March 1, 2018

Actress performs ‘Walking with Our Mother’ at local parish

REGIONAL
Story and photos by David Martin

 

 

EAST LONGMEADOW – Elizabeth Montigny, founder of the Marian Theatre Project, said with all the turmoil happening in the world, now is the time to hear the Blessed Mother Mary’s message of love.

With this in mind, three years ago, when the youngest of her three sons was born, she created “Walking with Our Mother,” a performance of Christ’s Passion from his mother Mary’s point of view. She performed the one-woman short play for 225 people on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at St. Michael Church in East Longmeadow. 

Montigny said in order to prepare her performance as Mary she prays the rosary and calls on all the saints that are dear to her, such as St. Joan and St. Genesius, to give her courage and also prays the Memorare, a prayer for help from the Blessed Mother.

“I just ask that the Lord bless me with his words, ‘Let my words be your words’ and have that come out correctly,” said Montigny.

Montigny created the piece based on Richard Furey’s “Mary’s Way of the Cross,” as well as Scripture. She said Mary does not say much in Scripture so one must rely on the apostles’ accounts of what happened during the Passion. She wanted to keep the play Scripture-based so it will remain relatable to the audience.

Montigny has performed the play at a Catholic high school and said she was impressed with the questions that the students had. She said she knows she is really doing her job when teenagers pay attention to her performance.

Montigny who grew up in Longmeadow and was a member of St. Mary Parish there, said she uses her own experience as a mother of three boys to portray the emotion of Mary as she agonizes watching her son suffer during the crucifixion.

Michele Hicks, a member of the Spiritual Life Committee at St. Michael Parish, said Montigny’s performance was “incredible.” She said audience members were crying just as Mary broke down in tears over her son’s torture and ultimate death.

“If you look into the whole Passion through the eyes of a mother and this is her child, then she was addressing the audience as her children. It is just really powerful. Are we worthy of such a gift, salvation? It gets people thinking,” said Hicks.

Since the evening was an ecumenical event, after the performance a Taize service took place featuring songs by the St. Michael Choir, led by music director Anna Giza.

Montigny had never attended a Taize Service before and said the choir sounded amazing and the service was done beautifully so she recommends others to attend future events like this at St. Michael Parish.

Father Wayne Biernat, St. Michael’s pastor, explained that Taize is a meditative prayer that allows the heart to be still with Christ, not only in meditation but also in hymns to glorify God and in moments of silence to listen to God’s voice. He said many are enlivened by the feeling of the Holy Spirit in the meditative prayer.

Father Biernat said Taize is a tradition that has been embraced at St. Michael Parish for many years. During the service the congregation came forward to light candles on the altar.

“In the lighting of the candles, we in our prayer together as family are coming forward to not only place our intentions at the feet of Christ, but also we are reminded in this world we are living in today, where there seems to be a greater need for peace, that Christ will always be that light in our lives,” said Father Biernat.

Montigny also performs another play for Advent based on the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary titled “Our Mother’s Call,” and is working on two future projects, one based on the Glorious Mysteries and the other based on the Luminous Mysteries.

For a video version of this story, tune into an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” the Diocese of Springfield’s weekly television newsmagazine that airs Saturday evenings  at 7 on WWLP-22NEWS.