Poetry Witch Ritual Theater

About Poetry Witch Ritual Theater

 

Poetry Witch Ritual Theater is a pop-up community-blend theater company producing performance at the intersection of poetry and spirituality. Our goal is to enjoy and reclaim poetry’s most ancient mission: crafting rhythmic words to connect with ourselves, each other, and the earth. Each PWRT performance offers a single unique fusion of poetry, theater and ceremony created by Annie in collaboration with performers, musicians, and other creative artists from the local community.

Poetry Witch Ritual Theater shows can mark holidays like Winter Solstice or Earth Day, ceremonies such as abortion healing, values such as diversity or peace, or occasions such as the dedication or cleansing of a building or space.   

Previous Performances

ABORTION HEALING RITUAL PERFORMANCE

A ceremony of cleansing and empowerment within the healing cauldron of the Goddess.    
Premiered September 2023
as part of an Artist Residency at Space Gallery, Portland, Maine.  Produced, directed and performed by Annie Finch, Reverend Devin Green, and Circe Moss McDonald. Music by Myra Robinson.

 

A SEED FOR SPRING EQUINOX WOMB-HEALING RITUAL & PERFORMANCE 

Fusion of music, poetry, and healing ceremony for women, interweaving the tale of Persephone and Demeter with dance and chant for the Goddess Oshun.
Premiered April 2019 
at 4th Universalist Society, Central Park West, New York.  Performed by Annie Finch, Deborah Roth, and Graciela Asher and featuring a world premiere of “Seed for Spring Equinox” with music by Matthew Harris

 

WINTER SOLSTICE DREAMS 

Annie Finch as Poetry Witch performs the fertile gifts of darkness and the cauldron of light in a theatrical staging of pageantry, music, song and ritual spiraling together Solstice ceremony, goddess mythology, and poetic incantation. 
Premiered at Deepak Homespace, NYC, 2018, produced by Rozanne Gold and directed by Vera Beren with Annie Finch as Poetry Witch, music composed by Matthew Harris and performed by the Triple Goddess Chorus.

 

SAMHAIN VEILS

Annie’s spine-chilling, inspiring performance of poems, spells, and curses for the Witch’s new year, Halloween, when the veil between the worlds of dead and living is the thinnest.
Solo show produced, written, and performed by Annie Finch. Premiered at LaPop Cultural Salon, Washington DC, 2018

 

CALLING IN THE MAGIC OF PLACE 

A ceremony and performance to bless and connect with the spirit of the place where we are.
Premiered at Stonington Opera House, Deer Isle, Maine, 2017, Sponsored by the Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Forum, with music by Church of the Morning After.

 

FIVE DIRECTIONS 

“Five Directions” is a collaborative presents the path of Annie’s development as a witch, weaving poetry with invocation, dance, mask, song, and story. 
Premiered at Mayo Street Arts in Portland, Maine, 2015, produced and directed by Lady Zen (Alzenira Quezada), featuring Annie Finch as Poetry Witch with music by Paul Servizio, belly dance by Joie Grandbois and Dark Follies and vocals by Vincent Finch-Brand.

 

ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES 

A Goddess miracle play of  interactive ritual theater centering on the Eleusianian Mysteries and the esoteric dance of sacred display. 
Premiered at the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, San Antonio, TX, 2014. Produced, directed, and performed by Annie Finch with music and performance by members of the Austin, Texas Goddess Circle.

 

SUMMER SOLSTICE DAWNING 

Interactive poetic ritual theater focused on themes of creativity, fertility, and empowerment.
Premiered at A Room of Her Own Conference, Ghost Ranch, NM, 2011, produced and directed by Annie Finch with participants in Poetry as Ritual workshop.

 

CHANT FOR THE SUN 

Ceremonial solo performance of “Summer Solstice Chant” for liberation and creative opening.
Premiered Spring 2010 at the Ministry of Culture, Republic of the Congo.

 

THE FURIOUS SUN IN HER MANE 

Ritual theater performance of the sequence of Goddess poems from Annie’s book Eve.
Premiered at Hearst Center for the Performing Arts, Cedar Falls, Iowa, 1993, produced and directed by Annie Finch,  choreography by Georgia Bonatis for nine dancers, masks by Marie Francois.

 

THE MOON AND THE SNAKE 

Ritual theater performance of an original short play by Annie Finch.
Premiered at Cloudhouse Poetry Archive, San Francisco, May 1989, produced, directed, and performed by Annie Finch,  music by Glen Btand and performance by Francesca DeGrandis.

 

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCOTLAND 

Collaborative ritual theater performance of the entire ‘libretto version’ of Annie’s first book The Encyclopedia of Scotland.
Premiered at Brooklyn Art Theater and at Hampshire College, 1982, produced, directed, and performed  by Annie Finch, costumes by Alix Baer and music by Roy Finch and Fiction Music Ensemble.