Eastern Mennonite University’s upcoming play is based on a true story about a nun who didn’t quite fit the stereotypical mold.
Jerry Holsopple, a visual and communication arts professor, and Justin Poole, an associate professor of theater, co-wrote the play “On the Breath of God,” the true story of Mother Maria Skobtsova.
The plot of the play follows the life of Skobtsova, from being a mayor to a nun to the savior of many Jewish people in World War II.
“He approached me about it,” Poole said about Holsopple. “He said, ‘For the last show that I do here, I would like to do this show, and here’s the idea.'”
Holsopple, retiring this year after 26 years working at EMU, said he was inspired to create this show based on his experiences in Lithuania.
“In 2009 and 2010, I was a Fulbright scholar in Lithuania, and I studied every Monday with an orthodox priest and painted icons,” Holsopple said. “In that process, I ran into this saint who’s just not like the normal saints, and I painted her icon.”
This saint was Skobtsova, who published poetry, smoked, was mayor of her town, and became friends with the writer Leo Tolstoy.
Holsopple has had her painting on his office desk for 15 years.
“I thought her story was so appropriate because most people think of saints as somebody who is unattainable to their life, and this is somebody who I think is really like us in many ways,” Holsopple said.
Reah Clymer, a senior at EMU majoring in Music and Peacebuilding, will be playing the lead of Skobtsova.
“I have been involved in theater for many, many years, throughout middle and high school,” Clymer said. “I’ve already done some productions at EMU. It’s a tight-knit community here, a small college, and I knew I wanted to be involved in this semester’s show.”
Clymer said she is excited and honored to play Skobtsova and is learning a lot about the character and herself during rehearsals.
“Our persons affect the character we play because it’s the first time it’s been imagined like this,” she said.
Holsopple wrote the music and lyrics for the play, and Poole wrote the script. Auditions started in December, and rehearsals began in January.
“The script went through several drafts,” Poole said. “We started working on it well over a year ago, doing research, having conversations, and developing the dialogue. Then we got some actors involved and went through three drafts where actors went through the whole thing.”
“It’s been really challenging, but also really cool because you grow as the show grows, and it takes the shape you don’t always see in the beginning, yet it’s exactly what it needs to be,” Clymer said.
“You spend over a year writing the music and finally hearing it with voices; it’s really been fun,” Holsopple said. “And the singers are really amazing.”
Poole agreed, saying he loved seeing everything come together.
The writers studied Skovtsova’s biographies and her writings on New Monasticism. New Monasticism is a movement within Christianity that emphasizes acts of service outside of a traditional church structure.
“She discovered what people need is somebody who cares about them, not religious services,” Holsopple said. And so she became a nun and wrote books about New Monasticism.
Actresses representing the mystics of the Catholic Church will sing in the background. Mystics wrote poetry and were believed to have a deep relationship with God, Holsopple said.
“I studied six of them, read all their writing, and pulled all the lyrics for the music out of that,” Holsopple said. “Then traditional Irish-Scottish music, because I think it holds together the ideas of trauma and hope really well. You hear a good Irish tune, you both weep, and you still have hope to go on.”
The theme of the show, Poole and Holsopple said, is that there is always light to be found in darkness and sorrow.
“I hope [the audience] has a cathartic experience,” Poole said. “I hope they come away knowing something about this character and being inspired by this character in some way.”
“Can we find life in the pains that we approach, instead of just saying, ‘I got to try and get rid of all of that,'” Holsopple said. “To be more settled in the fact that we are going to be in pain and experience trauma, but that doesn’t limit us from having hope and joy.”
“I hope [the audience feels] inspired by Mother Maria’s life and how she lives a life full of joy, love, and service for other people,” Clymer said. “And how her faith moves her to get involved and protect vulnerable communities, and how family is really important to her, and I think they’ll leave feeling very touched by the music and the theme of this show.”
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