Artistic Reflection Rituals
Theatrical Liturgies are performing arts offerings that reflect the roots, heart and soul of spiritual, worldly and social themes They imaginatively embody the ceremonial place customarily reserved for sermons in a church, dharma talks in a sangha, or cosmological parables in Ifá. Their themes lay down the foundation in which the project is built, as that informs the custom-made educational forums and spiritual rituals that accompany them. All while the artists, educators and spiritualists live mindfully, meditatively, monastically and communally for the duration of the dynamically divine journey.
Below you will find plot descriptions from just some of our “liturgies-in-process”. They are a sample of projects that will be explored in upcoming Ritual Readings and full liturgical experiences.
(Towards the bottom of this page is a video of the 2024 Fade to Black Festival’s production of Brother Dyron’s play, “Safe Words” for which he was a winner. The link is here.
Along with a video of, “Monologue Meditations,” which is a BRIC Media Center class demo project done in the final week of the course. Peoples Monastery is in deep pre-production to shoot the first official, upgraded and polished episode of the series later this year. The link is here.
And please don’t forget to check out the descriptions of the Theatrical Liturgies on this page. Much Light!
“Today as at all times, we need to stage true rituals, but for rituals that could make theatre-going an experience that feeds our lives, true forms are needed…It is only when a ritual comes to our own level that we are qualified to deal in it.”
- Peter Brook
STORM DOOR
Anaya has just broken free from the cage of abuse that her ex-boyfriend kept her in for years. Yet she still bears the emotional, mental and physical scars that remind her of that captivity. Armed with a new apartment, a domestic violence counselor, a questionably supportive mother and a new love interest, she is poised to make a fresh start. But will the memory, destructive indoctrination and shadow of her ex darken the light of her liberation. Or will she finally manage to break free from this vicious cycle as she ascends from victim to survivor?
SUN SHADOWS
Jedidiah Sherwood is a married, black, Christian, mental health specialist working at the church funded Bethel Bridge Community Center for their summer youth programs. While serving as a counselor, some of the youth’s suffering and wounds force him to confront ones that he still carries with his inner child. Leaving him in a kaleidoscope of mirrors and fragile glass with a wife questioning why they are childless, a center director whose Biblical words contradict his walk, a manipulative mother grieving the death of his minister stepfather, the teenagers that keep him riding a holistic rollercoaster and a calling from God that seems to conjure more crucifixion than resurrection.
SENSITIVE TIME
Simon Yarrow has taken ending his life into his own hands. But his mother, Sarah, who has been deceased for nineteen years, intercepts his plan. Along with his older brother, younger sister and father, this reunion unearths raw emotions and hard truths while shedding personal light on dark family secrets. The main one being why and how did Sarah face her mortality all those years ago?
UNCLE CHRYSALIS
Chris, a successful black man, is excited to start a new chapter in life when his white partner, Cameron, moves into his apartment in Harlem, NY. But a traumatic experience as they celebrated their eight-year anniversary, brutally transforms his existence from worldly to otherworldly. His eccentric father’s words of wisdom, warning, nature and the complex metamorphosis of liberated black men in this society take on new living meaning. Now Chris is drastically changing on levels that leave Cameron, his older sister and his nephew anxiously questioning whether it is all in his mind or real?
SHEEP TRILOGY
SHEEP is a trilogy of liturgical plays performed by the monks of the Circle of Light Monastery. This performance is a tribute to the prophet and founder of their monastic order, Sheep. The origin of this play stems from the Hyasa Prophecy birthed many generations ago near a cave in West Africa. BOOK ONE: THE TREE depicts Sheep’s life from birth to the age of twenty-one, BOOK TWO: THE BRANCHES dramatizes Sheep’s life from the age of twenty-one to his physical transition (physical death), and BOOK THREE: THE ROOT examines Sheep’s afterlife. There are seven monastics – three women and four men. Each monastic represents one of the seven major world religions in the United States – Indigenous African, Native American, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Monologue Meditations
This is a class video demo that was shot at the end of the Television Studio Production Intensive at BRIC Arts Media Center in Brooklyn, NY. This is more like a teaser or pilot with limited time, rehearsal, resources and equipment for what a full show could be. So it is just an amateur taste of what a full Peoples Monastery multi-media video liturgy series meal could be. Monastic Media Liturgies are in active pre-production development slated to begin shooting later in 2025.
SAFE WORDS
Sam shows up unannounced at the home of his friend, Smokey, with a request that brings into question issues of safety, commitment, manhood and how perception does not reflect a painful reality.
This is a short play that was a winner of the 2024 Fade to Black Festival in Houston, TX.