her ensemble, perhaps for approval). May truth – divine truth, and my truth - lead all my actions here today.

Beat.

And may we never, ever, EVER.., burn another witch.]

Beat.

WeAskThisThroughChristOurLord,Amen.

She concludes her prayer. The ensemble is relieved that that bit is now over. They look onto her in silence, waiting for her next move.

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GLORIA. PRIESTESS. …we forgot the Gloria. ACOLYTE 3. That doesn’t matter. PRIESTESS. Can we start over? ACOLYTE 4. Just do it now. PRIESTESS. No, I really think— ACOLYTE 1. Just tell us what it is.

The PRIESTESS considers this, finally, agrees.

PRIESTESS. Glory to God in the highest… ACOLYTE 2. Do you always have to be talking about God? (Beat.) The male god. ACOLYTE 1. God doesn’t have a gender. ACOLYTE 2. Where we’re from, he certainly does. ACOLYTE 1. He’s not supposed to.. PRIESTESS. Can I just do this please? There’s an audience. (Beat.) Sorry. ACOLYTE 1. No— ACOLYTE 4. Don’t apologize. ACOLYTE 3. We want you to do this. ACOLYTE 2. Just tell us how it goes. ACOLYTE 1. And put a story in it. PRIESTESS. Glory to God in the Highest—and on earth peace to people of good will. ACOLYTE 1. “People of good will...” Yet we were all burned for trying to help other people. PRIESTESS. Maybe we’re the good people that deserve peace.. The world is pretty chaotic… And we’re here, after all. Okay. Um… let’s keep this going. We praise you-- ACOLYTE 4. Why does god need praise? PRIESTESS. He’s God. ACOLYTE 2. Then surely He knows how important He is? PRIESTESS. Well, yes, but I think it’s more for us. We’re thankful and happy for his creation, so we give him praise. ACOLYTE 1. We could praise his creations, instead of praising God directly.

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PRIESTESS. Well, yes but—I think God is like an artist. You wouldn’t praise the artwork, you’d praise who made it. I’m just trying to say thank you to God. Isn’t it good to just be thankful? ACOLYTE 3. I think what she is saying has… some merit. (To PRIESTESS) Why don’t we keep going? PRIESTESS. Right umm, ok. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you... ACOLYTE 2. Wait, we what? PRIESTESS. We give you thanks for your great glory? ACOLYTE 2. I don’t like the word glorify. PRIESTESS. Why not? ACOLYTE 2. It implies that what you’re glorifying hasn’t done anything wrong. PRIESTESS. But he hasn’t! He’s God! ACOLYTE 4. Do you feel that the things they did to you were your fault? ACOLYTE 2. God was the one who sent us all to die. ACOLYTE 1. We were all killed in the name of God. PRIESTESS. That was men, that was humanity, that was just a bunch of evil, misguided people.. that wasn’t God. At least, that’s not what God intended. ACOLYTE 2. But if God is all-knowing- ACOLYTE 3. What if we gave thanks for other things? ACOLYTE 1. Yeah! We could give glory to people who work hard, or those who are fighting for their rights. ACOLYTE 3. Or to the flowers in the field? The grass, the sky, the stars? We came from stars, born of light. Stardust with life breathed into it. ACOLYTE 4. Give thanks for the powers within us. PRIESTESS. Alright. That’s good. God is within us, too, and in all the things in creation. So that only makes sense. Glory to God in the highest, [and the people who work in the field, the flowers and the trees, and the stardust in our will.]

All perhaps nod, satisfied, or dissatisfied, wait for the PRIESTESS’ next move.

ACOLYTE 4. Anna, have you done what you set out to do with the Gloria?

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PRIESTESS. I just wanted to say thank you. To God. And to ourselves. I see everything here as an extension of God. With the holy spirit in the Glory of God the Father. I think everything has a bit of that spirit in it. That’s all holiness to me, and that’s God, that’s divinity. ACOLYTE 3. I think that works. But I also think that God knows what you think of him. You don’t need to say it all the time. ACOLYTE 4. Divinity is all you need to experience. ACOLYTE 2. And there’s no one here you have to please anymore. You can praise God, this divinity, however you want. PRIESTESS. Okay. Alright then… Thank you, everything. You’re really great. Amen.

II. LITURGY OF THE WORD ACOLYTE 1. Now tell us your story. Tell us another one. PRIESTESS. …what? ACOLYTE 4. A reading! ACOLYTE 1. (Pulling out her beloved book) A READING! From the Book of— ACOLYTE 2. Not yet, Marge. ACOLYTE 4. (Revealing a deck of tarot cards) A reading. It’s customary to do one before we work. It can help us better understand your situation, and what we can do to help you.

The coven gathers, maybe the others ask for each others signs or begin reading each others’ palms. Maybe Marguerite does.. bibliomancy?

Pick your cards. Reveal your fate.

The PRIESTESS arranges the cards in her spread. Turns them over.

PRIESTESS. I see— ACOLYTE 4. The Fool. PRIESTESS. A fool. She is a fool. ACOLYTE 4. Fool? PRIESTESS. She’s a fool!

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ACOLYTE 4. Try again. PRIESTESS. Fool! ACOLYTE 4. No! PRIESTESS. Fool! ACOLYTE 4. You’re the fool! Try again! (Beat.) Be honest. And kind to yourself. PRIESTESS. She’s full of life. Believes in all of life’s promises. She hears voices and sees the signs of God everywhere… Maybe she’s living foolishly. Maybe she’s reckless. Maybe she’s never had her heart broken or had anyone tell her she’s wicked before. This rashness, though, this beautiful bright-eyed naivety… it can get her caught. Given away. She’s ruled overhead by— ACOLYTE 4. The Heirophant and the Emperor. PRIESTESS. Her men, The Church and the State. Perhaps someone she—someone she knows. These are keepers of these promises to her. Structures of power, rigid and constructed to keep her safe and confined. Building and designing grand walls of doctrine, castles and cathedrals of their promises all around her. She’s comfortable within them. Very comfortable. Crossed by… ACOLYTE 4. The Lovers. PRIESTESS. The Lovers. Fuck. ACOLYTE 4. Keep going. PRIESTESS. No. ACOLYTE 4. She is—? PRIESTESS. No. ACOLYTE 4. She is—? PRIESTESS. In love. With them. With him. ACOLYTE 4. Totally tied up in love with them. PRIESTESS. Totally tied up in love with them. She loves it all and can’t let it go, no matter what people say, regardless of how much sense it doesn’t make, and how many times they reject and deride her. Something about it still keeps drawing her, pulling her…

By this time, this reading has caught the attention of the other coven members. ACOLYTE 1 reveals a card from her book, crosses to them. Becomes MARGUERITE.

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MARGUERITE. I know what it’s like to be in love that way. ACOLYTE 3. In love! ACOLYTE 4. In love. MARGUERITE. And I know exactly how it ends. (Hands card to the PRIESTESS). I think it’s about time we share our stories. It will help you gather the strength to proclaim to your own. ACOLYTE 3. Yes, that’s a good idea! Sharing our stories and offering gifts, as blessings to help you on your way. ACOLYTE 4. Well alright then, I believe it’s time. ACOLYTE 2. (Revealing MARGUERITE’S book) A reading! MARGURITE. (Taking the book from ACOLYTE 2) From the Book of Marguerite. Or, as its full title remains, “The Mirror of Simple Souls who are Annihilated and Remain Only in Will and Desire of Love.” ACOLYTE 3. What a mouthful. MARGUERITE. By Marguerite Porete.

The three other ACOLYTES take up the characters of SOUL, REASON, and LOVE. Maybe there’s a slight costume change. As the three characters narrate MARGUERITE’s life, she acts out parts of the story. MARGUERITE speaks to the audience, as well as to her sisters. REASON – 4, LOVE – 3, SOUL – 2.

MARGUERITE. My book, Mirror of Simple Souls, was frowned down upon by the Catholic Church. Well, let's be honest. They were never a fan of me. After all, I wrote in French instead of Latin, and when they told me to stop doing so, I told them no. That didn't sit well with them. REASON. "They were furious with her," saith Reason. "Marguerite Porete didn't care to follow their rules. She tried to break away from their system, disrupt the order of things." LOVE. "For most of her life, she had never done anything like this," saith Love. "Marguerite lived peacefully and was very devoted to the Church and God." SOUL. "Too devoted," saith Soul. REASON. "Too devoted," repeated Reason.

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LOVE. "Marguerite's love for God turned into something more. Something that was more extreme and dangerous," saith Love. REASON. "People began to notice her change when it came to God. Marguerite went from admiring and praising him to loving him and to even saying that the two of them were one," Reason chuckled. (Gives us a chuckle) "It's absurd." SOUL. "When writing the Mirror of Simple Souls, Marguerite had outed herself to the entire world about her love for God," saith Soul. "The townspeople began to avoid her." MARGUERITE. Those who I called my friends stopped talking to me, one by one… LOVE. "People began to talk about her behind her back," saith Love. MARGUERITE. Even though I knew they were all talking about me, I still kept my head up. I refused to let them see me down. SOUL. "There were a small few who were understanding of Marguerite and enjoyed her work. It was a local bishop who took her book.” LOVE. “But not long after that, she was caught in the deed and sent to the Inquisitor of France. He was not happy.” MARGUERITE. (Directed toward the PRIESTESS, as if she’s the Inquisitor) Why are you looking at me like this? I consulted with others from the church about my writing. And they said that it was fine-- ANNA. You have to stop. REASON. “The Inquisitor didn’t listen to Marguerite, the same way she didn’t listen to his orders about having to stop circulating her book.” LOVE. “Marguerite didn’t see anything wrong with her writings, after all, she had those from the Church help her with it. God himself was beside her as she was writing.” SOUL. “Maybe she was not nervous because of her connection to God. Maybe a part of her knew that everything was going to be fine. That even if she were to die, it would be fine because God was there with her.” REASON. “Or maybe, Marguerite was trembling on the inside. She was terrified of whatever was going to happen next.” LOVE. “However she was feeling, Marguerite still refused to speak, nor did she take back the claims from her writing. Soon after, she was put on trial for heresy.”

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MARGUERITE. Despite knowing that they were going to burn me, I still refused to take back anything. My ideas, my writings, I even refused to take the oath. Many saw me as stubborn or foolish or maybe both, but I did not care. I felt wrong if I were to go back on my own beliefs just to please the Church.

MARGUERITE is in position for a tableau of a witch burning.

REASON. “When it was time for her burning, Marguerite was calm and collected.” SOUL. “Many from all over came for her burning. They were expecting Marguerite to shout, to beg, to scream, or to even laugh like the others before her.” LOVE. “But she did not and that confused all of them.” REASON. “Why wasn’t she crying? Why wasn’t she angry? Why was she standing there calmly?” SOUL. “Even as they read out loud her crimes to the world, she still remained there, saying…” MARGUERITE and LOVE. “I will not back down. You will not see me break down. He will still be at my side because He is a part of me.” SOUL. “But her voice was not heard by the crowd. From their perspective, she was saying a last minute prayer to God. Asking for forgiveness.” REASON. “Many thought she was finally going to scream when they started to light her on fire.” SOUL. “Yet she did not. Even as the fire started to spread and reach for her, even as her heart started to race, Marguerite didn’t let them to get to her.” LOVE. “The only thing that they could see, but not hear, was her mouth moving. Only the Inquisitors near her could hear what she was saying.” MARGUERITE. (Repeating this as she is burned) “I am God, says Love, for Love is God and God is Love, and this Soul is God by the condition of Love. I am God by divine nature and this Soul is God by righteousness of Love…” SOUL. “Her voice started off as strong and powerful, never losing her confidence that she had at the beginning…” REASON. “It wasn’t until she finally died that the Inquisitors were unable to hear her. But even so, her words were still ringing in their ears.”

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SOUL. “It was finally over. Marguerite Porete was dead and her books would no longer be seen by the public.” LOVE. “Or so you would think. Despite the Church disliking the Mirror of Simple Souls, they still used Marguerite’s writing. Just without her name.” REASON. “Are we surprised?” asked Reason. “The Church made it seem like they were against her writing, when they weren’t at all.” SOUL. “It was because a woman wrote it that made them unhappy.” LOVE. “That’s why the Church took the Mirror of Simple Souls and taught it to their followers, without crediting Marguerite for the piece.” MARGUERITE. I’m sure you didn’t know about this, sister, as someone who puts their full trust into the Church. The same Church who have used us and hurt all of us, the same Church that has killed all of us for petty crimes. And while I should be upset for them using my work, I am not, and do not hold any grudges against them or God. But that also means that I have cut all ties with the Church, and I am fine with that. (Finally at rest, MARGUERITE gives the PRIESTESS her offering) “Thus this precious beloved of mine is taught and guided by me, without herself, for she is transformed into me, and such a perfect one, says Love, takes my nourishment.” I give this to you, my sister. PRIESTESS. They burned you for heresy. MARGUERITE. The Heresy of the Free Spirit. (turning to the Priestess). That’s what they called it. That we do not need anyone but ourselves to communicate with God. PRIESTESS. (In agreement) No one. MARGUERITE. Not even the Church. PRIESTESS. And that’s why you were dangerous. MARGUERITE. We are all heretics. But we are all divine. (Beat.) I’m working on my next book, by the way, and— ACOLYTE 3. Marge. MARGUERITE. Alright. PRIESTESS. I’m sorry for what happened to you. MARGUERITE. There’s no need to apologize. I’m exactly where I need to be. PRIESTESS. But I just— MARGUERITE. What?

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ACOLYTE 2. What, Anna? PRIESTESS. The card was Death. MARGUERITE. Yes. PRIESTESS. The card you handed me was Death. MARGUERITE. Well, I was burned, wasn’t I? PRIESTESS. Yes. MARGUERITE. And weren’t you as well? PRIESTESS. I don’t want to talk about it. ACOLYTE 2. Well you’re going to have to get over that pretty quick. (Maybe indicates audience). We’re all gathered here for you. (Beat.) Give me your dagger.

PRIESTESS hands the dagger to ACOLYTE 2. She begins her transformation into JOAN.

JOAN. Do you reject Satan? PREISTESS. I do. JOAN. And all his works? PRIESTESS. I do. JOAN. And all his empty promises? PRIESTESS. I do. JOAN. Do you believe in God Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth? PRIESTESS. I do. JOAN. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? PRIESTESS. I do. JOAN. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? PRIESTESS. I do. JOAN. Good. Then you know what you believe. But you can reject Satan and believe in God and say every ‘I do’ in the book and still be put to your death. So what do you really believe?

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PRIESTESS. (Struggling) That everything is a little bit holy. And that the voices of God whisper to me. That I can speak to angels, and the rest of the divine. That he’s granted me special gifts… and I should use them. JOAN. I hear the voices too. But let me tell you what happened to me. After I got through all of that—finally getting them to believe the voices were true—I still was burned to death. For trying to defend myself. Specifically, for crossdressing. A reading: From the Book of Joan.

THE ACOLYTES pull her back and restrain her, pushing her to the ground. The ACOLYTES form a judicial shape around her. JOAN kneels, looking up at them, on trial.

ACOLYTE 3. Joan, you have committed crimes against the state of England, as well as against the natural order of men and women by not conforming to the standards of your sex. ACOLYTE 4. It is the donning of male garments that shall condemn you to death. JOAN. Male garments? Pants? ACOLYTE 1. Crossdressing is a crime against nature. JOAN. This is nonsense. You believe that I hear voices from God but condemn me for wearing pants to protect myself from men who would take advantage of me. PRIESTESS. Regardless of circumstance, we cannot allow this crime to go unpunished. Women cannot be afforded the same status as men.

JOAN breaks from the scene and delivers her next line to the audience.

JOAN. There we go. The crux of it all. I am a woman, and my heroism must be punished, must be twisted into heresy and witchcraft. (Back in the scene) I led armies. I came from peasantry and farming to do this - and you all concern yourselves with how I dress? ACOLYTE 1. It is not right ACOLYTE 3. A crime against men ACOLYTE 4. A sin against the cloth PRIESTESS. Rebellion against God.

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JOAN. (To audience again) I could see in their eyes that they knew not how to convict me for the crime of being a powerful woman. But they wished to be rid of all that I stood for. (Back in the scene) You are not being just. PRIESTESS. You refuse to change your ways. ACOLYTE 3. You refuse to conform. PRIESTESS. To abide by the law ACOLYTE 4. We must sentence— JOAN. No! ACOLYTE 4. –you, Joan— JOAN. No, no please, you have no right, no ground ALL. We must sentence you to death. JOAN. You have no right. Please. I wish to go back to France. I want to go home. I’m only 19. Please. I- I don’t want to die. I want to see my mother. I want my mother. Please, please I’m so young. I want to see my mother.

Now the other ACOLYTES break from the scene and narrate while Joan continues to beg.

ACOLYTE 3. She grovels.

THE ACOLYTES begin to walk JOAN to the pillar, perhaps circle her.

JOAN. I’m too young to die. ACOLYTE 1. The Joan that led battles and saw bloodshed. This was that same strong girl. PRIESTESS. (Interjecting as Anna) But this is not strength. She’s begging and crying. JOAN. I will face the execution with a grim stare, but I must allow myself to feel. Strength is feeling, and living in your emotion. ACOLYTE 4. Strength is not remaining stoic. ACOLYTE 1. The execution comes. JOAN. I hear the spectators argue.

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Yelling get louder, until,

PRIESTESS/ACOLYTE 1. She is a witch! ACOLYTE 4/ACOLYTE 3. She is holy! She is divine! JOAN. Why can’t I be both?

Joan steps out of the picture, addresses the audience directly.

JOAN. I hated God. In that moment. I knew that He must have known this is how His plan would end. He knew, and He still commanded that I walk into that battle.

She gifts her offering to the altar and PRIESTESS. Perhaps a daffodil, or flower off her sash. Perhaps a heart or red crystal—representative of legends that her heart did not burn.

I fear not death. I am burned at the stake a witch and a criminal, but I die a hero. I am declared innocent, a martyr, and a Saint. All of this and still no peace. Still no respect for the actions of women. I have been on bloodied battlefields and burned at the stake, and in my sainthood I cannot rest. We must fight on. This is what I give to you.

PRIESTESS. I’m so sorry. JOAN. There’s no need to be. I was just trying to defend myself. I was doing what was right. In spite of all the odds. I was Catholic, and disobedient.

All gather together, maybe begin holding hands, repeating affirmations to one another, in some kind of order like this.

ALL. May you always do what is right. May you follow your heart. May you do the right thing. May you know you’re on the right path.

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Follow your heart… Follow your heart… PRIESTESS. I followed my heart. JOAN. I followed my heart. MARGUERITE. I followed my heart. ACOLYTE 3. I followed my heart. ACOLYTE 4. And what did it get me? ALL. BURNED AT THE STAKE.

All accuse each other.

PRIESTESS. WITCH! MARGUERITE. HERETIC! JOAN. SINNER! ACOLYTE 3. WITCH! ACOLYTE 4. WITCH! PRIESTESS. WITCH!

Beat. Priestess is facing ACOLYTE 3. This should be gentler than the last section.

PRIESTESS. Tell us your story, witch. You’re one of us now. Do you rise? ACOLYTE 3. I rise. ACOLYTE 4. I rise. MARGUERITE. Why were you burned? ACOLYTE 3. The false truth of others. JOAN. Why were you burned? ACOLYTE 4. The entitlement of others.

A sound transition. ACOLYTE 3 and 4 become KITKA and BRIGETTE. For each of the sections of text, the ACOLYTES create statues that represent these stories,

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and KITKA and BRIGETTE perform specific motions that go along with their stories and identities.

BRIGETTE. I was a healer in my village. I specialized as a midwife. My mother was a healer before me and her mother before her. I knew how to listen to the forest to best serve my patients. I knew how to ignore the stares of the village. Ultimately they came to understand that they couldn’t survive without my herbs and treatments. KITKA. I lived in a community where many were sick. My mother was one of them. I tried to heal my mother myself, but that art had been lost with the healer they burned. I was told she had turned against the village when I was very young, was killed, and no one spoke of it now. BRIGETTE. I began treating a wealthy man’s wife through her pregnancy. She was kind, but I could always feel his eyes observing the curve of my body. This was not an uncommon occurrence, but most men had the humility not to act upon their desires. After all, I brought their children into this world. KITKA. The man I worked for was her “first victim.” Or so he would say when gesturing to the scar he bore across his cheek. His wife had died giving him a daughter. I washed their clothes and stayed as far away from him as possible. He would sometimes come to the river where I would wash to keep an eye on me and make sure I was doing everything right. Or so he said. BRIGETTE. One day, as I was preparing a tea brew to help with his wife’s swelling, he came into my home. He came up behind me and said— ACOLYTE 2. (As the man) Your hair looks beautiful today. KITKA. I never said anything to him and, for some reason, it angered him. I would simply bow my head and keep my gaze low. BRIGETTE. I kept mixing my herbs. I could feel his breath upon my neck and his hand begin to creep around my waist. (Man mimics these motions described) I told him to - PRIESTESS. Stop. KITKA. When he dragged me from the river one day, I spoke to him for the first time... (She stops, eyes closing in pain) PRIESTESS. (Voice soft) Please, stop. BRIGETTE. He didn’t listen. I slowly grabbed my medicinal knife and turned in warning. He pursued and I cut his cheek by accident. He called me a—

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ACOLYTE 1. (As man) Whore. BRIGETTE. And he ran out. I think I was one of the lucky ones. KITKA. I have never been very lucky. BRIGETTE. I remember the last person I treated was a little girl who tripped and fell as she played in the forest. I bandaged her knee as she asked me so many questions about my herbs. She was so bright and kind. I sent her on her way with some sweets. All I ever wanted to do was help my neighbors. KITKA. I remember a time before my mother’s illness. I would play in the woods, watching the flowers dance in the breeze. One day I was careless and fell. A skinned knee, a glorified scratch. But that healer took me in and treated me as if I were her own child. A kiss on the forehead, some sweets, and I was off. (A pause). You know the rest. I was tainted by association. The last one healed. BRIGETTE. Months later, the man’s wife dies on my table during childbirth despite my doing everything in my power to save her. KITKA. His daughter became ill shortly after he came to the river. BRIGETTE. His anger was explosive and before I knew it I was accused of cursing her childbirth out of jealousy. KITKA. With no healer, we had no hope of saving her. And I was blamed. ACOLYTE 1. That bitch threatened me! ACOLYTE 2. She killed my wife! PRIESTESS. She tried to seduce me! ACOLYTE 2. She killed my daughter! PRIESTESS. She spoke with the devil! ACOLYTE 1. She writes her name in his book! PRIESTESS. Dances with him at midnight! ACOLYTE 2. She poisons this town! ACOLYTE 1. Burn out the curse! ENSEMBLE. (Repeats until broken by KITKA and BRIGETTE) WITCH, HERETIC, SINNER. KITKA & BRIGETTE. NO! I am only a witch because he says I am.

A moment of recognition passes.

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KITKA. I wish I could have known you BRIGETTE. You were so young. He should never have taken advantage of you the way he tried to take me. KITKA. I just wanted to help my mother. I’m not evil.

The two of them embrace.

BRIGETTE. You’re not evil. You’re an eternal spring of good. KITKA. Remember you did good BRIGETTE. Remember you are holy KITKA. Remember there is still beauty despite everything BRIGETTE. Remember you are your own creator. KITKA. Remember you are not what they made you. BRIGETTE. Remember Eve’s sin is not your curse. KITKA & BRIGETTE. (To PRIESTESS) Remember your story. Remember why you are here.

BRIGETTE and KITKA move to give PRIESTESS their offering

KITKA. Take this crocus. May you bloom in adversity and remember you should always be treated with kindness. BRIGETTE. Take this stinging nettle. May you remember that even the plain and painful can help you heal. PRIESTESS. Thank you so much, my sisters. I had no idea— BRIGETTE. It was time for you to know. KITKA. We just want to help. PRIESTESS. That’s what I’m starting to realize. All of us. We just wanted to help. We were just doing what we thought was right. And we were condemned. Is this just? Is this the way of God? Is there any difference at all between a sinner and a saint except those that end up glorified, and those who are condemned? All of us had visions and voices, prophecies and dreams. Gifts. And we wanted to use them. Who are we humans to murder them for it?

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It doesn’t matter anyway, once you’re accused. Once you’re accused, I’m starting to realize, your mind has been made up for you. It doesn’t matter what you were before you were accused. Because now you’re the accused. You get no say at all in what happens next. And there’s no way out. Not as it seems to be. Inside these beautiful, heavenly castle walls that one day crumbled and turned against us. Against me. And the only way out is…

She has a deep moment of recognition, resolution.

The accused rises. I am the accused.

III. LITURGY OF THE TRIAL – DO YOU REJECT SATAN MOVEMENT ONE. ACOLYTE 1. Recount your story for us. From the beginning. PRIESTESS. Part One. ACOLYTE 4. (Raising the card) The Fool! PRIESTESS. A young girl kneels in a garden, at the foot of a statue. ACOLYTE 2. She’s crying. ACOLYTE 1. All about love. ACOLYTE 4. All about men. PRIESTESS. I was a good witch, back then. ACOLYTE 2. The Mary statue appears to look at her. It says nothing. ACOLYTE 3. She cries there for a long time. ACOLYTE 1. Angels begin to surround her. ACOLYTE 2. She can hear them whisper. They say…

Each of the ACOLYTES whisper some kind of personal blessing to her.

ACOLYTE 4. The angels bring her comfort. ACOLYTE 1. They say… ACOLYTE 3. I am with you.

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PRIESTESS. Who are you? ACOLYTE 3. The Lord.

PRIESTESS begins scrawling on a notebook. Possibly write “I LOVE YOU” and show it to the audience.

ACOLYTE 2. She begins to write out her feelings and desires. She leaves a letter there. ACOLYTE 4. It is an offering. ACOLYTE 3. (As Mary statue) What do you write me, my child? PRIESTESS. I want to love. I want to do good. I want to spread all of the love and kindness I have felt back into the world. I want a husband, and a family. Can you watch over me, and give this to me? I truly feel that this is my calling… if I can never have a church of my own. I can at least have a family. With my husband, my soulmate. With our love that shines brighter and deeper, and truly reflects all the light and glory and beauty of God. I want people to look at us and have hope. For the future, for God. I’ve always felt that way, ever since I was a little girl. That I must find this man and bring the light of our love to the world. My friends think it’s quite silly. But do you hear that, Blessed Mother? Do you believe me? ACOLYTE 3. I do. ACOLYTE 2. She tucks the paper under a heavy rock. No one would see it unless they were looking. ACOLYTE 1. She leaves all of her thoughts and prayers, wants, and desires there, folded up in that tiny piece of paper under a rock. ACOLYTE 4. A week later when she returns, PRIESTESS. It is gone.

MOVEMENT TWO. PRIESTESS. Part Two. ACOLYTE 1. The Heirophant and the Emperor. ACOLYTE 2. The voices don’t go away. They continue. But as she grows, she gets new powers, her intuition grows stronger.

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ACOLYTE 3. She can see the future. She can heal. She can interpret dreams. PRIESTESS. She visits graveyards. ACOLYTE 1. And she talks to the dead. ACOLYTE 4. She doesn’t think the dead are listening, she knows they are. As is the whole earth. ACOLYTE 3. She can feel the earth reaching up to embrace her, just like the angels at her side. PRIESTESS. She continues her very important work. The work of living, and being, and loving. ACOLYTE 1. She knows her mission is to spread love to the world. ACOLYTE 3. To be a healer. ACOLYTE 2. A leader. ACOLYTE 4. A witch. ACOLYTE 1. But she does not yet know she is supposed to be a witch. ACOLYTE 2. She thinks she’s destined to be a mother. ACOLYTE 4. An artist. ACOLYTE 3. A wife. PRIESTESS. But what she really wanted to be was a priest. So she could help change her world. And change the Church. But that, she already knew, was impossible. ACOLYTE 1. She doesn’t yet know that we get to write our own stories. ACOLYTE 4. And change our own worlds. ACOLYTE 2. God answered her prayers. And the church kept her on a tight leash. For the most part, she was happy about this.

During this next section, the ACOLYTES assume the character of archetypal men in the PRIESTESS’ life. There is some kind of object or costume piece to signify this. They should resemble or be connected to the structural elements of the altar and the set. PRIESTESS assumes a praying stance, the others possibly imitate. We are in a staunch, Catholic community.

PRIESTESS. Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name… ACOLYTE 4. (Acting as Priest) Anna.

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PRIESTESS. Yes, Father? ACOLYTE 4. Tell me, what is the way to heaven? PRIESTESS. To do good, have faith, and receive the sacraments. ACOLYTE 4. And what are the sacraments? PRIESTESS. The way we experience Heaven. ACOLYTE 4. Are those who do not receive the sacraments saved? PRIESTESS. Yes.

Big stunned silence. After a moment,

MARGUERITE. (Announcing) The Free Spirit. ACOLYTE 4. What do you mean? PRIESTESS. Well, if the sacraments are how we can experience Heaven, and all creation reflects God’s design, everything here is a reflection of the divine. And if everything here reflects the divine, then I see it as kind of hard to not take in the sacraments, because the sacraments are everywhere. They’re all around us. It’s part of living. It’s a part of the holiness of being on the earth, and of being alive. I see and feel and hear so many wonderful things. The angels of God talk to me, and they communicate to many others here as well. Is this not itself holiness? Is this not an expression of the divine? These are gifts of the Spirit, given by God to others. Our God is loving, omniscient, and infinite. Why then, would his goodness not be extended to all the earth, in all the wonderful ways we can experience it? ACOLYTE 4. I think you’re forgetting one crucial thing, Anna. PRIESTESS. And what is that, Holy Father? ACOLYTE 4. The Devil.

The room changes, everyone perhaps strikes pose.

ACOLYTE 4. I know your secrets. When you sneak out at night and start rambling into the woods. When you practice magic at the foot of our Holy Mother. Speaking to the dead, lying, blaspheming, having all these visions and so-called prophesies. These gifts you have? I’d take a

119 good, long look at where they’re coming from. And I’d resolve to put them away forever. Because you are not speaking with angels, you are speaking to the devil. You are opening the door to evil, to liars and false prophets. How can you know that these voices are of God? You are playing with fire with these gifts you have, and if you play with fire, you are going to get burned. PRIESTESS. I— ACOLYTE 4. You are one step away from espousing heresy, and witchcraft. I’ve seen you sneaking around at night. And spreading your lies to others. And if you begin to spread those kind of lies, we might just have to burn you, witch. Don’t make us be the ones to do that.

MOVEMENT THREE. ACOLYTE 1. She wasn’t worried, though, because back home, she had her sign from God. ACOLYTE 2. The statue had answered her prayers. PRIESTESS. I knew God, and our Blessed Mother, had read the letter. They had answered every word. Every day of pleading and crying and wondering what would become of me dissolved. Because I was on my way to my destiny. ACOLYTE 3. Part Three. Crossed by… ACOLYTE 4. (Drawing card) The Lovers!

THE ACOLYTES assume a new stance, ACOLYTE 2 takes on the role of THE LOVER. He resembles part of the setup of the altar, perhaps wears a piece of it. The PRIESTESS and LOVER embrace.

LOVER. You are a sacrament to me. PRIESTESS. You have shown God’s light to me. Really, I see a beautiful light within your soul. Thank you for being with me. You have changed my life for the better. LOVER. Of course. I will love you forever. PRIESTESS. Are we soulmates? LOVER. I really think so. PRIESTESS. I agree. And if that’s the case, can I tell you something? LOVER. Of course.

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PRIESTESS. I feel drawn to so many things, pulled in so many infinite directions. To be with you, I know, is my destiny. But I also feel called to heal and help others, to work spiritually. And when I was little, I wanted to be a priest.

The PRIESTESS and the LOVER share a laugh.

LOVER. Why would you want to do that? PRIESTESS. I don’t know. Because I love the world. I thought maybe I could help change it. There is a lot of hatred and corruption. Especially within the Church. I think we need people who want to help fix it. But, I’m kind of happy they shut me out. Because it means I can be with you. I can still be a healer. I can still be spiritual. And I can raise a family. That’s worth more to be than any Church ever could be. LOVER. I think God brought us together because he wants us to be together. PRIESTESS. Me too. (Beat) Hey, Elijah? LOVER. Yes? PRIESTESS. The priest said something to me again.

The mood begins to change, ACOLYTES shift into focus. Begin slowly muttering, just discernable whispering things like “She’ll never be enough” “What a disgrace” “Opening the door to evil” “She can’t possibly be a mother” “She’ll give birth to the devil.”

LOVER. Don’t mind what he says. He’s crazy. PRIESTESS. I told him I had gifts. That I felt destined to heal and prophesy and help others. That I can hear voices. I can speak to the dead— LOVER. Don’t tell anyone about that— PRIESTESS. He said I was playing with fire. Are we playing with fire?

The ACOLYTES get louder. We hear them saying “WITCH” “HERETIC” “SATAN”

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LOVER. Don’t— PRIESTESS. He called me a witch.

Beat. Silence. After a moment,

ACOLYTE 4. (Announcing) The Catholic, and the Disobedient. PRIESTESS. Am I a witch?

Beat. The LOVER is silent.

PRIESTESS. Is what we’re doing evil? Am I evil? LOVER. I have to go. (Beat, leaving) You shouldn’t have said that. (Beat). I don’t want to do this. But I think I have no choice. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.

THE LOVER runs out. Beat. Beat. Beat.

PRIESTESS. (Yelling) Elijah? ELIJAH!!!!??? ACOLYTE 1. The Word of the Lord. ALL. (Except PRIESTESS) Thanks be to God.

There is a movement piece at this point. Potential song: “Various Storms and Saints” by Florence and the Machine. During this music, the PRIESTESS mourns, feels her world and her reality being torn from her, tries to chase it back with no avail. Slowly, she begins to reconcile herself with the idea of her darkness, her imperfection, and finds herself utterly alone.

IV. THE LITURGY OF THE BURNING ACOLYTE 4. The day of her execution was coming. ACOLYTE 1. God—and her lover—were nowhere to be found. ACOLYTE 3. She stayed locked in her prison cell. ACOLYTE 4. Waiting. Reflecting.

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PRIESTESS. She should have seen this coming. ACOLYTE 2. Far off in a distant life. ACOLYTE 3. (Announcing) The Prophetess. PRIESTESS. She was warned about him. Her angels had given her dreams.

One of the ACOLYTES falls to the ground and screams, as if having a terrible nightmare.

PRIESTESS. Terror struck her at every turn. ACOLYTE 1. She woke up screaming when they had met. Something about Elijah, while beautiful, seemed ancient and familiar. Like she knew him, or recognized him from before. PRIESTESS. From many, many times before. ACOLYTE 4. But she had not heeded this warning. Why should she listen to such follies? Such childish superstitions? ACOLYTE 2. The Lord had issued his decree. ACOLYTE 3. She had played with fire. PRIESTESS. And she had gotten burned. (Beat). Typically, this would be the time for the homily. When we reflect on the reading and I impart life lessons to you to take out into the world. But I have nothing left to say to you, except to prepare myself for what is about to happen. ACOLYTE 4. (Raises last card) Death. PRIESTESS. In the deck, Death is not a card to fear. At least, not for those who understand what it actually means. Death is perhaps more aptly named Transformation. (Opens her arms) I want to change. I want to transform. To free myself from the nightmare of the past, and the past, and the past… ACOLYTE 2. Do you reject Satan? ACOLYTE 1. She had nothing left to believe. ACOLYTE 4. Her old god fell away from her. ACOLYTE 3. But in those days, something began to change. ACOLYTE 4. A mother scooped her up and carried her.

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PRIESTESS. The earth became my home. And I felt it listen to me. As it always did. As I knew it had from the very beginning. ACOLYTE 2. The day of her execution was coming. In part, it had already arrived. ACOLYTE 4. (Announcing) The Witch. PRIESTESS. Please Lord… I mean, Mother… or anyone. Wherever, whoever you are. Luna. Moon. Goddess. Anyone. Lord. Save me. Make me whole again. Don’t make these people do this to me. Don’t take away everything I’ve ever known. Maybe I am a witch, but I’m good. I’m a good witch… ACOLYTE 1. Are you ready? ACOLYTE 2. It’s time.

ACOLYTES assume the position of a trial. One perhaps stands at something that resembles a podium.

ACOLYTE 4. Accused, you have been called here today for the vile sins of heresy and witchcraft. ACOLYTE 3. Our mounting evidence against you is as follows: ACOLYTE 2. Failing to keep the Lord’s Day. ACOLYTE 4. Rather than—or in addition to—attendance of weekly service, the Accused has been noted on several occasions to steal away on her own, exhibiting strange and unusual behaviors. The Accused seems to prefer the outdoor garden to the sacred activity of the church within, and, on one such occasion, was seen to be rambling nonsense to the image of Our Holy Mother on the site. She keeps plants and small animals—one of which could point to the possession of a familiar spirit. ACOLYTE 1. Loving man before God. ACOLYTE 3. In addition to such strange activities, the Accused was in a visible and prominent courtship with a man by the name of Elijah Pickett. The Accused has been noted by the women of the community as being “totally devoted” to him, yet demonstrating often reckless and unchristian behavior in the man’s presence, endangering the better worth of their souls. Elijah has since renounced his ties to her. Our sources claim her attempts to seduce him were done in

124 conspiracy with the devil, in attempt to claim Pickett’s wealth, as well as to damn his immortal soul. ACOLYTE 4. Heresy, the practice of divination, and witchcraft. ACOLYTE 2. The Accused heard voices. She claimed on many occasions to possess “gifts,” which she said came through to her most in the form of angels. ACOLYTE 1. As we all know, gifts are given by the power of God alone. They do not need the assistance of cards, or books, or herbs and incantations, which the Accused has been seen using with her guests. And, as told to us by the holy father, she spoke heresies about the sacraments on several occasions without fear to renounce them. ACOLYTE 4. Accused, we ask that you speak now. Do you confirm or deny the charges set before you? PRIESTESS. I do not deny the charges. ACOLYTE 3. What? ACOLYTE 4. Really? ACOLYTE 2. Not even the ones about Pickett? ACOLYTE 1. I thought we got her for sure with that… PRIESTESS. I won’t deny any of the charges because I know it’s not of use to change your mind. If you say I committed them, then perhaps I did. But I will only speak clarify to say that—in the case of Elijah—I loved him. And if I was indeed a danger to or reckless with his soul, it was never my intention to be so. Love, it was all out of pure and maybe blind and reckless love. I was only following my heart, only doing what I believed was right. ACOLYTE 3. Tsk, tsk. ACOLYTE 2. Action, not intent. ACOLYTE 1. It’s your own soul you should be worried about. ACOLYTE 4. Elijah is doing just fine.

There is perhaps a moment where it is made clear to us that THE LOVER is at this trial.

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ACOLYTE 2. Since you have not denied the charges, and have confessed guilty of witchcraft, we will give you the opportunity to repent, and save your soul, so that perhaps, by the mercy of God, you will be spared from the eternal fire. ACOLYTE 1. Renounce your sin, renounce your “love” and come back to the Church. ACOLYTE 4. Say you will never stray from the path again. ACOLYTE 3. You will do good by following the Lord. ACOLYTE 1. We ask you now to renew your faith.

ACOLYTES assume a new stance, ACOLYTE 2 retrieves dagger. We have seen this before.

ACOLYTE 2. Do you reject Satan? PRIESTESS. I do. ACOLYTE 2. And all his works? PRIESTESS. I do. ACOLYTE 2. And all his empty promises? PRIESTESS. I do. ACOLYTE 2. Do you believe in God Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth? PRIESTESS. I do. ACOLYTE 2. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? PRIESTESS. I do. ACOLYTE 2. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? PRIESTESS. I do. ACOLYTE 2. This is our faith. This is the faith of our Church. We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord. ACOLYTES. Amen. ACOLYTE 1. We now ask you to profess the Creed—our holy declaration of faith to each other, and to the Church. Your truthful and heartfelt profession of this Creed will be accepted as

126 a sign of your repentance, and rejection of heresy, in which you will be able to once again share in the holy and Eucharistic gifts with us this evening.

The PRIESTESS looks at each of her accusers. Somehow, she knows she will be killed either way. She assumes a firm stance, begins the creed. Slowly, deliberately.

PRIESTESS. I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, The Only Begotten Son of God, Born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, True God from true God, Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father… [Consubstantial with the Father are the Gifts. And consubstantial with the Father are my Gifts. Consubstantial with the Father is the Spirit. And Consubstantial with the Father is my Spirit. All things are consubstantial with the Spirit. Our God is one, and he is whole, and he is infinite. He is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-flowing His presence lives in every fiber of creation. So all things are holy. I believe in the things your church has shown me, but I also believe in so much more. So burn me. Accuse me because I would tap into the power you would rather destroy. I have been bestowed with Gifts, and I will not bury them, I will set them free. I dare you to say it. I will not refute you.

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Just as we cannot call the sun by any name other than what it is, I cannot call myself anything other than what I am: A WITCH. A priestess, a healer, a leader, a teacher. I am so much more than you would ever have me. I can be everything! And anything! Everything you said I could not be! It is the power of God within me. And the God within me, she’s a woman too. And not just a woman, She is everything. And I am a witch, and so I answer to Her.]

Throughout this monologue, the ACOLYTES have been muttering, whispering, perhaps repeating some of her words, raising the tension and creating a real witch trial / stake burning right before our eyes. It culminates with the ACOLYTE’s final words:

ACOLYTE 2. So Mote it Be.

THE INFERNO.

The ACOLYTES gather around the PRIESTESS. They begin to raise the energy, making preparations to burn her at the stake.

ACOLYTE 4. Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna… (Repeats as others join in, circling the Priestess). ACOLYTE 1. Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna… ACOLYTE 3. Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna… ACOLYTE 2. Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna… ACOLYTE 4. Morrigan. ACOLYTE 3. Persephone.

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PRIESETESS. Michael!

ACOLYTE 1. We are a fire. ACOLYTE 4. St. Theresa Little Flower. ACOLYTE 2. St. Catherine of Siena.

PRIESTESS. Gabriel! ACOLYTE 1. Flowing through you.

ACOLYTE 4. Lilith. ACOLYTE 3. Star of the Sea. ACOLYTE 2. Aphrodite.

PRIESTESS. Uriel! Raphael! My angels, please, help me!

ACOLYTE 1. Light now our fire.

ACOLYTE 3. Mary Magdalene. ACOLYTE 2. Nwt. ACOLYTE 4. Perpetua. ACOLYTE 2. Eve.

ALL. (Except PRIESTESS) Our fire is burning And now you are too. Our fire is burning To start us anew. (Repeats through the PRIESTESS’ monologue).

PRIESTESS. No! I have nothing left to offer you! What did I ever do wrong? I have nothing. Nothing but my whole self.

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ALL. Tear down these walls Set these castles ablaze Burn down our hearts So our souls shall be raised. (Repeats as many times as necessary through the PRIESTESS’ next monologue).

PRIESTESS. I was doing what I thought was right. Were these voices I was hearing true? Was this what they call God? If these voices were not of God, then I’ve never known God a day in my life.

ACOLYTES. Our fire is burning Our circle is one Cast out this darkness And bring forth the sun (Repeat again as necessary).

PRIESTESS. I pray that all that once was is returned to the earth. The blood and laughter and love and the tears. God, gods—watch over me. Set me free. As I die and offer it all over to you. All I claim are my ashes. That they spread to the wind and engulf everyone in radical, divine love. For I am dust, and to dust I shall return. ACOLYTE 4. And from your ashes, you shall rise. ACOLYTE 1. Rise! ACOLYTE 3. Rise! ACOLYTE 2. Rise! PRIESTESS. Die!

The PRIESTESS and all the ACOLYTES collapse. There is dead silence.

V. COMMUNION

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Beat. Beat. Beat. Slowly, the PRIESTESS rises, realizes she is alive.

PRIESTESS. I am not the granddaughter of the witch you couldn’t burn. I am that very witch. The one you burned, but alive. My soul, it lived on. And I am here, I am breathing, and I’m alive… Transformed.

She notices her fallen coven, and the mess all around her.

Sisters*, sisters!

The ACOLYTES begin to rise, now WITCHES, and notice her new form. She is happier, freer.

I know what we must do.

The PRIESTESS and the WITCHES begin to reconstruct the altar. Out of it, they make a magnificent garb for the PRIESTESS–a crown with different elements from the stories. Each takes on and wears their own special article. Each welcomes each other back into the circle, extending peace to one another. PRIESTESS raises her crown.

PRIESTESS. [May the receiving of your Body and Blood, Lord Jesus Christ, not bring me to] [So by receiving these gifts may I not be brought into] judgment and condemnation, But through [your] loving mercy, Be for me protection in mind [and] body, [and soul.] [Be like my armor, my crown, a sign of peace,] And a healing remedy. WITCHES. (Some singing, each takes a different line) Amen. Alleluia. So mote it be. Gloria. PRIESTESS. (Assessing the area, to the audience) This is a gift. And it’s one that I fought and lost everything for. But after you lose everything—

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KITKA. You can be reborn. JOAN. You’re canonized as a saint… even if it was half a century too late. BRIGETTE. You continue living and breathing and fighting and healing. MARGUERITE. You find peace. JOAN. (Turning to the Priestess) Welcome to the circle, sister. MARGUERITE. Priestess. KITKA. Healer. BRIGETTE. Witch.

Priestess accepts their welcome. This is a family reunion, a re-uniting. She is crowned.

PRIESTESS. Thank you, sisters*. (To the coven and the audience). And I welcome you, too, to the end of the story. Or at least, as it is for now. I do not harbor anything against those who hurt me. Or, if I did, I wish to rise above it. So not because I’m defeated, but because I am free, I extend my own peace to you.

WITCHES distribute some kind of offering to the audience – a tiny favor or a small fake flower.

PRIESTESS. It is up to you what you make of it, and what you do with it afterward Kind of like watching a play. I really wouldn’t care if you threw it away, these tiny little trinkets of ours. Because my offering to you is a choice, and mine alone. The response, the reception of that, is your bidding. But through this circle, and sharing it with you, I have discovered that I did not need to be a priest, nor even a soulmate, to go where I was called to be. For in becoming a witch, I am a priestess of my own. Through my own little rites, quiet whisperings, and tiny, little ceremonials each and every day, devoted to a religion known only by me. And it’s just about living. And being alive. That’s all there is. And now we offer each of these items up, raised up to you, and to heaven, to bring us peace.

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Each of the WITCHES distributes a gift to the audience, which they briefly name the importance of.

PRIESTESS. I do not hold it against Elijah and the others but I pray that he—and all those involved—may one day see and understand me for who I am. For what we all are: divine. And that we will no longer live out of fear and hate. Of accusations and deceit. That fear, silence, separation, and darkness never control us.

THE LOVER approaches, they share a moment.

LOVER. Anna. ANNA. Elijah? LOVER. I’m sorry. ANNA. I forgive you.

They embrace, or not.

PRIESTESS. Because we all have our own paths to lead. That our paths may one day cross again. That all our souls may see and recognize each other. That is my deepest and most earnest prayer. (Uniting with the WITCHES) And so each little sin, each heresy, each glorious imperfection, brings us closer to what it means to be a part of humanity. That this is my life, and now I am free. So now, as I am free, I can say “Alleluia.” WITCHES. Alleluia. PRIESTESS. May we embrace our flaws, forever, alleluia. WITCHES. Alleluia. PRIESTESS. May we embrace our darkness, forever, alleluia. WITCHES. Alleluia. PRIESTESS. And may we see that the witch—and the witch within ourselves—is not the mortal enemy. WITCHES. Amen, alleluia.

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PRIESTESS. So may almighty God bless you. [whatever God you believe.] In the name of the [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.] [Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit.]

THE WITCHES cross themselves and bless themselves.

PRIESTESS. The mass has ended. Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life, [and imperfection.] Alleluia, alleluia. WITCHES. (Singing) Thanks be to God, Alleluia. Alleluia.

END.

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Annotated Bibliography

Ritual and Spirituality Craigo-Snell, Shannon. The Empty Church: Theater, Theology, and Bodily Hope. New York: Oxford University Press [2014]. Electronic Resource.

In this book, Shannon Craigo-Snell explores how the language of church and the language of theatre overlap. While there are many ways that religious imagery has been used to describe theatre, like understanding theatre’s roots in ritual performance, Craigo-Snell uses the language of theatre to explain what happens in Church. It understands the Christian church as a place to perform and communicate relationship with Jesus Christ, using the Bible as its main source text, as an interaction between the community and spirit. For me, it helps draw the links between how ritual and theatre are both performative mediums, how they both communicate, and how their languages can be used to describe one another.

Dox, Donnalee. Reckoning with Spirit in the Paradigm of Performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016.

Donalee Dox explores different spiritual “performances,” reframing the traditional performance theory thinking that it is the frame of performance that creates the experience of spirituality, and rather argues that spiritual experiences inform what we view as performance. She studies a couple specific instances, such as ritual dancing and drumming, and is important in helping me consider how ritual is performance, but also how the internal experience of ritual and the perception of spirit can inform the gestures that are read as performance.

Driver, Tom F. Liberating Rites: Understanding the Transformative Power of Ritual. BookSurge, 2006.

Driver looks at the different components of ritual as we understand them, such as liminality, and breaks them down to explain how and why they are important tools for social change. In the last chapter, he looks specifically at reframing the Christian mass. Driver notes

135 that modern rituals and worship have entered a phase of apathy or complacency, which he argues should be challenged by looking deeper into how ritual has been used for resistance, and what it offers us in terms of structure, community, and meaning in our lives.

Greeley, Andrew M. The Catholic Imagination. University of California Press, 2001.

Greeley’s book provided a valuable resource in drawing the inherent links I was seeing between witchcraft and Catholicism—and how I was led to one through the other. Through some social analysis and discussion of Catholic art and artwork, Greeley argues that there is a distinctively “Catholic” take on reality that sees the world as imbued with the presence of God. Part of this is from the Catholic emphasis on the sacraments, which gives rise to the idea of sacramentality, that the ordinary can become imbued with the presence of the divine.

Griffin, Wendy. Daughters of the Goddess: Studies of Healing, Identity, and Empowerment. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2000.

This is a collection of essays that deal with many topics from feminist witchcraft to practices of modern people who consider themselves worshippers of the Goddess, and their rituals. It covers a vast range of topics, from the imagery and role of the High Priestess, to modern pagan festivals and how people can use rituals for personal healing. The notion of feminist ritual for healing and support was incorporated directly into our play, as the Priestess turns to the coven in order to begin the process of healing.

King, Ursula. Spirituality and Society in the New Millennium. Brighton Portland, Or: Sussex Academic Press, 2001.

This is a collection of essays by scholars across the religious and ritual studies, as well as other fields, concerning the interplay between contemporary life and religion or spirituality. Of special interest are the chapters concerning new models of spirituality, spirituality and healing in the new age, transformation in gay spirituality, embodiment, and female language in Christian spirituality.

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Klassen, Chris. Feminist Spirituality: The Next Generation. Lanham, MD : Lexington Books, 2009.

This book deals with topics in feminist spirituality especially as they pertain to Third Wave feminism. In the introduction, Klassen gives an overview of the development of feminist spirituality as an answer to patriarchal religion. The first chapter, “Imagination, Empowerment, and Imaginary Figures” by Sarah Marie Gallant, explores how imaginary construction of feminist figures by people like Starhawk and Carol Christ are presented and how they serve to empower, comparing them to the Christian construction of saints. “Queering Feminist Witchcraft” by Catherine Telford-Keogh examines the identity “feminist witch” and looks at its potential both as essentialist and constructivist. “Ritual Actions: Feminist Spirituality in Global Protest” by Laurel Zwissler examines the relationship between ritual and activism, which is also useful in my understanding of ritual as a mode of resistance.

Klassen, Chris. Storied Selves: Shaping Identity in Feminist Witchcraft. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008.

This book traces how women use feminist ritual and witchcraft to construct identity out of mythology. She uses Foucault’s understanding of technologies as ways of developing the self, that both shape discourses and societies as the self is shaped by them. Feminist witchcraft creates both a sense of self and a community as it shapes it. Primarily, Klassen looks at the postcolonial, maternal, and holistic identities found in feminist witchcraft. Like myself, Klassen sees much overlap between witchcraft and pagan identities. While there is a maternal identity, Klassen also notes that much of witchcraft does not have a unified definition of gender, combating the notion of essentialism, and I am also interested in the idea of the holistic self, as it unites the self with the environment and the community as a “nature religion.”

O’Hara, Gwydion. Pagan Ways: Finding Your Spirituality in Nature. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1997.

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This is a practical guidebook on how to get into pagan spirituality, things like how to build and altar and how to begin practicing magic. It outlines a good general format and reference point for common practices in paganism, such as the significance of certain dates or the meanings and associations behind different objects, elements, and actions. While many of the items here were intuitive to me, as someone who has been in paganism and witchcraft for several years, it is good to have a sourcebook to refer to and draw from.

Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender and Divinity Among the Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London; New York: Routledge, 2002.

Jone Salomonsen takes one in-depth look at a group of witches founded in the 1980s in San Francisco known as the Reclaiming witches. The Reclaiming witches are still running today, and as, Salomonsen observes, they seek to unite the identity of the witch with the political realm. They view the identity of the witch as a power that needs to be reclaimed, and even that just identifying as a witch is inherently political. Reclaiming the witch as a tool of empowerment, and asserting that the witch is a political figure, is directly relevant to my own inquiry.

Schechner, Richard. Between Theater & Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985. Electronic Resource.

This foundational work in the field of performance studies details several fundamental concepts to understanding not only ritual, but the act of performance as a whole. Schechner works with anthropologists in studying examples of performances and rituals around the world and outlines how rituals and performances transform the participants. Much of this comes from the idea of liminality, that, in setting a specific time and place apart from any other in a performance, can lead a performer to be between identities, places, or actions.

Schechner, Richard. Performance Theory. London; New York: Routledge, 2003, 2003.

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This introductory book into performance studies gives a good general overview that doesn’t go as into depth as Between Theatre & Anthropology does but is good for returning to in order to understand the bigger picture. Schechner breaks each aspect of performance down into chapters with briefer concepts that are easily accessible to someone new to the theory. In several examples about ritual and performance, Schechner details how humans and even animals ritualize to deal with transition, change, or hardship.

Spretnak, Charlene. The Politics of Women’s Spirituality: Essays on the Rise of Spiritual Power within the Feminist Movement. Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Books, 1982, 1982.

This lengthy collection of essays deals with the feminist movements in the 1980s, where women and artists began making witch circles and other art collectives that dealt with the Goddess, and their relationship to her. Some essays are from Mary Beth Edelson, an artist I researched early on for her connections to feminist ritual and Goddess art. There are also essays pertaining to ritual theatre, feminist spirituality, and how feminist devising and ritual help build a sense of empowerment, all of which, while mainly from second-wave feminism, provided important context and history for my work.

Starhawk. Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1997.

Starhawk, a Wiccan priestess, discusses the practices of her coven and how they are used as tools of personal empowerment that reflect the changing and political world around them. She is another resource that connects the dots between personal magical practice and the greater political sphere. She outlines how the practice of magic, the personal, and the political, are all interwoven, which is built into my understanding of witchcraft as empowerment.

Ursic, Elizabeth. Women, Ritual, and Power: Placing Female Imagery of God in Christian Worship. Albany : State University of New York Press. Electronic Resource.

Ursic provides evidence for Christian groups that use female imagery for God in their worship and rituals, and shows how patriarchy operates within the church, and how it can be

139 challenged through liturgy. She also discusses the concept of Sophia Wisdom, a case for female imagery and understanding of God within early Christianity and the early Church. This book gets at why imagery in ritual is important, as ritual helps to shape our worldview, and helps provide context for my own ritual imagery substitutions.

Van Fossan, Dolly. “Feminist Witchcraft: A Radical Woman’s Religion.” Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa, vol. 36, no. 2, Fall 2012, pp. 71–85.

This article discusses witchcraft as a religion or spiritual practice in the context of the women’s movement and feminism. Van Fossan explains a few important elements in this article, particularly how witchcraft is deinstitutionalized. While many choose to meet in small covens, none of them are organized to the same degree of hierarchy that characterize patriarchal religions like Catholicism or Christianity.

Walker, Barbara G. Women’s Rituals: A Sourcebook. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1990.

This is another more practical guidebook directed toward people who want to begin their own feminist ritual groups. It lays out some of the basics of feminist ritual practice, such as drawing a circle and ritual cleansing, and emphasizes that these rituals should be supportive, lighthearted, and fun. This sense of play and lightheartedness was echoed by other sources in my research and is something we incorporated into the dynamic of our characters. We also used some of the ritual exercises, such as chant-making, in order to devise sections of the script.

Devising – Theory, History, Strategies Aston, Elaine. Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook. London ; New York : Routledge, 1999.

This book is a guide to both feminist directing and devising, portraying women’s bodies and selves onstage, and even includes some devising games and exercises. Sections important to me were on topics such as feminist directing, and exercises from the themed warmups or object exercises were also used in my devising process.

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Bicât, Tina and Chris Baldwin. Devising and Collaborative Theatre: A Practical Guide. Marlborough: Crowood, 2002.

This book serves as a guide to getting started doing devised work, aimed for both students and more professional companies. It provides suggestions for how to research, develop trust and cooperation in companies, develop ideas in rehearsal, design, and performance. It even provides advice on how to budget and raise money. One of my main takeaways from this book is that it is really useful in devising to explore concepts “on your feet” as much as possible, rather than just endlessly talking and formulating ideas, which is easy to fall into with devised work. I also saw how many roles in devised theatre overlap—for example, that designers and other crew members might be present to take notes in early rehearsal (if actors are not designers themselves, as ours were) and may even weigh in to have sway in the direction and development of the piece.

Brown, Rich. “An Approach to Auditions for Devised Theatre,” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, July 2016, 249-254.

This article for Theatre Topics magazine details WWU’s approach to devising. It particularly focuses on their multi-part audition process and things to consider when casting for a devising ensemble. I go into detail over the many ways this essay informed my own audition and casting process in my framing essay.

Britton, John. Encountering Ensemble. London; New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2013

This book is divided into three sections: defining ensemble, contemporary ensemble, and forming ensemble. The introduction and chapters on defining ensemble explore what exactly an ensemble is, for example, a group of people who have worked together over a long period of time, or people of a similar sensibility. Contemporary ensemble takes a look at how ensemble works in contemporary theatre and provides studies of theatres doing such work, such as Rachel Rosenthal’s TOHUBOHU! and the Wooster Group. Forming ensemble looks at techniques of developing an ensemble dynamic: Lecoq, Suzuki, and others. While not explicitly about devised

141 work, some ensembles mentioned here do devised work, and devised theatre and ensemble work often go hand in hand. Good ensemble dynamics are often both a need and a result of creating devised theatre.

Buckley, Peter. “Creativity and the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre,” Theatre Topics, vol. 15, no. 1, Mar 2005, 41-47.

In this article, Peter Buckley describes the relationship between creativity and the actor at Dell’Arte. At Dell’Arte International, a vast majority of the work is devised, and over the years, they have developed the philosophy of the actor-creator, one that complicates the relationship between the playwright, director, and text. The concept of the actor-creator is one that is important to me personally, as well as to support my idea that devising can be used as a tool to empower actors to exercise more creative agency.

Canning, Charlotte. Feminist Theaters in the U.S.A.: Staging Women’s Experience. London ; New York : Routledge, 1996.

A collection of theatre and practices within the United States and how they stage and create feminist work. It provides a good history and context for of devising and devising for feminist topics. Having a good basis for the context of devising and feminist theatre helps me understand my own artistic predecessors and to know how my own work fits in to the larger picture.

Heddon, Deirdre, and Jane Milling. Devising Performance: A Critical History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

This book provides another history of devised theatre, or collaborative/collective creation. It traces examples from the UK, America, and Australia from the 1950s and onward. It notes that with the spirit of devising, language around rehearsal shifted toward “labs,” “workshops,” or “sessions,” more imitating science or the music industry—such as how, in my own practice, the “Performance Lab” was used at the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre.

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Chapters include looking at devising in relationship to acting, visual performance, political theatre, physical theatre, and community. Again, it is important to understand the greater context of devising and its usage in history in order to understand where my own work fits in.

Graham, Scott, and Steven Hoggett. The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2014.

This book outlines some of the exercises and techniques used in the Frantic Assembly’s devising process. Of particular interest to my own work was the questionnaire that they use at the beginning of their process to generate ideas and characters quickly, as they are often devising in very short periods of time. I also borrowed some of their movement improvisation techniques and the idea of improvising under a set time frame to music.

Oddey, Alison. Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook. London; New York: Routledge, 1994.

This vital book to the modern discussion of devising introduces the concept of devised theatre, explains how to begin and how the process operates, what the relationship is between process and product is, looks into site-specific theatre, and unites theory and practice. It gives a very strong foundational understanding of devising theatre. It is much more theoretical than the other more practical handbook sources I have listed, but this in many ways makes it more valuable to me, as I can see the links where practice and research overlap, as they did in my own process.

Schirle, Joan. “Potholes in the Road to Devising,” Theatre Topics, vol. 15, no. 1, Mar 2005, 91- 102.

Schirle talks through the “potholes” or challenges that come up in terms of devising and collaborating with others and lays out some ways to manage them. One suggestion is the use of a manifesto and collaborator’s agreement early on, which is included in the text. She also gives

143 the idea of using “paper walls,” or filling the room with space to keep ideas and organize them into theme, character, plot, etc.

Watkins, Beth. “Working From Scratch: The Pedagogic Value of Undergraduate Devising,” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, Jul 2016, 169-182.

In this article for Theatre Topics, Beth Watkins outlines many of the pedagogical benefits of devising, such as teaching students to unpack complicated problems and break them down into smaller portions and develop teambuilding skills. She points out how in hierarchical theatre, the script is interpreted through many filters before it is worked on, while devising begins from scratch. Through creative problem-solving, student actors are able to take more ownership of their own work, and even learn skills valuable in thinks like practice-based research. More artistic ownership from my actors is precisely what I am hoping to accomplish through my own devising process.

Weinstein, Adva. ‘How Working Together Works,” Theatre Topics, vol. 26, no. 2, July 2016, 155-168.

This article takes a closer look at the Oddbody theatre collective, and dips into the idea that the theatre is a laboratory, a place for generating embodied knowledge. It is relevant to my ideas of practice-as-research, in using performance of theatre and ritual to investigate how I can combine the two mediums. It also emphasizes the need for a deep sense of listening and cooperation in devising, as well as dislocation (or “shaking up” the mundane and habitual patterns), and hybridity, or the fusing of inspiration from many other sources.

Young, Christine. “Feminist Pedagogy at Play in the Rehearsal Room,” Theatre Topics, vol. 22, no. 2, Sep 2012, 137-148.

In this article, Christine Young goes into depth about the development of her devised play, DUST…, with the students at the University of San Francisco’s Performing Arts and Social Justice program. Not only does she discuss valuable details of creating devised work—such as

144 the importance of keeping detailed records of what occurs, or breaking rehearsals down into sections like “play time” and “build time”—she also discusses how devising can be used pedagogically, and as a way to liberate students and performers from the influence of “Big Daddy” by focusing on process rather than product, as well as creating more enriching opportunities for student performers.

Devising – Source Material Catholic Online. “St. Therese of Lisieux - Saints & Angels.” Catholic Online, https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105

This website provides a good overview of the life and writing of St. Therese of Lisieux. Her life was the inspiration for my first ritual-theatre piece, The Mass of the Little Flower. It discusses how she contracted tuberculosis and began to struggle and lose her faith as she died, which was the primary subject of my own performance work.

“From A Book about Söder, Per Anders Fogelström, 1953 .” Södermalm i Tid Och Rum. Stockholm, https://web.archive.org/web/20100515055530/http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/sodermalm/ historia/enbokomsoder.html

This is one of the online sources where our understanding of Brita and Anna Zippel (sometimes spelled Sippel) came from. The page is translated from Swedish.

Lisieux, Therese. The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire D'une Âme): The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux With Additional Writings and Sayings of St. Thérèse. Translated by Thomas Taylor, Project Gutenberg, 2005, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16772/pg16772- images.html

This is the autobiography of St. Theresa Little Flower that was used in The Mass of the Little Flower. Some part of the lines were direct quotes, while others were adaptations or summaries of what she said.

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Piercy, Marge. “Apple Sauce for Eve,” The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.

This is the poem that was used as inspiration for “Eve, After the Garden.” In the poem, Piercy suggests Eve should be celebrated as the first scientist. We took a new spin on this, suggesting that Eve is the first witch.

Porete, Marguerite. The Mirror of Simple Souls. Translated by Ellen L. Babinsky, Paulist Press, 1993, https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Mirror_of_Simple_Souls.html?id=Ex9h2dlmo 5YC

This is an ebook version of The Mirror of Simple Souls by Marguerite Porete. The ensemble member who devised Marguerite pulled from many sources and versions of the book, but this is where the whole ebook is available. The concepts of the characters of Soul, Reason, and Love, and their narration of Marguerite, comes directly from the Mirror of Simple Souls, as well as some important quotes in our own Marguerite story. The introduction of this book also provides background on Marguerite and the Beguine movement.

Roman Missal Study Edition. Liturgical Press, 2012.

The Roman Missal contains all of the text that is said in the Mass, in all of its different iterations based on day, celebration, and season. While the General Instruction of the Roman Missal provides a broader guide, the Missal itself provides very specific instructions and all of the doctrine and context that goes in to the Mass. I drew from the traditional Order of the Mass that begins on page 513.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011.

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The General Instruction of the Roman Missal is a guide book that helps break down the words and function of the Catholic Mass. It describes in detail what happens in each section and what the religious significance of each part of the Mass is. I used this book several times when creating my skeleton to refer to the dramaturgical portions of the Mass and how they could align with the dramaturgy of my own script.

“The Mirror of Simple Souls.” L'osservatore Romano, 2 Nov. 2012, http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/the-mirror-of-simple-souls

This source gives a brief summary of Marguerite Porete’s life and writings, which was important to my ensemble’s understanding of the character of Marguerite. This includes the mention of how calm she was when she died, which we wrote into our own performance.

Vale, Malcolm G.A., and Yvonne Lanhers. “Saint Joan of Arc.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Feb. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc

This encyclopedia article gives an overview into the life of Joan of Arc that is a good point of reference for the information we found important about her. The article makes mention of the voices she heard and how she was pardoned but then burned as a lapsed heretic for dressing in male garments.

Winberg, Sandra. “Witches and Witch Processes.” Hxor Och Hxprocesser, 18 June 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/20070618062943/http://www.edu.vanersborg.se/Bsgweb/kvi nnoboken/2006/haxor.htm

This is another web source that details the story of Anna and Brita Zippel that we pulled information from when devising the characters of Kitka and Brigette. The page is translated from Swedish.

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