In 2013, Academy of Sacred Drama founder Jeremy Rhizor entered his final year in the Historical Performance program at The Juilliard School. During the previous academic year, he had discovered the sadly neglected world of sacred drama and had begun to brainstorm how he might be able to champion the revival of the genre.
Of immediate interest was the Baroque oratorio genre that draws its stories from Biblical tales and the lives of the saints. Oratorio libretti tell stories that would have generally been familiar to European contemporaries regardless of their beliefs.
Jeremy proposed to create a Baroque-style Academy for the present day in the style of the Arcadian Academy—a Roman society dedicated to the reformation of poetry that brought together leading musical and visual artists as well as noblemen and church leaders. Through a concerted effort on the parts of musicians, scholars, and prominent members of the community, the stories of sacred drama could come alive for the audiences of today.
And so the Academy of Sacred Drama was formed. We seek to revive one of humanity’s great art forms present in rituals, in liturgy, and on stage. By doing so, we intend to restore the sacred drama genre as a vehicle for the formation of common values, community and individual identity, and creative virtue.
Today, the Academy presents the stories of antiquity in dramatic musical productions, creates editions and translations of old manuscripts, and collaborates with partner artists and ensembles in a new Westchester County-based arts incubator called The Oratory.
We hope that you will join us for our future events and become a part of our story.