Terce: A Practical Breviary
Terce: A Practical Breviary is a radical rethinking of a monastic 9:00 AM mass and an adaptation that reimagines the face of the “Holy Spirit” through the lens of the Divine Feminine. Sung by a community choir of 30-plus caregivers and makers, it is a wild meditation/celebration of the sacred mothers alive in all of us and how that manifests in regard to the Earth, each other, and ourselves. Inspired by ideas taken from three primary female mystics (Julian of Norwich, Hildegard von Bingen, and Robin Wall Kimmerer) this non-narrative song cycle blends new music, neo-soul, and gospel with traditional medieval organum— is percussed with active caretaking and craft making and is danced wildly. More of an event than an opera, it is built as an active ritual to celebrate and venerate our feminine alignment with nature and recover from living in the confines of a civilization built to control or ignore it.
Commissioned, developed, and produced by HERE as part of PROTOTYPE: Opera/ Theatre/Now. Terce: A Practical Breviary is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Commissioning support provided by OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Additional support provided by Café Royal Cultural Foundation, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., and Frances Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts. Commissioned, developed, and produced through HERE&Back as part of PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now. We are also grateful for the generous leadership support from Charlotte Isaacs and additional support from Andrea Kihlstedt. TERCE is also supported by the HERE’s Fund for Women Artists, which was generously established by Jennifer Suh Whitfield and Benjamin Whitfield. They are joined by Abigail Gampel, Amy Segal, Christie Snider and Tommy Young.
Masking is required for audience members at this performance when not actively eating or drinking, due to the rising case levels and intimate nature of this show. Thank you for your understanding!
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Heather Christian (Creator)
Keenan Tyler Oliphant (Director)
Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh (Music Co-Director)
Jacklyn Riha (Music Co-Director)
Tickets on sale now!
There will be no late seating available for this show. You may add your name to the waiting list 45 minutes before curtain. Tickets will be sold as available for $35.
Heather Christian (Creator)
Heather Christian is a Drama Desk and a two-time Obie Award-winning composer/performer making music-centered shows and rituals. She is a 2021 Richard Rodgers Award winner, 2022 Stephen Schwartz Outstanding New Composer awardee, and Sundance Institute Time Warner Fellow. Recent composing/performing credits include her own work Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova), Animal Wisdom (The Bushwick Starr, now a motion picture) I Am Sending You the Sacred Face (Theater In Quarantine/ YouTube— Vulture’s Top Theater Experience of 2020), Prime: A Practical Breviary (Playwrights Horizons’ Soundstage—IndieWire’s #1 Podcast Episode of 2020) in addition to being a lead artist on devised works Mission Drift (National Theater, London) and The World Is Round (BAM). She has released 11 records, teaches vocal-based music composition at NYU, owns and operates her own recording studio in Beacon, NY, and can be seen regularly in concert halls and dive bars as Heather Christian & the Arbornauts. heatherchristian.bandcamp.com
Keenan Tyler Oliphant (Director)
Keenan Tyler Oliphant is a theatre-maker and director from Cape Town, South Africa whose work is in the lineage of theatre-making and storytelling traditions of Southern Africa. As a theatre-maker, Keenan recalls his traditional Southern African storytelling lineage by simultaneously exchanging with histories and futures to create spaces of healing, investigation, mourning and celebration through performance. Selected directing credits include the US premiere of Will You Come With Me? (PlayCo 2022), the Associate Director of Hadestown (Broadway) and Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova), Jay Stull’s The Singularity Play (Havard TDM; Alliance Theatre Reading) Sam Grabiner’s People on Earth (Columbia University), Vivian Barnes’ Intro To (Ensemble Stage Theatre), Live from Mount Olympus Podcast (The Team) and Kyk Hoe Skyn Die Son [Look at How the Sun Shines] (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks). Keenan is an alumnus of the Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow (2020-2021) and the Drama League Directing Fellowship (2021-2022).www.keenantyleroliphant.com
Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh (Music Co-Director)
Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh is an Iranian-American Conductor, Music Director, Pianist and Orchestrator/Arranger based in New York City. Her work encompasses numerous genres including Musical Theatre, Classical Music, and World Music. She is a frequent developer of new works, serving as a Music Director and Supervisor. As a conductor and pianist she has worked on several Broadway and off-Broadway shows including Kimberly Akimbo (Sub Conductor), Come From Away (Sub Conductor) and Company (Sub Keys 3). As an orchestrator, her work has been performed by artists like Kristin Chenoweth, Lena Hall and Michael Feinstein at venues including the Met Opera, Carnegie Hall, and more. Recent credits include NATIONAL TOUR: Come From Away (Associate Music Director) Annie (Music Supervisor), Rodger’s And Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Keys 3), OFF-BROADWAY: Oratorio For Living Things (2020 cast, Pianist) OUT OF TOWN: Evita (Music Director/Conductor), Other World– A new Musical by Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen and Ann McNamee (Associate Music Director). She is an alumna of the Berklee College of Music where she studied Classical Composition and Conducting.
Jacklyn Riha (Music Co-Director)
Jacklyn Riha is a New York City based Music Director, Orchestrator, Vocalist and Music Arranger. Recent highlights include: Key 2/Music Assistant for Bad Cinderell (Broadway 2023), Key 2 Sub for Kimberly Akimbo (Broadway, 2023), Associate Music Director for Oratorio For Living Things (Off-Broadway, 2022), Music Assistant/Copyist for The Bedwetter (Off-Broadway, 2022), and Script-Score Supervisor for Suffs (Off-Broadway, 2022). As an orchestrator, her work has been featured in Rockers On Broadway (2023), the new musical Strange Faces (Austin, TX 2022), and for the World Premiere of the new musical, Worlds Apart (2019). Jacklyn graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Orchestration and Vocal Performance, with a minor in Music Theater Conducting.