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Musical Creator Kyle Hughes Spoke with Shelton Upper School Students About Developing a New Musical Hail Mary

On September 4 in the Black Box Theatre, Shelton Upper School Theatre, Choir and Fine Arts classes had the opportunity to hear from Kyle Hughes, the lyricist and creator of the original musical Hail Mary. Hughes and book writer Jennifer Deaton (responsible for the spoken dialogue) spoke with students about the creative journey of bringing a new artistic work from initial inspiration to the stage.

Hail Mary tells the remarkable true story of Reverend Mary Ramerman and her brave Catholic parish that risked excommunication to ordain her as their priest.

This was a unique opportunity for Shelton students to hear firsthand about the artistic development process and the collaboration involved in producing an original musical. Hail Mary — Book by Jennifer Deaton, Music by Julián Mesri, Lyrics by Kyle Hughes — is scheduled to be presented in a staged workshop at Texas Christian University on Sunday, September 14, with performances at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Hughes emphasized that this workshop will not feature sets, costumes or lighting. Instead, actors will perform with scripts in hand and simple staging.

Hughes highlighted the heart of the piece in an interview: “Of course, there’s a message about the empowerment of women in religious spaces, but really what we want people to walk out of the room knowing is that you can and should do the thing you are called to do.”