If I Were A Rich Man

Remember the story I shared at Mass about being a boy soprano and playing “Oliver” for the local high school production? A few years later, I was cast as Tevye—yes, the well-fed Jewish dairy farmer with seven children. Imagine a 98-pound skinny 15-year-old with a glued-on beard and a milk cart singing “Tradition!” It’s bittersweet that just this week, we bid farewell to Topol—the iconic actor in this role both on stage and screen.

Tevye sings, “And I’d discuss the holy books with the learned, several hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all.” Little did I know how I would be fulfilling that vocation...

Fast-forward a few decades, and I’m thrilled that our Saint Monica Preparatory performing arts department is mounting Into the Woods next week, followed by performances for the next two weekends. Performing Arts at our school has always been a big deal: stellar mega-ensemble casts every year: including Les Mis with the full barricades! However, we have yet to keep up: the talent is there, but our performance space does not attract the student body or programming we once cherished.

As a Performing Arts parent alumni wrote last year:

“The arts created life-long friendships and built teamwork, responsibility, cooperation, and other important leadership skills. The Performing Arts program, students at Saint Monica Preparatory, and the parish will benefit significantly from the proposed Civic Center for the Arts and the renovation of this old space. This renovation will address the auditorium’s poor acoustics and the unusable kitchen space and increase and upgrade the currently limited seating. The Saint Monica Prep Performing Arts Program is an asset to our school and parish. Investment in these facilities through the Called to Renew campaign will undoubtedly increase student, faculty, community, and parishioner engagement.”

We are entering the closing phase of our Called to Renew campaign, which has already successfully achieved a mandatory retrofit for the rectory. We will break ground on a new hospitality suite (former bookstore) and restroom renovation in the Duval Center next year. With your advocacy and support, we hope the crown jewel of this project will be the new civic arts space in the auditorium: a place where not only can our Performing Arts thrive, but the parish community can welcome voices of justice and peace, faith and innovation, prayer and wisdom.

Here’s the first invitation: click HERE to reserve your tickets for Into the Woods—the performers need you in the seats! And while you’re there, examine the space and potential for how magnificent it could be. Feel free to email me your thoughts—or I’m happy to meet for coffee and a tour to share the many ideas we’re crafting.

Performing Arts is just one of the many Catholic school education traditions we provide at Saint Monica. And as Tevye reminds us, “Without our traditions, Our lives would be as shaky as...as a fiddler on the roof!”