We are proud to announce the West Coast premiere of Magdalene! Opening September 27th at Three Trees Theatre in Costa Mesa, CA(www.threetreestheatre.com), running through October 27th. Directed by Shawn King, musically directed by Rob Blaney, and choreographed by Evan D'Angeles. For details and tickets, go to www.threetreestheatre.com
SYNOPSIS
Notes from the author.
Magdalenes story rolled around in my soul for years, until I reached Carnegie Mellon University as an acting student, and began to put pen to paper. Ultimately, the pages flowed out from under a tragic event: A dear friend, a fellow drama student, was raped - innocence crushed, her life forever altered. This event and my time at Carnegie Mellon were the geneses of the fourteen-year process of writing "Magdalene" - a fictional re-telling of one of the most compelling journeys I have ever known.
The core of this musical, is a human story - We meet "Young Mary" at twelve, a blazing whirl of life, impacting all in her sphere - her loving, chaotic family, and most especially, her beloved Nathaniel - soon to be her bridegroom. Her random, senseless, violent rape by strangers forever shifts the fault-lines of their lives - Mary can no longer wed, she is no longer a young girl with a life of dreams ahead of her. She decides she must run - to where, she doesn'tknow - but Mary cannot bear the thought of living a life watching her beloved Nathaniel marry another. At this point in the story," Older Mary/Magdalene", our musical's narrator, interrupts Mary's flight, begging her to stay where she is safe, in her father's house. (Who of us hasn't longed to turn back the clock and give our younger selves a good talking to?) When "Young Magdalene" refuses to stay, her older, wiser self tells her to go to Jerusalem. We journeywith Young Mary in the poignant song, "A Place Called Home" into the kaleidoscope color, and joie de vivre of Jerusalem. We follow her through many of life's twists and turns, until she lands, unwittingly, into the hands of "Kat", the boisterous and sassy owner of Kat's House of Shadows, a booming brothel. Here she relents to a foreign life, and, after her first night as one of Kat's prostitutes, "Older Magdalene" appears again to save her younger self, telling Mary, she'll take over from now on.
At the top of Act Two, we see that our narrator ("Magdalene") has been transformed into a wily woman, a woman who in some way, relishes the "work" she now does. In the song, "Under Your Spell", Magdalene sings a torchy lovesongnot to a customer, as the audience is first led to believe, but to the beautiful Roman profiles on her precious coins. The "Shadow Girls", her fellow prostitutes, provide plenty of laughs, as well as tenderness as we follow their stories. Ultimately, another wrench is thrown into Magdalene's life, when "Kat", her madam, has a life-changing encounter with what Magdalene refers to as a "drunken, homeless madman" (Christ). The change in Kat is so piercing that she leaves the "House of Shadows" to the other girls. Thrilled, Magdalene will get what she has been working for all her working life, to be the madam. But, as is often the case, life has other plans
One night, after a long day's work, a mysterious customer comes to her door. Magdalene reluctantly allows him in, and as they talk, she realizes this is the man, the Roman captain (Macin), who organized her rape as a child. After a passionately sung confrontation, Magdalene rejects him and kicks him out. A man of great pride, Macin does not take lightly to being rejected by a whore, and immediately begins to plot Magdalene's demise. In cahoots with other powerful, political leaders who owe him a favor, Macin manages to have Magdalene brought before a tribunal, where her punishment will be death by stoning for her adultery and prostitution. A surprise awaits all involved, as the man Magdalene has earlier referred to "as a drunken madman" is asked to give His opinion on stoning Magdalene for her transgressions.
Christ shocks all to silence, as He enjoins, "If any of you men here have lived a life without sin, a life without a lustful thought in your hearts or anger smoldering in your souls, then by all means, condemn. Throw the first stone."
From the eldest to the youngest, the men put down their stones. Magdalene has been spared, and the One who has spared her, asks for nothing in return, except for Magdalene's healing and heart, as reflected in the beautiful duet, "Ancient Tears." Magdalene finds her walls crumbling, and in a crystalline moment, the audience witnesses Young Mary and Magdalene becoming one again, by dancingthe way we first met twelve year old Mary dancing in the fields of her hometown so many years before. After such a momentous occurrence, Magdalene is unable to return to her life, as she knew it. The House of Shadows cannot contain the light she feels in her soul. Magdalene asks Christ if she may follow Him, and follow Him she does, through his time on earth, to the painful darkness of the cross, and to the joy of His triumph over man's final adversary, death. Mary, as the first witness to the resurrection, is told by Christ, "Go. Tell your story, Magdalene."
Magdalene's story has haunted and spoken to me from the early days of childhood. Out of my passion for her comes Magdalene.
