LUMINOUS: Tales for Seeing In The Dark
LUMINOUS was a powerful celebration honoring the thinning of the veil between worlds, gifting us a unique way to honor our ancestors, the beloved departed, and even aspects of ourselves that we may have buried. Through story, song, community, a journey into the earth and our own hearts, LUMINOUS was a beautiful balm to help bring light to the darker months of introspection.
By honoring grief, impermanence, and the wisdom of the unseen world, we are able to truly celebrate life. Together with BLOOM, this second offering of hope and healing completed an important story of life's most essential cycles of birth and death. LUMINOUS was a living reminder that death is the great equalizer no matter our backgrounds, that we are all held by nature, love and magic, and that we hold the alchemizing, transformative powers of creativity.
LUMINOUS took place in the caves of The Widow Jane Mine in October, just before Halloween, Día de Los Muertos, All Souls' Day, and Samhain marking the approach of winter’s stillness.
Through contemplative story, performance, and song, we honored the importance that death, grief, and the dark carry—for there is no day without night. Over 80 performers, artists and musicians of diverse backgrounds and cultures came together to bring this event to life allowing 700 people to experience the 4 performances in which the community was invited to light candles in offering to their ancestors and beloved departed. 150 handmade crowns were sold and those monies directly supported the immigrant women who are part of our cottage industry program.
Thank you to each and every person who contributed their time, visions, creative hands, voices, and musical and performative talents to bring this miraculous offering to life Thank you to our incredible team of lighting and sound designers, to the Ancestors and guiding spirits who helped inspire this, and to the Widow Jane Mine volunteers- all of whom made this extraordinary! And thanks to our open hearted Hudson Valley community for being curious and supportive adventurers on this wild adventure.
A rare journey where performance meets the unexpected.
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Where: The Widow Jane Mine 668 NY-213, Rosendale, NY 12472
When: This past Oct 29th and 30th, 2022
LUMINOUS was co-written, co-produced and co-directed by Melissa Hewitt, Mirabai Trent, and Jenny Wonderling
