THE SAINTS TOUR

 

Saints Tour photos and video


“Did you know you are standing on hallowed ground?”



The SAINTS TOUR is a site-specific play in the form of a walking or bus tour. It moves through an unsung neighborhood, transforming it as it travels, excavating a place’s secrets and sub rosa magic. It can happen in any neighborhood, and the playwright rewrites the play under the influence of the place’s unique cultural, environmental, historical, and musical identity.


The SAINTS TOUR is led by a "Tour Guide" character (a local actor) who tells stories of “saints” that have emerged in or passed through the area, layering real and invented history. As she guides, she traverses her own personal journey; and along the way audiences encounter local musicians, artists, installations, scenes, and other surprises embedded in the landscape. The theme of the TOUR is that Saints lurk quietly in every corner of the world, performing acts of good whether we notice or not; thus, the audience must perform a specified Act of Good to complete the narrative. Each Tour ends with a shared meal provided by the community.


The first SAINTS TOUR appeared in Louisville, KY’s Live Oaks neighborhood in 2009. The second occurred in NYC’s West Village in 2010 (with Taylor Mac as Tour Guide) followed by Lower Manhattan in 2012, produced by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. The next TOUR will be in Braddock, Pennsylvania in 2015, co-produced by Bricolage Production Company and my own company, Real/Time Interventions.


Please feel free to browse the photos and video sample below. If you’re a theater company, community organization or producer who’s interested in hosting a SAINTS TOUR, please contact the playwright.

Praise for the Saints Tour


--> Click here for the New York Times feature, Saints Tour 2012


--> Click here for press & comments from Saints Tour Greater Braddock, 2015



Selected quotes from

audience members and supporters, 2009-2012:

“Mysterious, magical, and intriguing. The Saints Tour transported me into a Louisville I didn't previously know existed which was filled with spirits, imagination, hunger and anger. It was imaginative and moving. And with the meal at the end, it was a feast for both my body and soul.”

-- Kristin Marting, HERE Arts Center, NYC


“Molly Rice's THE SAINTS TOUR is the future of theatre. In a time when inactive disengagement and superficial connection substitute for genuine, mindful communication, this deceptively simple and unique event offers new ways of viewing ourselves, our environments, and one another, leading to surprising revelations about how we shape narratives and how narratives shape us. Judson Memorial Church, with its commitment to groundbreaking, experimental, and community-building artistic work was overjoyed to act as a hub for the piece's initial New York City incarnation."

— Micah Bucey, Community Minister of the Arts, Judson Memorial Church (SAINTS TOUR partner), NYC


“The Saints Tour’s layering of fictional narratives on real spaces… invites audiences to participate in reimagining the city. Rice’s model for developing and implementing THE SAINTS TOUR serves as a template for bridging professional artistic expression with community engagement. [The LMCC] believes that projects such as The Saints Tour offer a significant alternative to conventional models of theatrical production and deserve ongoing support.

--Andy Horwitz, Director of Public Programs, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NYC


“The Saints Tour…not only asks its audience members to actively traverse their city; but it nudges them to interact with it as well. The audience is asked to leave physical tokens for “saints” and sometimes finds artifacts those saints leave behind. They are asked to perform a specific “act of good” in order to complete the play’s narrative. They play Saint Trivia. They share a meal. They are engaged in direct, active, and artful ways, allowing the Saints Tour to cross the line between a work of theater and a true community arts event.”

--Workhaus Collective, Minneapolis MN


“I love my city, but even paying a king's ransom in rent to live here I take it for granted way too often. The Saints Tour didn't just give me an afternoon to feel like a tourist in my hometown. The Saints Tour, instead, took me on a tour of a vibrant and magical city I'd never visited, with beauty of so many different forms taking my breath away, and never when I was expecting.” 

- Michael Fisher, audience member, NYC



“You will travel alone.

We will travel together.

You will travel alone.

And so on.”


--The Tour Guide