BCLA | The upper register of LMU’s administration and scholarship will join forces to celebrate the artistry and activism of Leonard Bernstein’s influential musical career in a production of “MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers” on March 27 at Loyola Marymount University’s Burns Recreation Center Back Court.
LMU’s redux version of “MASS” aims to take the audience on a musical, artistic, spiritual, and political journey relevant to what we face in the world today. More than 100 performers, including President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., and Provost Thomas Poon, will bring Bernstein’s epic “MASS” to life. In addition to LMU’s leadership and Jesuit/Marymount communities, other notable performers include Rachel Hadas, poet and translator; Judy Dater, photographer; Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate; Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright; Jeff Dietrich, writer and Catholic Worker activist; and more.
“Issues of social and economic inequity are not restricted to any one place, time, or belief system,” says Theresia de Vroom, LMU professor of English, director of the Marymount Institute, and theatrical director of LMU’s production. “‘MASS’ is a confluence of art, faith, and collaboration with the power to illuminate our challenges, while also offering opportunities for self-reflection and a vision of hope and reconciliation.”
Bernstein composed “MASS” at the request of Jacqueline Kennedy for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in 1971. The Tridentine Catholic Mass in Latin serves as the framework for a theatrical piece that uses dramatic dialogue, as well as moving imagery and lyrics set to diverse music genres and styles, to critique contemporary issues.
John Flaherty, musical director, and de Vroom are bringing this production to LMU as part of a two-year global celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. The performance will conclude the 2018-19 Bellarmine Forum, themed “Collaboration and Creativity: Faith, Culture, and the Arts.”
Wednesday, March 27, 2019 | 7:30 p.m.
Burns Recreation Center Back Court
Loyola Marymount University
For more and information and to register, visit: bellarmine.lmu.edu/BernsteinMass
