‘In the Green’ at Ophelia's Jump Productions

OC Theatre Guild
13 hours ago
4 min read

A musical that dares you to hear women’s voices.

From left, Mads Durbin, Arianna Nelson and Mariah Martin. Photo courtesy of Beatrice Casagran.

By Shannon Cudd

Ophelia's Jump Productions’ upcoming musical “In the Green” is a rarely produced show that will stimulate your brain and challenge you to think about a new subject matter.“

In the Green” tells the origin story of Hildegard von Bingen, a German Catholic Benedictine abbess and polymath during the High Middle Ages. As a child, her parents gave her to the church as an oblate, or layperson who dedicated their life to the monastery. She was enclosed in a cell away from the world with her teacher Jutta for about 30 years before becoming a prolific writer, composer, philosopher, mystic and scientist.

This show has been on Co-founding Artistic Director and director Beatrice Casagran’s radar since its creation right before the pandemic.

“It's such a fascinating piece,” Casagran gushed.

Co-founding Associate Artistic Director, Caitlin Lopez explained the show was supposed to be part of last season but was bumped because of budget constraints. She agrees with Casagran about the intriguing nature of this production.

“On just a pure theater music geek level, it's a kind of musical that doesn't get done often. It is musically extremely complex but interesting and cool and layered in a way that I'm very excited for people to hear. People are going to walk in, sit down and be like, I'm here for a musical. And then the first notes of music that they hear are gonna be shocking and weird in the best way,” she explained.

She plans to be in both the rehearsal room and the audience as much as she can.

From left, Mariah Martin, Mary Desmond, Mads Durbin and Arianna Nelson. Photo courtesy of Beatrice Casagran

While Hildegard is a religious figure in the Catholic Church, this isn’t a story about theology. “Grace McLean has chosen to take a feminist lens. This still leads people to find out more about Hildegard, which is a really interesting journey. She was just a fascinating person. She was a genius,” Casagran explained.

Hildegard comes to Jutta as a broken individual. McLean has chosen to depict this by having three actors play the character as her eye, mouth and hands. Over the course of the 90-minute musical, the audience discovers the root of her trauma and that her teacher Jutta also has her own inner demons. The musical also incorporates puppetry to further drive home the themes of trauma, healing and embodiment.

“This is a musical that allows us to sit and really think about what that means for us and how we relate to ourselves in ways that we maybe haven't thought about,” Lopez said. “I'm really excited for the conversations it can spark around female autonomy. I can't think of a more relevant time to talk and ruminate about those things.

”There is no book in this musical, but spoken word and guttural sounds are utilized in the songs.

“The score is just brilliant. It's super creative and complex,” Casagran stated. “We are using live musicians and tracks that are laid down by our artists.”

From left, Mads Durbin, Arianna Nelson, Mariah Martin, and Danielle Heaton. Photo courtesy of Beatrice Casagran.

The set and lighting designs will honor Hildegard’s work as an artist.

“We have a 66-seat house,” Casagran explained. “The set is going to be abstract, using textiles such as burlap for texture so you get the color of the brownish Roman stones and buildings. We have a fun idea for incorporating her art into the set. The use of lighting and projections is going to be more environmental as opposed to on a screen.”

Both Casagran and Lopez realize that they are asking audiences to take a risk by coming to see a show they are not familiar with. They agree this is a chance worth taking and fits into the overall ethos of their company.

“It actually feels kind of like a return to our identity. We like things a little weird. We like things really smart. We like things that are hard to dissect in the best ways. This feels like core OJP in that way,” Lopez mused.

“Why I do theater is to introduce people to universal stories that are told in a voice that you don't usually hear. I think that it teaches that humans are humans,” Casagran added.

Even the ending leaves the audience with no easy answers. Without giving anything away, it deals with “the enigma that is created when these very successful women who actually buck trends then go on to kind of teach within the patriarchal paradigm,” explained Casagran.

Casagran hopes audiences come see the show to expand their knowledge and worldviews.

“I hope they question and they carry a desire to learn more,” they mused. “To explore things they haven't thought about. Even if it's new art, medieval music, feminism or Hildegard's life. I hope they walk away wanting to talk about it and find out more. One of the reasons I create art and theater is to encourage people to do that.”

Lopez agrees. “Audiences should see this show if they want to hear music that makes their ears perk up. If they want to explore what it means to inhabit your own body and explore what it means to inhabit a body that exists in a world that doesn't know what to do with it – or thinks that it knows what to do with it,” she concluded. “Honestly, it's just gonna be really cool.”