Actress, singer ValLimar Jansen to preview upcoming musical on life of Sister Thea Bowman
Sister Thea Bowman used her talents as a singer, preacher and storyteller to evangelize and promote African-American culture and spirituality within the Church.
ValLimar Jansen said that she’s been told her work as a performing artist often reminds audience members of the late woman religious. When Jansen entered the Catholic Church in the early 1990s, she discovered why.
For decades, Jansen, who has sung and toured internationally, including with the Broadway touring cast in the European premier of “A Raisin in the Sun,” often takes a similar approach in the African-American tradition that invites the audience to become part of the experience.
In November, she will visit St. Louis to perform “Great Women of the Holy Scriptures,” a 45-minute presentation that will bring to life the stories of several women in Scripture through music and narrative. The performances, which will take place at three parishes and the St. Charles Lwanga Center, are part of Black Catholic History Month celebrations.
As she tells the stories of women in Scripture, including Eve, Ruth, Naomi, Hannah and Elizabeth, Jansen will touch on themes of being created in the image of God, and then being transformed and sent forth by the love of God.
During her performances, Jansen invites the audience not to sit back as spectators, but to become part of the performance. Her shows combine hymns, call-and-response and storytelling in the African-American tradition, creating a space that feels more like a communal celebration than a performance.
“When the community gathers, it’s participatory and everyone brings something to the experience,” she said. “There’s a call and response, which is so Roman Catholic — a full, conscious and active participation. It involves the mind, spirit, heart and body, and you’re speaking out and responding.”
Performances will conclude with a scene from a new musical, “I Will Live Until I Die,” on the life of Sister Thea Bowman that Jansen will perform in March at COCA in University City. The Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration died in 1990. Her cause for canonization was opened in 2018, and she was declared a Servant of God.
The musical is being produced by St. Louis-based G.K. Chesterton Entertainment and tells the story of Sister Thea from childhood and her conversion to Catholicism to then joining the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
President and artistic director Maria Vargo was introduced to Jansen through some mutual friends and learned that Jansen wrote a musical about Sister Thea’s life and had been looking to expand her performances across the United States.
“You’re seeing this young girl being born in Mississippi, to being educated by these white nuns, who then inspired her to want to become one of them, and then watching her life to what we know of her now through her teaching and her own words,” said Vargo, a member of St. Peter Claver Parish. “What I love about the show is that you see Thea at three different ages. So you see her as a child, you then see her as a young woman, and then ValLimar plays her as an adult. But it’s being done in this musical setting, so you have acting and full on dance numbers and songs.”
Vargo said additional singers, actors and dancers for the musical are needed. Auditions will be held from 4-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at COCA and 3-8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in University City. For more information, visit gkce.org/theabowman.
“Great Women of the Holy Scriptures” performances
Sunday, Nov. 9: Noon at St. Francis Xavier (College) Church, 3628 Lindell Blvd. in St. Louis (performance will be after 10:30 a.m. Mass)
Sunday, Nov. 16: Noon at St. Josephine Bakhita Parish, 2431 North Grand Blvd. in St. Louis (performance will be after 10 a.m. Mass)
Saturday, Nov. 22: 10 a.m. at the St. Charles Lwanga Center, 8240 Washington St. in Vinita Park (performance is part of a retreat from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.)
Sunday, Nov. 23: Noon at St. Peter Claver Parish, 4330 Shreve Ave. in St. Louis (performance will be after 10 a.m. Mass)
