Why You Should See “Weaving Our Sisters’ Voices” in Spokane

By Kimberly Burnham

“How has participating in this play affected you or changed you?” It is a question from the audience in the Post Show Discussion of “Weaving Our Sisters’ Voices”, written by Linda Schearing, a professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University.

Part of the ensemble, Janine Warrington, a senior at Gonzaga majoring in Religious Studies and minoring in Theatre Arts answers the question.

“The most powerful moment for me was when I spoke the word of Miriam, Moses’ older sister. When Miriam says, “And whom did God send?” Then quoting the prophet, Micah, “Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. God sent a woman—Me—to lead God’s people.”‘

Warrington expresses her desire to be a pastor. When she said those words on stage, she wasn’t just quoting Miriam in the script as much as she was bringing her own words and desires through. Emotional, Warrington said, “I felt God calling Me—a woman.”

One gets the sense that those words—of Miriam and writer, Linda Schearing—will light the way for Warrington as she pursues her pastoral path and faces the challenges along the way.

Directed by Suaznne Ostersmith, “Weaving Our Sisters’ Voices” brings forth powerful words through dance and movement, American sign language, song, and spoken words. The words of biblical women are given a potent voice, a graceful form, and an opening in space. Some of the women, like the Levite’s Concubine or the Shulammite Woman are not even named in the Bible but they have stories that can help us make way for healing and consciousness of the value of not only women’s voices but everyone’s voice. Women like the Daughters of Zelophehad teach us about justice for all. The voices of mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, the mothers of Jesus and John are honor and made real in the words and movements conveying the force of a mother’s love for her children no matter how old they are. A lesson for each of the seven billion people on this earth comes from Rahab—”I matter,” and my story and my voice matters.

In another storytelling venue, some of the women portrayed in the play show up in Rabbi Jill Hammer’s Omer Calendar of Biblical Women.

“The counting of the Omer, which spans the forty-nine days from Passover to Shavuot, stems from the biblical commandment to set aside one sheaf of barley on each of forty-nine days between the two spring festivals, and then to offer the barley as a sacrifice on Shavuot. After the destruction of the Temple, the command became simply to count the days sequentially. Jewish mystics imagined God as having multiple faces or attributes called sefirot, including chesed (love or expansiveness), gevurah (strength, severity, or judgment), tiferet (beauty, balance or compassion), and so forth.”

Hammer shares the stories of 49 women and the attributes they  represent.

For example, Vashti, who appears in the “Weaving Our Sisters’ Voices” to teach us that women are not objects, is in the Omer Calendar representing Gevurah she’be Gevurah (Strength within Strength). Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron represents Gevurah she’be Chesed (Strength within Love) in the Hammer’s Omer Calendar. Deborah, a judge and warrior in Israel represents Tiferet she’be Gevurah (Compassion or Beauty within Strength).

Each production of “Weaving Our Sisters’ Voices” ends with a discussion lead by different professors and people involved with the play. In the Oct. 10 post show discussion, Ann M. Ciasullo, a Gonzaga English professor in the Women & Gender Studies department, emphasized the importance of telling our own stories. She addressed the issue of anger as a positive tool against oppression. Ciasullo quoted Maya Angelou and other women who refuse to be silenced.

The show included American Sign Language as part of the choreography, which added to the embodiment and power of the words. There was a sense that even in the silence; stories could not be restrained. They flowed out into the space in a graceful and beautifully commanding way. On Oct. 17, Sara Edwards, an American Sign Language Interpreter will be leading the post show discussion.

As part of the Oct 10 Post Show Discussion, Spokane Rabbi and Gonzaga professor, Elizabeth Goldstein highlighted the tradition of interpreting sacred texts. “What Dr. Schearing is doing is participating in an age-old phenomenon.  She is doing what we call in Jewish Studies, “midrash.”  Midrash is a Hebrew word that means to interpret or explain, particularly in the context of examining the meaning of a text.  Traditionally, midrash from the 1st-6th centuries of the Common era, assumes that the every word of the Pentateuch, or Torah is the word of God and that we are dealing with a fixed text.  However, there is a theological assumption that when God gave the Torah to Moses on Sinai, there were spaces between the words, so that human beings (who would change and evolve over time) would be able to add additional meanings.”

Participants in the show, Linda Schearing (Writer and Post Show Discussion Leader Oct 10, 11, 18), Suzanne Ostersmith and the eight women  in the ensemble: Regina Carrere, Megan Garcia, Elise Kuterbach, Briana Ofilas, Annika Perez-Krikorian, Tatiana Ranis, Olivia Roberts, and Janine Warrington have filled in the spaces between the words in a stunningly beautiful and open hearted way.

There are performances at Gonzaga in the Harry & Colleen Magnuson Theatre through Oct. 18.