Share the Arts
Poetry
Join us on Fridays at Noon! Drop in for an hour of poetry sharing and listening!
From its humble beginnings in 2000, our weekly poetry gathering has blossomed into a national group of poetry lovers and poetry writers savoring old works and sharing new ones. Encompassing amateurs as well as published poets, state Poet Laureates, and folks who love to just listen, the group meets both in the sanctuary and on Zoom every Friday at noon and visitors are welcome. Bring a poem if you are so inclined, and you’re also invited to be one of the “Holy Listeners” - those who take in the poems but don’t bring one to share.
You’re also invited to join our active email group to share poetry and encouragement beyond Fridays. Every week, those who read poems share them with our organizer, and a “book” compiling all of the poems is sent to the email list. So it’s a great way to build your personal poetry library!
Click on this link to join by video, or join by phone (dial 646-558-8656 and enter meeting ID 946 4497 5753). Passcode: 201176
Theatre
Theatre at St. Andrew’s is a way of connecting, exploring the questions of what it means to be human, and sharing the journey with others.
We come together to attend performances as well as to put on productions of our own ranging from live plays, to variety shows, to digital performances, to the first all-live professional Zoom play produced in the pandemic (click here to read our coverage from American Theatre Magazine).
Watch our weekly announcements for opportunities to participate or attend performances and share dinner and discussion together.
St. Andrew’s Players
St. Andrew’s Players is a group of actors who are both amateur and professional, members of the church and members of the wider community. Under the leadership of parishioner (and actor/director) Gary Sloan, the St. Andrew’s Players put on one major production a year. Our most recent live performances have included A Christmas Carol, Thornton Wilder’s one act play, The Long Christmas Dinner, and an original homage to baseball through poetry, music, monologues in our new public ampitheatre space. The St. Andrew’s Players also put on smaller events, including a flea market fundraiser for the Episcopal Actors Guild, which provides emergency assistance for actors of all faiths and denominations.
Online Performances
In response to the deep need to connect in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Andrew’s launched the first all-live, online Zoom play: Shakespeare’s King Lear. Braving first-time technology and bringing professional actors like Stacy Keach together with amateurs, the St. Andrew’s production showed it could be done and is credited with inspiring other professional and amateur productions that followed. The production took place on April 23, 2020 and raised thousands of dollars in donations for our local food pantry and other feeding programs across the country.
In the midwinter of the pandemic, From Darkness into Light was an interfaith digital performance directed by parishioner G ary Sloan with members of St. Andrew’s and our long-time interfaith partners, the Zubaida Mosque and Congregation Kol-Emet. Poetry, music, monologues, and reflection blend to remind us of our common hope across our faith traditions. You can watch From Darkness into Light below. And we’re grateful to be back to performing together live!
Music
Music elevates our souls, enables our worship, and is a vital way that we build community. In addition to sharing music in worship, we also share open mic nights, outdoor summer singalongs, jazz and classical concerts. We celebrate music as a way of building bridges and relationships in the local community, and drawing people closer to God and to one another.
