MARGERY AND YOU: An Illuminated Lecture with Song By Moira Lael MacDonald With Additional Vocals by Argenta Walther and Erin Barnes November 22nd-23rd, 2013 Automata
Margery and You: An Illuminated Lecture with Song, is a multimedia presentation on the life of Margery Kempe, a medieval mystic and the author of what is considered to be the first autobiography written in English (circa 1436). Chronicling her life experience, The Book of Margery Kempe depicts the madness following the birth of her first child, her several attempts to run her own business, and her many pilgrimages to distant lands. Conceived and performed by the incomparable Moira Lael MacDonald, Margery and You is a meditation on Margery’s life and her struggle to follow a spiritual path. Drawing on the centuries old forms of Picture Performance and the Illustrated Lecture, Margery and You is also a chronicle of MacDonald's obsession with The Book of Margery Kempe, and issues of autobiography and the depiction of the self; the mystical journey, and the thin line between reportage and myth.
Margery and You features live vocal performances of early American shape note singing, as well as songs written by Hildegarde von Bingen and Morrissey.
Moira Lael MacDonald is a multidisciplinary theater artist and filmmaker. Iterations of the Margery cycle have been mounted at CalArts and Redcat, directed by Deena Selenow and Julianne Just, respectively. Other work includes The Life of the Bee, an adaptation of the book by Maurice Maeterlinck, and Letter from the Bees. Her short hand-processed film, The Visible Woman, was screened at Concord Space in LA, in the show Heavenly Directives. Moira holds an MFA in Puppetry and Integrated Media from CalArts, and a BFA in Acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was born and raised in Sitka, Alaska.
