"Mary Magdalene" Development

Where did this new play, My Magdalene, come from? We have followed the enigmatic trail of Mary Magdalene for years, traveling throughout Israel as well as through France, reading all the different accounts about her life and times, and the various assessments of her spiritual tradition or "stream".

Who was Mary Magdalene? In 600 AD, Pope Gregory labeled her a penitent prostitute. Yet there are no direct references in the New Testament to confirm this labeling. The Christian Gospels do tell us, however, that she was permitted to perform the anointing of Jesus Christ, a task traditionally reserved for the senior priestess in the Isis tradition. And perhaps, most importantly, all four gospels agree that she was the first to witness the resurrection. Why should she not be most remembered as the Apostle of the Apostles (which she was called in other first-century texts), instead of 'penitent prostitute'? In 1969 the Catholic Church reversed its position about Gregory's 1400-year-old statement, but the image of loose woman and whore has stuck.

Who was Mary Magdalene? She contrasts the tradition of the apostles, with Mother Mary at their center, who emphasized telling the good news, evangelism, and conversion. Mary Magdalene emphasized traveling through the geography of the inner world, seeking the truth of spirit without books or dogma -- from the inside, through personal experience heightened by developed senses. Her love of nature, her acceptance of sexuality as one of the gifts of God, and hence her sensuality gave her a personal power which still rocks through the landscapes where she spent the latter part of her life, in Southern France. And she passed on her spiritual lineage to others, as an oral tradition, not in written works.

We needed the perfect actress for Magdalene, someone who lived these same values and thus could help us, through her own being, develop the character for the stage. We found her in the Australian actress, Johana Lambert, wife and co-worker to the well-known Pythagorean geometer, Robert Lawlor (Sacred Geometry, Voices of the First Day, translator of the mammoth work of R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, The Temple of Man) and author in her own right (Women of the Dreamtime). Trained in acting in Sydney, she has also lived for years at a time in isolation from civilization, in intimate contact with the powers of Nature. Johana felt such excitement at playing this role that she has donated her time to this endeavor. We spent several weeks together in Australia, researching the part through shared books, conversation, and spending time among trees and in caves, the natural world of Magdalene.

In Southern France, especially in Provence, the tradition of Mary Magdalene lives powerfully and without question amongst the people. There is a cave at Ste. Baume where she is said to have lived the last thirty years of her life. A tradition from that place tells of Mary and heavenly sound: Each morning a group of angels would lift Mary up along the cliff face to the summit, there to experience the entire choir of angelic hosts, the divine sounds of original and continuing creation.

So we needed celestial music. We found it with the composer and musician Jesse Manno (CDs: Rainforest (for David Taylor Dance Company), Sea Spirits, Theatre of the Vampires, and others) and vocalist/musician, Beth Quist (CDs: Lucidity, Dance with Me, Circlewise with Bobby McFerrin, and others), whose many travels and music projects fill many pages. Together they have tackled the question, "How do you bring the celestial harmonics of the seven planets, the pathway of our soul after we die and before we are born … to the stage?" Their combined talents on many instruments, and their insistence on seven-fold rhythm for parts of the music, have brought the divine harmonies of creation, with which Mary would be familiar.

Of course, we needed angels who do not fall into stereotypes, and needed temple dancers for the scene of Mary's early training. We found the perfect choreographer in Sharron Rose. Performer, scholar, writer, and educator, Sharron received a professional development grant from the American Institute of Indian Studies and the Smithsonian Institute, as well as a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship. These, as well as other support, have taken her to India, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, South America and New Zealand. Her work has been disseminated through lectures, workshops, live performance and video. She has been researching and reconstructing the ancient temple dances of Egypt, as well as traveling extensively in Southern France in search of Magdalene's legacy.

We decided to feature images at certain times in the play, so we photographed our research expeditions to Israel and Southern France, as well as Johana Lambert, the actress portraying Mary, at various places in Australia that looked like Southern France before industrialization. Laura-Lea Cannon has been a professional photographer and presenter of multi-projector presentations for twenty-five years, including presentations with John Denver at Windstar, Jack Canfield, and the national meetings of the Humane Society of the United States. Her work was most recently seen in Remembrance: The Sacred Marriage and in Baring Fruit, both at Nomad Theatre.

Nomad Theatre offers an inviting venue for this kind of production because its size -- 155 seats -- means the intimacy of Mary Magdalene's life can be portrayed personally without microphones on the actors.

We are privileged to work again with Heidi Robbins, the director of the play, coming from Seattle and Ashland. She has the ability to pull the best out of everyone. She was Director of Shakespeare at Interlochen Arts Camp for seven years. With the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's (Ashland) Educational Outreach Program, she has taught theatre and performed throughout the country. She directed Remembrance: Reviving the Sacred Marriage in Nomad Theatre's previous season, and co-wrote and directed Baring Fruit, the story of the artist Paula Modersohn-Becker.

Of course, we have other wonderful actors and technical support staff--people dedicated to bringing this dynamic story to live theatre. Why live theatre? Because you can "feel" a good actor in ways simply not accessible at the movies. This feeling goes both ways between performers and audience, creating an ambience special to this form. Briefly, the movies may have more visually interesting effects, but live theatre makes you feel alive!

My Magdalene approaches Mary's life through the interior imaginings of a modern woman (who is Clara from the play Remembrance: Reviving The Sacred Marriage, this time in her earlier years). Thus we don't have to prove that our interpretation of Magdalene's life is true or not true. We have arrived at our understanding through various modes. Our travels took us to the geographical places that she touched, where we could feel her presence and imprint. Our research included books -- David Tresemer is co-author of Signs in the Heavens: A Message for Our Time, which shows some of his scholarship in Bible research -- and also the many paintings of her in the great museums of the world. Most important of all, especially to Magdalene, we met her through personal experience and inner revelation.

Also available: "Who is Mary Magdalene?" by David Tresemer, Ph.D., and Laura-Lea Cannon, the fully-referenced historical background research for the play.