Narrative Biography
Oldest of eight children, living and working in community is a theme of my life, whether in teaching, creating theatre or being a woman priest.
Having retired from teaching in 2021, (Lecturer Emerita, San Jose State University, Ca), the spine of my teaching, no matter the department (Comparative Religious Studies, Women’s Studies, Creative Arts), was using theatre to enact learning. My book Acting Religious: Theatre as Pedagogy in Religious Studies attested to that (2005). That same year I was ordained a Roman Catholic woman priest. Along with 250 women and others, we have all been excommunicated by the Vatican.
For over forty years, I have been a theatre writer/director working with themes of women and religion. In 2018/19 I was a Fulbright Scholar in Bethlehem, Palestine where I created the play “Maryam: A Woman of Bethlehem,” (YouTube) which was brought to the Hammer Theatre in 2020. My most recent work Voices from the Silenced (2023) www.voicesfromthesilenced.com was created to resist the injustice of the Dobbs decision and the many threats to reproductive justice. The play and its creation was made into two films: an award winning documentary, VOICES: Our Stories Before Roe v Wade, and Voices from the Silenced.
I live with my spouse Dr. Kathryn Poethig in a retirement community in California.