Friday, May 14, 2004

A PASTISCHE OF BIBLICAL MYSTERY PLAYS wil be performed at the University of Chicago this weekend. Seth Sanders reports in the University of Chicago Chronicle:
Giant puppets will parade across the quadrangles to herald the return of a fifth-century medieval ceremony, which will be presented in the performance of The Greater Mysteries: A Pastiche.

The cosmic story of Genesis, from creation to flood, will be told through music, dance and ancient ritual during two performances at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 14, and again at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 15, in the neo-gothic Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.

[...]

�God�s relationship to humanity, from the fall of Lucifer and Adam to the reaffirmation of His covenant after the Flood, is the tale that the Mysteries will tell,� said Lorraine Brochu, Assistant to the Dean for External Affairs at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. �The performance will be both wild and appropriate for ages 6 and up, from the arcane cleansing rituals in Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Arabic to the delightful dance of the giant puppets.�

This pastiche, or compilation, of various mystery plays is the creation of James Redfield, the Edward Olson Distinguished Service Professor in Classical Languages & Literatures and the College, who also directs.

[...]

I'm not quite clear on how a fifth-century ceremony can be medieval, but it sounds interesting and I wish I could go. I hope that Seth will do a follow-up article with some photographs.

UPDATE: Seth Sanders e-mails regarding "fifth-century medieval":
I didn't exactly write that, it's a press release from Rockefeller chapel. In fact the U of C news office has several hundred releases that have me as contact or author that I had nothing to do with but get my name on them as the point man for humanities and arts.

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