DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE

FALL 2023 / Libretto Reading / Brokencrow Theatre, Waterford (IRL)

JUNE 2025 / Work-in-Progress Showing / Opera Saratoga Summer Festival / Saratoga Springs, NY (USA)

NOVEMBER 2025 / Development workshop with actress Bríd Ní Neachtain / Dublin (IRL)

SUMMER 2027 / Orchestral workshop with premiere cast and creative team / (IRL)

FALL 2027 / Semi-staged performances with premiere cast and creative team / Irish Arts Center, NY (USA)

27/28 SEASON / World premiere performance

about the piece

This opera-theatre work reframes the Catholic Mass through the lens of a family of four Irish women, and explores themes of reproductive rights, fertility, and aging.

A Mass for Women in Bathrooms is both a coming-of-age story and a tale of familial disconnect, the relationships between characters a metaphor for the crumbling institutional power of the Catholic Church in contemporary Ireland.

A story borne out of personal experience, this one-act show is 60 minutes in duration, written for a cast of three singers and one actress. A piano/vocal workshop and concert presentation was held at Opera Saratoga as part of their 2025 season, with live electronics designed by O’Halloran’s long-time collaborator Alex Dowling.

Duration: 60 minutes

This project is funded and supported by Opera Saratoga, Culture Ireland, and The Arts Council of Ireland. Funding includes the Arts Council of Ireland Commissions Award and Opera Projects Award, the Resonate Music Network Award, and the Axis Ballymun and glór mentorship programs.

cREative team

• Composer - Emma O’Halloran

• Libretto - Naomi Louisa O’Connell

• Director - Annie Saunders

• Electronic Sound Design - Alex Dowling

PRODUCTION FORCES

• THREE SINGERS (SOPRANO, MEZZO, MEZZO)

• ONE ACTRESS (60+)

• TEN-PIECE INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE