Playwriting-In-Progress

I work at a theater, the kind with living human actors up on stages performing in front of audiences in ways that are interactive and stir emotions, provoke thoughts, create community, and bring people to their feet in ovations.  I’m in love with theater, though I have not myself stood on a stage since high school, I attend often and allow myself to be swept away and to suspend my disbelief for a spell.

For most of my adult life, my love of theater has been informing my love of Pagan Rituals and magick.  I am a High Priestess, trained, initiated and even ordained clergy of an official Pagan church with 501c3 status.  I write and create rituals, I recruit fellow ritualists to work with me, or I am recruited by others to participate in the rituals they have created.  I’ve created entire festivals built around rituals.  Rituals, Magick, Spirituality, Religion & Theater are all children born of the same Mother.

The Origins of Theater are Pagan and magickal, and our histories are intricately entwined. For who else were the first thespians but the Shamans and Spirit Women, the Priests and Priestesses of our ancient ancestors. Creating the roots of future religions by bringing forth in dramatic forms the essences of the animals they hunted, the land they lived on, and the Divine entities of their early worship.  Theater Is Ritual – and has been used throughout time in sacred trust to teach peoples their origin stories. To conform them to their cultural norms and moralities. To inspire them with the victories of their heros and heroines. To warn them of the consequences of tempting fate. To swell hearts with stories of love and bring catharsis with stories of loss and grief.  To tell of all the folly and glory of humankind – we have always been the species of Theater and Ritual.

And though I was quite shocked when the God Dionysos and the Muses inspired me to write a play, specifically a play that is not only about magick and rituals and paganism, but that incorporates real magickal ritual into the play on stage and makes ritualists of the entire audience, now it makes perfect sense that I would do so.

The story of how the Vision of the play was born into my mind will be told another time in another post. For now, know that this is where the journey of writing this story will be shared.  I have a goal to complete the play in time to submit it for a playwriting competition in 2020, with the hope and intention that someday, this play will be on a stage big enough to do the story justice. If you care to come on this journey with me, see the lovely people at the Box Office, and remember to suspend your disbelief.